Wisconsin quarterback Carter Smith helped the Badgers snap a six-game losing streak after a tumultuous week. Jeff Hanisch / Imagn Images

Rain Saturday evening at Camp Randall Stadium blurred the cardinal lights and the faces that had grown familiar with disappointment. Then came their anthem — only this time, when the bass to “Jump Around” cut out, no one left.

The Wisconsin faithful stayed put, drenched and delirious, as if refusing to let the night slip away like so many before it.

A tidal rush of fans vaulted the railings before the final whistle even sounded on the Badgers’ 13-10 upset of No. 23 Washington. “On, Wisconsin” thundered through the downpour as players disappeared beneath the surge — weeks of doubt and six straight losses washed away in Luke Fickell’s first Top 25 win at Wisconsin.

“There’s a lot of things to flinch over as we’ve been through the last few weeks, months,” Fickell said, “give our guys credit, they did not flinch.”

Just two days earlier, Madison was home to a program adrift.

The ghosts of a 37-0 shutout to Iowa less than a month ago still lingered — the boos that faded into silence, the homecoming crowd that emptied before the fourth quarter, the scoreboard stuck on humiliation. The program’s pulse felt faint, its identity slipping further with each loss.

Then, amid the noise, athletic director Chris McIntosh jolted the fan base by declaring that Fickell would return in 2026 — even as the Badgers sat 2-6 with an offense ranked 134th of 136 nationally.

Talk radio turned venomous and the same question echoed across Madison: How had a program once built on grit, size, and ground-and-pound toughness lost its way?

“I don’t want somebody to have to fight my battles, but I understand that’s where we are,” Fickell said, noting that McIntosh’s announcement “meant something” to his players.

“There is a spark and energy, a hope, a vision, that this week gave us.”

Much of Saturday night, though, looked as bleak as the weather.

A blocked punt gifted Washington a touchdown and a 10-3 lead in the second quarter.

Wisconsin cycled through three quarterbacks after starter Danny O’Neil was carted off in the first quarter, forcing in true freshman Carter Smith. At one point, the Badgers went nearly two quarters without completing a pass.

The team’s leading passer? Punter Sean West — whose long 24-yard heave on a fake punt outgained every quarterback on the roster.

“The blocked punt is uncalled for,” Fickell said. “That can’t happen. You don’t normally win football games when you get a punt blocked. Maybe we had to balance it out with a fake punt to try to even things out a little bit. … That’s what I mean by the resiliency of things.”

And the defense refused to yield.

Midway through the third quarter, true freshman linebacker Mason Posa, buried on the depth chart just weeks ago, ripped the ball loose at Washington’s 7-yard line and fell on it himself. Two plays later, fellow freshman Smith muscled into the end zone to tie score at 10.

“He brought you some fire, he brought you some spark, he brought you some hope,” Fickell said of Smith, who threw for just 8 yards on 3-for-12 passing, but rushed for 47 yards and a TD, “and most importantly for me, he took care of the ball.”

Nathanial Vakos’ 32-yard field goal late in the third quarter gave Wisconsin the lead.

From there, the Badgers defense suffocated Washington. When the Huskies lined up for a 50-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, Ben Barten’s outstretched hand met the ball, sending it skittering across the slick turf.

When Posa slammed Washington quarterback Demond Williams to the ground for a game-clincher on fourth-and-6, some 80,000 fans erupted as if thawed from a long freeze. Within seconds, they poured onto the field — disbelief turning into something closer to relief.

For one night, under cold rain and flickering red lights, the noise faded. The offense still mustered just 205 yards. The quarterback situation remained dire. But the Badgers — after weeks of booing, finger-pointing, and doubt — looked alive again.

“Sometimes you forget,” Fickell said, “I forgot a little bit of what it was like to have that emotion.

“There’s a greater expectation, that’s why I came here. That’s why these guys came here.”

Nov 9, 2025

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Ira Gorawara is an intern on the colleges desk at The Athletic focusing on UCLA and the greater Los Angeles area. A senior at UCLA, she was the Sports editor at the Daily Bruin. Prior to joining The Athletic, she worked at the Los Angeles Times, the South China Morning Post, NDTV and a number of cricket publications worldwide.