ANN ARBOR, MICH. – With his team down two touchdowns and 2 minutes 42 seconds left on the clock, Luke Fickell threw Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt and Wisconsin Badger fans a curve ball.
Wisconsin had just completed a 13-play, 53-yard drive with a 39-yard field goal by Nathanial Vakos that cut the team’s deficit to 24-10. An unsuccessful attempt at an onside kick followed the field goal. Michigan took over at the UW 43-yard line.
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The Badgers coach had three timeouts at his disposal and Klatt, who called the game, expected Fickell to burn one after first down.
The play ended with 2:37 left to go but no UW timeout.
“I’m surprised Wisconsin isn’t using their timeouts now,” Klatt said on the broadcast as the clock ran down. “They’ll have the 2-minute timeout. Obviously, Michigan is in control here. I don’t know why he’s not calling a timeout. He can save himself a bunch of plays. You can force them to snap the ball. They have the 2-minute timeout in their pocket as well. Four times, attempts to stop the clock, just a lot of time.”
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Fickell didn’t use a timeout then. He also didn’t use one after the second down play ended at 1:52.
“I don’t understand this,” Klatt said.
After Michigan converted the third down with 66 seconds to play, Klatt, who had a standout college career as a quarterback at Colorado, became resigned to the idea that Fickell was not going to use his timeouts.
“Wisconsin is just going to let this one roll out,” he said.
Was a Badgers’ comeback likely? No. But Fickell’s decision was not only questioned by Klatt but by Badger fans on social media.
Fickell explained his plan for using the timeouts following the Badgers’ 24-10 loss at Michigan Stadium. His strategy started with the defense putting Michigan in a passing situation on third down.
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“I said guys if we get a stop, if we get them to a third down situation where maybe they have to throw the football to keep the ball then we were going to call the timeouts,” he said. “And then we’re going to give our offense shots with timeouts as opposed to putting ourselves in a situation where you call (the timeouts) and you can’t stop (Michigan).”
When Michigan faced a third-and-4 situation from the Badgers 37 with 1:52 to play, Fickell decided against calling the timeout. The Wolverines converted and had a fresh set of downs with 66 seconds to play.
“It was more put on our guys to stop them, (then) call the timeouts, we’ll give our offense the ball,” Fickell said. “We’ll have the timeouts with the situations so that we can play football. That was kind of the decision.”
More: How Hunter Simmons went from Wisconsin’s third-string quarterback to starter vs. Michigan
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Luke Fickell explains why he didn’t use his timeouts vs. Michigan
