8 things to know about Wisconsin football after 8 fall camp practices
Plenty to digest already as the Badgers enter their third week of preseason practices.
Badger Observer is about to head down to yet another University of Wisconsin football fall camp practice Sunday, so we’ll keep the intro short and sweet here.
The Badgers wrapped up their eighth preseason practice Friday on the field just north of Camp Randall Stadium, and they are now only three weeks away from their Sept. 6 season opener against a highly-touted Notre Dame team that currently has plenty of connections to coach Luke Fickell and Wisconsin.
Here are eight things to know about the Badgers after these eight practices.
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Wisconsin’s run game is better
It’s been well documented that Wisconsin had its worst rushing output since 1991 last season (116.7 yards rushing per game, 3.3 yards per carry), a sizable portion due. That season’s leading rusher, Terrell Fletcher only gained 446 yards. 2025’s leader was Darrion Dupree with 363 yards rushing on 4.4 yards per attempt.
Mike Tressel’s defense clearly won two practices early last week, but Wisconsin’s offensive line has come along further and further under assistants Eric Mateos and Casey Rabach during fall camp. That’s with two projected starters on the right side being out heading into Sunday’s practice.
“I think there’s some consistency things that we never quite got an ability to do last year, and so that’s what we’re trying to find out,” Fickell said Friday. “Do we have the consistency to do the things we know we need to do when it comes down to winning ball games, in particular in this league? And so there is some consistency, there’s some things we’re starting to see.
“I try to remind, hey, I know we all are coaches and we all want to show our creativity, but what it comes back to is the little fundamental things. And so I think we’re doing a better job.”
