Do the Badgers finally have an identity after recent wins?

After looking dead in the water, the Wisconsin Badgers have a chance at five wins and a possible (but unlikely) bowl appearance with a win over the Minnesota Gophers this weekend.

The Badgers have strung together two wins over ranked opponents in the month of November, including their most complete victory last Saturday over the Illinois Fighting Illini.

For months, Wisconsin has struggled to find its identity and look the part on both sides of the ball. Now, with some recent momentum, do they finally have that identity they’ve been searching for?

“The identity is playing together as a team,” head coach Luke Fickell said on Monday. “The identity is hopefully understanding what complementary ball looks like. But that can be defined in a lot of different ways. I think that we really know who we are in some ways, but like offensively, it’s been hard. And it’s been hard to pinpoint an identity, because, like we just talked about.

“You guys asked about schemes defensively, and we’ve played better defensively down the stretch here. But I would tell you, it’s not about schemes. It’s not like, ‘hey, we identified what this scheme should be, and now we’re playing [better],’ but no, it’s getting players in positions where they can be successful, which, in return, makes us successful. So the greatest identity that we can have is putting guys in positions where they can be successful.”

Defensively, putting players in positions to be successful has been key. The identity over the past month has been a team that plays a lot of zone coverage and expects its pass rush to make an impact on the pocket, while winning the line of scrimmage.

Offensively, Wisconsin is still fully searching for its identity without a consistent pass game, as its identity is currently just trying to win the line of scrimmage to run the ball effectively enough for a couple of scores.

“In a lot of ways, like we said, in order to throw the ball down the field, we’ve got to do a better job,” Fickell acknowledged. “That’s something I want to do, that’s something we want to do, that’s something we want to be able to create. I think we started the season off with that idea to be able to do it, but it hasn’t been something that’s been a strong suit for us.

“And so to say, we found an identity that what we do offensively and what exactly we do defensively, [I think] the idea is the identity of what leadership looks like, what complementary football looks like, and what some explosive plays could do for you, too.”

That explosive play ability will be something the Badgers have to address in the offseason, be it at the skill positions or at quarterback. But, they’re slowly starting to form an identity, which they’ll need to build on as they find the next iteration of this team.