Wisconsin now 0 for the last 5 Rose Bowls. Five straight Rose Bowl losses.
I wonder if that's what Alvarez was thinking when the camera caught him swatting the kid out of the way during live action. "Watch the game, brat!"
No way Badgers deserved to win, but no fricken way that was OPI either. Stained the game.
phaedrus posted:Wisconsin now 0 for the last 5 Rose Bowls. Five straight Rose Bowl losses.
Just a brutal day. Goof fans trolling on Twitter thanks to that big Outback Bowl victory. 
The only saving grace is that I didn't waste $5K to fly the family to L.A.
phaedrus posted:Wisconsin now 0 for the last 5 Rose Bowls. Five straight Rose Bowl losses.
Death, taxes, and Bucky peeing down their legs in big games.
You saw what having a decent QB does for you (Hebert) in games like this. He just about single handedly won the game for the Ducks.
Oregon showed zero respect for Coan and the passing game. I don’t care if Coan completes 90% of his passes he can’t make or complete the longer throws so all you have to do is focus on Taylor and play within 10 yards of the LOS. Then there was the bonehead INT, just like against Illinois.
The Badgers had a national championship level defense, a transcendent RB, well above average WRs, and a solid OL. The issue once again is the QB is ordinary at best. Put it another way, you put Justin Hebert on this Badgers team and they likely make the playoffs instead of Ohio $tate.
If Mertz isn’t given a real chance to win the job then they are simply pissing away a golden opportunity. If he’s half as talented as the experts claim he needs to be the front runner going into next season.
Outside of the one year with Wilson the common denominator of these bowl game losses is usually shaky or non existent QB play. Heck, in many of their bowl wins the RB has just taken over and dominated.
If the Badgers really want to be taken seriously they need to treat that position like they do the OL and RB position. It’s not like they have to abandon the run game but you need a decent QB to compliment the rest of the offense because there are times the running game can stall or become limited.
Teams not respecting Coans passing ability is nothing new. Bottom line in this game is if WI doesn't commit 4 turnovers and makes that damn FG they easily win this one. It's as simple as that.
Regarding Mertz. Can WI still redshirt him or has that boat sailed ? I don't know how that process works.
I believe Mertz only appeared in 3-4 games so as far a I know, he red-shirted.
4 turnovers = L. Less than 4 turnovers most likely = W.
I also think its time to see what Mertz can do for UW. Coan seems like a good kid but they need to play Mertz and make a real commitment to being more balanced on offense. I do really think Chyrst is wanting be more balanced on offense but the QB position is holding him back.
Blair Kiel posted:I believe Mertz only appeared in 3-4 games so as far a I know, he red-shirted.
Yes. Mertz was redshirted. You can participate in 4 games and still retain it.
He has 4 more years of eligibility.
If Mertz is even 75% as good as advertised, then the Coan/Mertz decision will be a program defining one.
Coan makes very few mistakes (the interception yesterday was on a play where he got slapped across his helmet with no call - should have been roughing the passer). Coan makes it even more likely you beat the bad and mediocre teams because he just takes the wide open throws. The problem is that he limits your ability to beat the top teams because he just doesn't have the arm strength to make some of the throws you need to (deep outs and post patterns) to punish teams that play 8 in the box. He's also not a threat to break a long run, either.
If you start Mertz, you may risk losing a game or two to some mediocre teams because he'll be a first time starter and may make some mistakes. But if he has the physical talent he is billed to have , he gives you a much better chance against Ohio State or a top team in a Bowl Game.
Wisconsin plays 3 games next year against "glamour" programs that recruit elite level talent (Penn State, Michigan, and Notre Dame). They play 3 games against teams that they are a little more high profile than, but have similar national images (Iowa, Nebraska, and maybe transiently Minnesota). Finally, they have 6 games against teams that any Badger team in the last 27 years should be expected to beat (Eastern Michigan, Army, at Illinois, at Rutgers, Purdue, and Northwestern).
Coan's window with that schedule is probably between 9 and 10 wins. Mertz's is probably between 7 and 12 wins.
GEEMAN posted:Teams not respecting Coans passing ability is nothing new.
True statement above. But most teams the Badgers play are not very good and it is only when they face better competition that the lack of respect for the passing attack generally and Coan's weak arm specifically really bites.
I follow the Badgers from afar these days but attended my first Rose Bowl yesterday with my sister and brother-in-law who have had season tix for years and are far more rabid fans.
The one thing that stood out to me (even beyond the many miscues from the missed FG, fumbles, INT, penalties, and punt snafu) was how Oregon consistently stacked the box and played all 11 players within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage.
Oregon was just daring UW to throw deep and committing 8-9 men to stop Taylor. It honestly looked more like a team defending a high school offense.
Coan was pretty efficient on his short passes, but when you cannot threaten down the field it really hinders what a team can do in the passing game. For example, a QB with even a decent arm hits a wide open Pryor for a long TD instead of throwing a wounded and underthrown duck that allowed the Oregon defender time to recover and break it up.
In my mind, Coan is cut from the same cloth as Hornibrook and so many other noodle-armed UW QBs who somehow also are no threat in the running game. It makes no sense to me that a program with consistently great OLs and RBs and good TEs can't find more dynamic QBs.
I have no idea if Merz will be a great player or not, but if he can threaten the D by taking a few downfield shots I'd think the Badger O would improve and, most importantly, improve to the point that it would not be so easy for other top teams to defend UW if the team is forced to throw the ball.
IMO, if Coan is the starter again next season, there is no reason to believe the passing game can be anything more than mediocre especially when Bucky steps up in competition.
Next year will be a transition year for this team as they will likely lose Taylor and Biadasz and probably Cephus to the draft. Baun and Orr are done as is AJ Taylor. That’s a lot of talent to replace although I like the LBs that are up and comers.
The schedule isn’t easy either so I’d be surprised if this is a 10 win team next year. Even more reason to get Mertz some reps as the 2020 and 2021 recruiting classes are shaping up to be very good.
The best strengths of Mertz are that he possesses top notch rhythm/anticipation and accuracy on his throws. While he doesn’t have elite level arm strength he can make all the throws including the deep passes.
In a nutshell, he’s everything physically that Coan is not. I think Coan excels at the intangibles but again that will only get them so far. At some point you need to throw accurately behind 10 yards.
https://www.jsonline.com/story...rth-2020/2789614001/
Pretty optimistic article.
For $29 bucks it better be LOL.
Maybe give us the Cliff Notes BK? I get the Packers stuff not sure why my subscription not covering this.
EDIT: Better yet commit some copyright infringement it all works out in the end.
The highly touted RB prospect out of New Jersey (Jalen Berger) has narrowed his choices down to UCLA and UW. He’s supposed to announce soon and let’s hope it’s Wisconsin.
Thanks. I knew he was allowed to play in 4 games but I wasn't sure what would qualify as "playing time". My nephew played for UW Whitewater and some of the NCAA player participation rules just made zero sense at all. But enough of that. I'm just glad to hear they red-shirted Mertz
Re Coan: Without a doubt it would have been great if Coan was a reliable down field passing threat but he's not. Aside from Wilson, Coan is just another typical Badger QB = Not great , not terrible. I think this season was Coans chance to prove that he is the best QB option WI has moving forward. I guess if WI is happy with more of the same old same old then Coan is your guy. No thanks. I'd rather see what Mertz can do next season.
Maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about but why would a top flight QB want to come to Wisconsin?? If all I'm going to do is turn and hand the ball off to a Heisman caliber RB I'm looking elsewhere. Yes we have had good WR and good TE but the perception is 3 yards and a cloud of dust.
I'd like to see more balance too, but when you recruit better run blocking OL than pass blocking then you are not going to get a top passing QB to commit to Wisconsin. If anything I don't understand why a better running has not committed to Wisconsin.
You recruited Graham Mertz to finally have a QB that can make all the throws. You leave him on the bench for 2 seasons you’re telling every top shelf QB recruit that could follow a bad message.
Looking back on it, Mertz feels fortunate UW didn't hand him a starting quarterback job that he admits he wasn't ready for.
"The biggest thing was owning the playbook and mastering the playbook," he said. "For me, this season has been a great opportunity to do that. I can gladly say I grew this year."
"The offense is a tricky offense. It's an NFL offense. To be able to play in that offense, you need at least a year under your belt. I'm grateful they didn't just throw me in."
If I had to predict, I suspect Bucky starts off with both Coan and Mertz getting time. Kind of like PC did with Houston and Horni. I do fully expect Mertz to be the main guy eventually in 2020 however.
The worst thing for Coan is that he played in 6 games as a freshman and 5 as a sophomore. That means he didn't qualify as a redshirt either year. His freshman year he managed to play in 6 games and throw 5 passes. Next year is his last.
What this really means is that no one on the coaching staff thought he was the long-term answer at QB. In retrospect it was a terrible decision by the Badgers staff to waste a redshirt year in either of those years.
If Mertz can't beat out Coan (and I hope there is a competition) then it would appear that there was much ado about nothing. I trust (hope) he can.
There is no such thing as beating out with Chryst. He will play the Senior.
You believe he will sit a less talented player for someone who has been in the program longer.
Cephus does declare for the draft, have to say I am surprised but with a strong pro day he might make it well worth his time.
3rd or 4th rounder
I am fairly convinced that PC will play Coan next year. Not because he’s better than Mertz but that’s like what he does. It’s really the only gripe I have about Chryst.
To that extent, if I’m Cephus why stick around?
Tyler Biadasz declares for the NFL draft.