ESPN actually posted a story about Mertz and it is a pretty good story. I actually never knew he had strong ties to Wisconsin and how strong his committment was.
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I see Vegas posted the Badgers over/under of 8 wins this upcoming season.
Sure, they have to play Ohio $tate and Michigan and get Michigan $tate this season but they also get two of those three games at home.
They also get Iowa, Northwestern, and Purdue at home.
I guess if they get anything out of the QB position this year I think 10 wins is very possible. Plus, the Buckeyes turned over a lot of players and no Urb. Same deal with Michigan.
UW is a different team at home against the Wildcats and not sure Purdue is for real or not. Can’t imagine they lose twice in a two to Minnesota either.
I would start at 9-3 and probably hedge on 10-2.
Here is the list of total wins Predictions, from Tom Fornelli at CBS.
10.5 Ohio St
9.5 Michigan
8.5 Wisconsin
8.5 Penn St
8.5 Nebraska
8 Purdue
7.5 Mich. St
7.5 Iowa
6.5 Northwestern
6 Indiana
6.5 Minnesoda
4.5 Maryland
3 Illinois
Ohio State has a ridiculously easy schedule. Their non conference schedule is a joke and they get UW, MSU and PSU at home. Only a road game at Michigan looks pretty challenging for them.
Oh yes O$U's schedule to me out of confernce is a freaking joke.
In conference it might be a little tougher because the are breakin in basically a freshman QB and if he goes down they have nothing behind him. Their OL is turning over and they lost quite a bit on D. But, that being said they do have insane talent there.
The do have some trap games on their BIG schedule though. They have to go to Nebraska who I think should be better, NW on a Friday night, @ Indiana who usually gives them fits, and dont sleep on Bucky in Columbus. Bucky will be a huge underdog in that spot but as we all know if the expectatons of UW are low that is when they have a really good year.
I feel like the season comes down to the defense letting the offense catch up. Obviously if Mertz catches fire early, they could have a monster season- but expecting that has proven foolish in the past when highly touted “whatevers” have come to UW. But having a guy that can throw accurately more than 30 yards downfield will sure do wonders for the run game, which at this stage we should have some pretty high expectations. Teams that load 9 in the box like the past must pay for it- and if Mertz can do that the offense should really thrive.
But to be a B1G contender and have a shot at greater glory, it’s the defense that must dramatically improve. Leonhard had a big sophomore slump, and whether that’s on him or no, they must get back to the success rates of 2017. They were young in the secondary, but the upper classmen up front and in the LB corps disappointed last season. Need playmakers. Need speed. Need penetration. And need MUCH better tackling.
This is going to be an interesting UW team this year. My questions would be will they ease Mertz in to starting or will they go with Coan and get Mertz in during scrub time?
Defensively, I think Leonard will get back to a more aggressive style and he wasn't as much last year because they seemed to be banged up on defense quite a bit.
Don't mean to be totally Capt. Obvious but the key to the whole thing (as usual) is the QB position. I really would like to see the QB threaten the D enough so they can't stack 8 or 9 players in the box. I do think if UW can get better QB play than noodle armed Hornibrook the offense could do really good things.
I have started reading preseason preditions (which I useless but I can't resist) and they sure are down on Bucky. I have yet to see a predition with them winning more than 7 or 8 games and some barely breaking even.
Clip from SI about the Badger QB battle:
The Badgers' QB situation got a little complicated when veteran Alex Hornibrook transferred to Florida State in the spring. Now, Wisconsin will have a new starter for the first time since 2016. It will either be 6’3”, 205-pound true freshman Graham Mertz, a top QB prospect who had offers from Alabama, Clemson and Georgia, or Jack Coan, who played in five games for UW last year, including a start in the Pinstripe Bowl blowout over Miami. Mertz might have a leg up in this one, despite his youth. He was the 2018 Gatorade Player of the Year in Kansas and passed for 3,886 yards and 51 touchdowns as a high school senior
There is not much doubt, the man has mucho talent, this is extremely promising for the Badgers for years to come.
It all comes down to the ability to throw deep accurately in the play action game. I didn’t see anything from Coan that leads me to think he can make teams pay for stacking the box. And with Mertz’s ability to run, and throw on the run, that makes everything click .
The Badgers have been fairly predictable if you’ve followed this program the last 25 years.
They typically will rise up and play very well against some good teams (see OSU in 2004 and 2010) but have an uncanny knack of stubbing their toes against teams they should beat (see MN in 1993 and 2018 and countless times against NW in Evanston).
From a season standpoint, it’s the kiss of death of the Badgers go into the year highly touted or rated. Last year was not an anomaly. 2000 they were ranked in top 5 and finished unranked. 2007 the Badgers were top 10 and finished barely in the top 25.
The Badgers seem to play best when no one expects much from them. That seems like this year.
If they get above average QB play I think this team will be very good. You know the running game and OL will be decent. Defensively, I think the younger guys will step up and there’s no way they can have as many injuries as they did last year.
If Mertz hangs around long enough he will get his shot against Alabama, in 2024 and 2025, this will be only the 4th time a sec team has played in Camp Randall.
https://www.cbssports.com/coll...r-2024-2025-seasons/
The biggest disappointment in terms of what should have been was 2011.
Russell Wilson threw for 33 TDs and 4 interceptions. The RBs were Monte Ball, James White, and Melvin Gordon. Nick Toon and Abbrederis were the starting WRs. The OL depth chart had 6 future NFL guys (Havenstein, Groy, Wagner, Zeilter, Konz, and Frederick) including two perennial all-Pros (Zeitler and Frederick). The defense had multiple future NFL guys as well.
They got beat twice in the regular season on two Hail Mary throws (Kirk Cousins for MSU and then at OSU and then got beat in the Rose Bowl by Oregon (which was a bit of a letdown to play in when they should have been one of the top 2-3 teams in the country).
MichiganPacker2 posted:The biggest disappointment in terms of what should have been was 2011.
Russell Wilson threw for 33 TDs and 4 interceptions. The RBs were Monte Ball, James White, and Melvin Gordon. Nick Toon and Abbrederis were the starting WRs. The OL depth chart had 6 future NFL guys (Havenstein, Groy, Wagner, Zeilter, Konz, and Frederick) including two perennial all-Pros (Zeitler and Frederick). The defense had multiple future NFL guys as well.
They got beat twice in the regular season on two Hail Mary throws (Kirk Cousins for MSU and then at OSU and then got beat in the Rose Bowl by Oregon (which was a bit of a letdown to play in when they should have been one of the top 2-3 teams in the country).
Badgers have had some terrible DB s over the past 10 years. I could have played the pass better.
Coan has been named starter... he better hit the deep ball.
Tschmack posted:The Badgers have been fairly predictable if you’ve followed this program the last 25 years.
They typically will rise up and play very well against some good teams (see OSU in 2004 and 2010) but have an uncanny knack of stubbing their toes against teams they should beat (see MN in 1993 and 2018 and countless times against NW in Evanston).
From a season standpoint, it’s the kiss of death of the Badgers go into the year highly touted or rated. Last year was not an anomaly. 2000 they were ranked in top 5 and finished unranked. 2007 the Badgers were top 10 and finished barely in the top 25.
The Badgers seem to play best when no one expects much from them. That seems like this year.
If they get above average QB play I think this team will be very good. You know the running game and OL will be decent. Defensively, I think the younger guys will step up and there’s no way they can have as many injuries as they did last year.
Oh man did you nail it. I don't know if I can name another team that will consistently pee down their legs when expectations are high for them. What gives me hope is that yes they are ranked #19 in the AP poll and #18 in the coaches poll but no one is really talking about them as a dark horse team or a team that will do much more than .500. F'em Bucky!!!