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'Fire Fickell' chants return to Camp Randall Stadium during Wisconsin Badgers' slow start vs Iowa

Before the first quarter was even over against Iowa, the frustrated Wisconsin Badgers crowd in Camp Randall Stadium was back to calling for Luke Fickell's job.
Lorin Cox|
Oct 11, 2025; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell leads his team out of the tunnel at Camp Randall Stadium.
Oct 11, 2025; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell leads his team out of the tunnel at Camp Randall Stadium. | Ross Harried-Imagn Images

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The Wisconsin Badgers had a great chance to turn things around against a beatable Iowa Hawkeyes team, but the Week 7 matchup couldn't have started much worse for Luke Fickell and his squad.

Before the first quarter was even finished, the frustrated crowd in Camp Randall Stadium was back to calling for his job.

The loud "Fire Fickell" chants started after Iowa scored its first touchdown to take a 10-0 lead with two and a half minutes left in the opening period.

That was immediately followed by an interception from Wisconsin quarterback Hunter Simmons and another Hawkeyes touchdown to extend the lead.

Iowa scored 17 points in just under three minutes of game clock in the late stages of the first quarter.

The Badgers needed to start fast and rebuild some confidence in the team's ability to hang against Big Ten opponents, but instead they showed the opposite.

It's one thing when the Badgers play poorly against ranked opponents like Michigan and Alabama, but they have no excuse against a Hawkeyes team that had plenty of question marks of their own entering the matchup.

Fickell's seat is red hot right now, and with games against No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Oregon next on the schedule, it won't be cooling down anytime soon.

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Lorin Cox
LORIN COX

Lorin Cox is the managing editor of Wisconsin Badgers on SI. He has been covering Badgers sports since 2014, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. He previously wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal, NBC Sports Chicago and USA Today Sports Media Group, and he is a former analyst for Pro Football Focus.

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