It’s pretty incredible how one year can turn so quickly.
If they play like this I’m not sure they beat Purdue.
Coan is bad. Cannot throw, has problems playing under center, can't read a pass rush.
Chryst is supposed to be the QB whisperer but man Coan is bad. Like DII bad.
Leonhard isn’t exactly setting the world on fire either although the D is playing a lot of new guys.
Tschmack posted:Chryst is supposed to be the QB whisperer but man Coan is bad. Like DII bad.
Leonhard isn’t exactly setting the world on fire either although the D is playing a lot of new guys.
It shows us all why Hornibrook kept playing even when he's appeared not to be merit playing. Obviously, he's much better than Coan and it's probably obvious in practice too.
Why are the Badgers unable to recruit an upper level college QB more often?
The D has been bad but they only gave up 22 points. It seems like only 3 guys know how to tackle.
Tschmack posted:It’s pretty incredible how one year can turn so quickly.
If they play like this I’m not sure they beat Purdue.
I doubt they beat Purdue. Just be satisfied with beating Minnesota and going 7-5.
Wisconsin QB commit Graham Mertz threw 6 TDs for Blue Valley North in a 49-28 win tonight. Check out some of the highlights from the 4-star recruit. pic.twitter.com/ikwDWmCQSo
— The Zone (@ZoneMadison) November 10, 2018
7-5 might be the most disappointing finish in program history given what they have done the last 2-3 years.
The 2000 season has nothing on this group.
The Badgers have 4 running backs with at least 20 carries this year. All of them average over 6.5 yards/carry. The OL is filled with future NFL guys. Yes, the OL has been a little disappointing, but the top 4 RBs have about 360 carries over the 10 games and have averaged 6.5 yards on those carries. You don't do that without a good OL. And most of those carries have been into defenses with 8 or 9 guys in the box.
They've lost 4 games. 1 of those was because they had three fumbles from RBs. The other 3 were almost all due to QB/WR play. Check out these stats. During the losses to BYU, Michigan, and PSU the QBs had the following cumulative stats:
34-68, 1 garbage time TD, 5 interceptions.
Here are the QB stats in the 4 losses.
BYU: 18-28, 190 yards, 0 TD, 1 interception (which set up a 27 TD drive for BYU)
Michigan: 7-20, 100 yards, 1 TD, 2 interceptions (set up a short FG and the other was a pick 6)
Northwestern: 20-31, 158 yards, 1 TD, 0 interceptions, but 3 offensive fumbles.
PSU: 9-20, 0 TD, 2 interceptions,
The Badgers have been a good program for 25 years. During that period, they've sent more good OL to the NFL than any other school. They have produced HOF NFL lineman on both sides of the ball (JJ Watt and Joe Thomas are first ballot guys). They've produced starting caliber and Pro-Bowl NFL RBs, WRs, TEs, LBs, and DBs. During that 25 years, they've had one great college QB - a 5th year grad transfer in Russell Wilson. They've never recruited a high level guy. They've had solid, but not great, QBs several years and those are the times they finish in the top 10 - Bevell, Bollinger, Sorgi, Tolzien.
Why Wisconsin can't recruit a top notch QB when you can guarantee a high school player that he'll be protected by NFL-level OL, handoff to future NFL RBs, and throw to to future NFL WRs and TEs? Maybe Mertz is it.
Yup, they have had many good to great players at every position....not this year. They are what they are at this point.
And that's OK, next year is another year. PC is a good coach, JL is a good coach, reload, get healthy and 2019 will be a very good year.
Oh, I hope Mertz is a Fred, not an Ethel.
They were blown out against Michigan and Northwestern and quite frankly the game today against Penn State was never in question. The BYU loss was probably not as close as the score indicated.
They lucked out against Iowa when they shit the bed late in the 4Q. That easily could have been another loss.
Yes the QB play has been atrocious but I will bet the vaunted OL has given up more sacks and committed more penalties this year than the last 5 years combined. The run defense has been below average and they aren’t sacking opposing QBs.
Any way you slice it this team has completely underachieved. On both sides of the ball. Same with Chryst and Leonhard.
They damn well better hope Mertz doesn’t opt out of his commitment. He looks the part but a lot of teams are on his trail.
Outside of QB the talent is there. But seems like the chemistry and depth may not be. Add in injuries to a few key guys and others underachieving and not hard to see why they are where they are.
I also hope Mertz pans out and if he does he could help take this program up a level. I think UW is perceived to be this team that only runs the ball and is slow, plodding and boring. While that may actually be true to a certain extent I think getting a QB like Mertz could be a game changer for UW.
As for Mertz decommitting he has been very firm in staying committed to UW even when the likes of Ohio $tate come calling. He turned them down cold and said he is solid with UW.