ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- This was a long way from Carbondale, Illinois.
It was 539 miles, to be exact. That's one way of looking at where quarterback Hunter Simmons was standing Saturday afternoon while making his starting debut for the University of Wisconsin football team.
It was a long way in a figurative sense, too. This -- Michigan Stadium, where an announced crowd of 111,070 was on hand for No. 20 Michigan's 24-10 victory over the Badgers -- is a long way from Saluki Stadium.
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That's where Simmons was 364 days earlier when he started his final game at Southern Illinois in front of 7,157 fans. He started that day but didn't finish a 45-10 loss to Illinois State due to a season-ending injury in what turned out to be his final game for the Salukis.
Nothing better epitomizes where things stand for the Wisconsin program right now than this: The quarterback the coaching staff believed gave the Badgers their best chance to win at the Big House was a senior who entered the season as a third-stringer and entered this game with three career starts, all at the Football Championship Subdivision level.
Oh wait, there's more: Simmons and the center snapping him the ball against Michigan -- senior Davis Heinzen, a transfer from Central Michigan who's played precious little center in his career -- weren't even with the Badgers when spring practice ended last April.
"That's why you come to a school like this," Simmons said, "is to get the opportunity to go out there and play on Saturdays in an atmosphere like this."
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What a story it would have been if a patchwork offense had done its part to help the Badgers (2-3, 0-2 Big Ten) secure the type of win Luke Fickell desperately needs right about now.
But fairy tales don't come true, and neither did the one with Simmons serving as the main character.
This was an admirable effort from Wisconsin -- much better than its 17-point loss at home to Maryland two weeks ago -- and yet the end result was the same. At least the Badgers didn't get embarrassed by the Wolverines (4-1, 2-0) on national television, not that Riley Mahlman and his teammates are into moral victories at this point.
"We're simply not good enough to be satisfied right now," Mahlman said.
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Fickell echoed that sentiment. If there's one identifying trait that Fickell has shown over his 31-game run with the Badgers -- they're 15-16 in that span and have lost seven consecutive Big Ten games -- it's coming up with catchphrases.
This is a man who still wears a vest with T.E.A.M -- Together Everyone Achieves More, in case you've forgotten -- on the back of it. He unveiled "pound the rock" after the Maryland loss, a reference to Jon Gruden's offseason message to the Badgers about continuing to chip away and chip away until that rock finally breaks apart.
A new one emerged Saturday inside an interview room in the bowels of this legendary venue, where Fickell stressed the importance of showing "competitive spirit," his intensity growing with every word.
"Recognizing that we have to do and how we have to grow is going to take a hell of a lot of effort, a hell of a lot of toughness and, most importantly, a hell of a lot of competitive spirit," Fickell said. "Every play will be evaluated tonight from offense, defense and special teams about what's the competitive spirit, what's the competitive nature of every guy on our team, and we're going to continue to push forward with that."
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It's fair to wonder where Fickell's competitive spirit was in the final 2-plus minutes of the game Saturday when he essentially waved the white flag after Wisconsin failed to secure an onside kick. Fickell took three timeouts with him on the charter plane back to Madison, and he said afterward he would have started using them had the Badgers forced a stop on third down.
A coach sending a message to his players about competitive spirit might have used a timeout on first down and -- after the 2-minute warning -- burned another one on second down. Fickell didn't and was called out for it by Fox analyst Joel Klatt on the broadcast.
Doing everything in his power to fight to the end would have been more symbolic than anything on Fickell's part because, let's face it, this offense lacks the weapons to make noise even if it did get the ball back one more time.
The Simmons experience began with a glorious 12-play, 75-yard opening drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock and ended with a touchdown run from Dilin Jones. It was as if Wisconsin football had awakened from a long slumber, Rip Van Winkle-style, and recaptured its old-school, smashmouth roots.
Nine runs, three passes, no negative plays. A thing of beauty.
What followed was anything but pretty. Eight of the Badgers' next nine possessions ended in punts, and the one exception was an interception by Simmons that probably should have been wiped out by a defensive pass interference penalty on Michigan.
"It kind of looked like the DB tackled him from my perspective," Simmons said.
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What magnifies that type of no-call even more is that the Badgers just don't have the firepower on offense right now to make big plays. Their longest run Saturday was 16 yards. Their only two pass plays of 20-plus yards came in the second half after they'd fallen behind by two scores.
"The truth of the matter is 12-, 13-, 14-play drives, sustaining things like that, that's tough," Fickell said. "We have to be able to find ways to make some bigger plays."
That challenge seems even more daunting when you consider the makeup of the Wisconsin offense right now. Heinzen was the fourth player to start at center this season. Simmons is the third player to start at quarterback, the first time that's happened at Wisconsin in 13 years.
The reality of the situation is the Badgers are a long way from where they need to be right now. Even a heavy dose of competitive spirit won't change that.
Photos: Wisconsin football takes on Michigan at The Big House
Contact Jim Polzin at [email protected].
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