Luke Fickell backs Braedyn Locke as Wisconsin's starting QB

Luke Fickell had to make some changes in order to save face on this Wisconsin season.

The Badgers are 5-5 and riding a three-game losing streak.

Yes, they hung with No.

1 Oregon on Saturday in a 16-13 loss, but Fickell's team wasn't good enough.

Specifically, the offense was just 1-for-12 on third down.

The Badgers notched 226 yards on offense, with only 96 coming through the air.

That was enough of a failure for Fickell to fire offensive coordinator Phil Longo, but what about quarterback Braedyn Locke.

He completed just 12-of-28 passes against Oregon with one touchdown and one interception.

On the season, he's thrown for 1,514 yards and nine touchdowns but he also has nine interceptions.

Locke hasn't been great, but Fickell isn't going to back away from him as the team's starting quarterback.

Yeah, never a doubt, Fickell said when asked if he'd still be moving forward with Locke ( h/t On3 ).

I dont know what else the idea is, right, I mean we all have to put some pressure on different people.

And, again, Braedyn had a lot on his plate.

Hes got to continue to grow and get better, and he knows that, and were going to give a better opportunity to be able to do that.

Miami transfer Tyler Van Dyke was Wisconsin's starting quarterback to start the season but he tore his ACL in September, which forced Locke, a sophomore, into action.

Locke had only played in five games as a freshman, so there is absolutely an expectation that he'll continue to grow into the role, because him playing so much this season was not expected.

He'll have two more games to refine himself in 2024, with matchups against Nebraska and Minnesota still remaining on Wisconsin's schedule..

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