This Overlooked Issue Could Prove Costly for Wisconsin Football in 2026

As we're finally just about ready to kick off the 2026 college football season, there's plenty of reasons for optimism in Madison.

A brand-new, exciting quarterback room. A renewed financial investment into talent acquisition. A beefed-up roster. Give Wisconsin credit; for as dismal as the 2025 campaign was, it's done a nice job giving its fans reasons to get excited about head coach Luke Fickell's fourth lap around the track.

There's also a handful of reasons Badgers fans should be concerned as Notre Dame looms imminently. The offense, which is still a work in progress, lacks a go-to pass-catcher and has multiple key injuries to starters on the offensive line. Defensively, you feel much more confident but if you have to nitpick, it's reasonable to be concerned about who's going to step up in the pass-rushing department.

But of all the takes swirling around Wisconsin football, whether they're reasons to get excited or reasons to temper expectations, I haven't heard a whole lot about the Badgers' kicking game.

Maybe that's how they'd like it; after all, it's been highly questionable throughout the practices open to reporters.

Badgers might have a kicking problem

Wisconsin punter Ethan Tranel. | Christian Borman.

At the handful of fall camp practices I saw with my own two eyes, penciled-in starting kicker Gavin Lahm was extremely volatile. Inside the new Kellner Family Athletic Center practice field, he was shaky. Outside on the Camp Randall turf, he was more accurate. He had good days and bad days this fall, but the lack of consistency is troublesome.

“It’s one of those things, you never know. I feel like we’re in a different place because we have more options," Fickell said regarding his special teams unit. "We gotta be a little more consistent on our kicks, but there’s some options there that give us a chance to flip some fields and do some things.”

Fickell was asked about special teams as a whole, and somewhat tellingly focused his answer on the punt team. But I still have questions about where Wisconsin is at placekicker.

Gavin Lahm is penciled into that role, and Wisconsin didn't bring in any competition for him this offseason. At the fall camp practices I observed, he and punter Sean West took reps at placekicker.

Lahm has never attempted a collegiate field goal or extra point in his life. He didn't even play during the 2025 season, as former Badgers' kicker Nathanial Vakos handled all kicking duties.

Thus, it's impossible to feel confident in Lahm simply because there's no body of work to take comfort in. He's one of the biggest wild cards on this team right now.

Why placekicker will matter so much for Wisconsin

Wisconsin QB Colton Joseph at the Badgers' fall camp scrimmage. | Christian Borman.

This isn't a Badgers squad that's going to run away from a lot of teams. Even if things click for Wisconsin and it does beat several Big Ten teams handily, it'll do so by wearing them down in the trenches. Wisconsin's best performances this fall will likely be physical domination as opposed to high-flying blowouts.

I also don't expect this offense to score a whole lot of points. It'll be better than the 133-ranked, 12.8 points per game it produced last season, but this isn't a team that can score at will.

Thus, the Badgers aren't going to be able to afford to miss many kicks. I expect a lot of their games to be tight, defensive battles. Missed field goals could spell disaster in a narrow contest against another similarly physical Big Ten team that's more than happy to grind a game out in the trenches.

The jury is still out on Lahm, of course, but don't say I didn't warn you.

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