Why Luke Fickell stuck with Hunter Simmons at QB in Wisconsin Badgers’ 37-0 loss to Iowa

Luke Fickell acknowledges Badgers should have considered going in the ‘other direction’ at QB

• Wisconsin quarterback Hunter Simmons struggled in the 37-0 loss to Iowa, completing 8 of 21 passes with three turnovers.
• Coach Luke Fickell stuck with Simmons for the entire game instead of switching to backup quarterback Danny O’Neil.
• Fickell later acknowledged that he should have considered going in the ‘other direction’ at the quarterback position.

MADISON — One starting quarterback in this year’s Heartland Trophy game seemed to be fully enjoying “Jump Around.”

Iowa’s Mark Gronowski could be seen exuberantly jumping during the Camp Randall Stadium tradition as his team had a 30-0 lead over its rival.

Wisconsin’s Hunter Simmons, however, had much less motive to jump around as the Southern Illinois transfer struggled throughout the game. Simmons went 8-of-21 — about 38% — for 82 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. He had a third turnover on a backward pass that was recovered by Iowa and officially counted as a fumble.

For as much as Simmons struggled, though, Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell continued to lean on the Southern Illinois transfer at quarterback rather than giving San Diego State transfer Danny O’Neil an opportunity in the 37-0 loss to the Hawkeyes.

“We were reeling on both sides,” Fickell said. “So it wasn’t something I went in at halftime and said, ‘What’s the opportunity, what’s the chances here?’” Where we were at and what we needed to be able to do — we still felt like there were some things there, and he gave us the best chance.”

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All three turnovers were in the first 16 minutes of game action. At that point in the game, Simmons was 2-of-7 for 23 yards. From that point forward, Simmons went 6-of-14 for 59 yards.

“I’m not saying after the first three picks in the first quarter that he didn’t maybe settle down a little bit, but we were just never able to find anything down the field, to create any energy or momentum or establish any drive,” Fickell said.

O’Neil, in comparison, has completed 70.6% of his passes this season with five touchdown passes and five interceptions. He was benched in favor of Simmons ahead of UW’s 24-10 loss to Michigan and saw only three snaps (without any passing attempts) against the Wolverines.

“You’re probably right,” Fickell said in response to the Journal Sentinel’s question about not switching to Danny O’Neil at quarterback during the Iowa game. “It’s something that we got to take a good, hard look at. And no disrespect to Hunter, but probably was an opportunity or some situation where we should have went the other direction.”

Regardless of whether it’s Simmons, O’Neil or the currently-injured Billy Edwards Jr. at quarterback, Wisconsin’s next few games will likely not be any easier. No. 1 Ohio State visits Wisconsin on Oct. 18, and No. 2 Oregon hosts the Badgers on Oct. 25 before UW’s second bye week.