Badgers Football 2019

[wildcat83]

I think Coan will eventually get replaced by Mertz this year, but I have no issue with Coan getting this start. No need to put the Frosh in till he’s fully ready. Don’t need to put him in a situation where he struggles early.

 

Nelson let two receivers get by him early in the first and was only saved by two flat out drops. Nobody is calling for him to be replaced. Our historically inaccurate passing QBs on good teams and a highly touted recruit behind him sure casts Coan in a different light.

[yourout]

I think Coan will eventually get replaced by Mertz this year, but I have no issue with Coan getting this start. No need to put the Frosh in till he’s fully ready. Don’t need to put him in a situation where he struggles early.

 

Nelson let two receivers get by him early in the first and was only saved by two flat out drops. Nobody is calling for him to be replaced. Our historically inaccurate passing QBs on good teams and a highly touted recruit behind him sure casts Coan in a different light.

 

I never got the hype about Nelson last year.

He wasnt very good.

[nate82]

Coan played good tonight. Other than the two over throws on deep balls he was rather accurate with his throws tonight.

 

Taylor looked really impressive on the two catches he made. The 2nd touchdown catch was very impressive for a RB.

[yourout]

sloppy finish to the game by the starting offensive line

[yourout]

Kind of a old school Badger like win.

 

Overpowering running game.

Efficient quarterback play.

Minimal mistakes.

[wildcat83]

Watson looks good. Groshek seemed very under utilized compared to last year. Also good to see Shaw back healthy.

[young guns]

The final drive if the first half was pretty ugly. Got lucky(or just that taylor is so good) to get the td.

[homer]

if you're gonna miss on a deep ball, it's better to overthrow than underthrow (aka "The Stave")

[nate82]

if you're gonna miss on a deep ball, it's better to overthrow than underthrow (aka "The Stave")

 

The throws weren't even that bad on the overthrow. Its not like he is lofting the balls up and allowing the defenders to recover like Hornibrook was doing last year. Every deep ball that Hornibrook threw last year had too much air under it and allowed the defenders to recover when they had someone beat deep.

 

Overall I think Coan did a good job with his throws even with the two "bad" overthrows early in the game it wasn't bad. The posts earlier seem to be expecting way too much from Coan and expecting playoff Rodgers in his prime on every throw.

[HiAndTight]

I think Coan will eventually get replaced by Mertz this year, but I have no issue with Coan getting this start. No need to put the Frosh in till he’s fully ready. Don’t need to put him in a situation where he struggles early.

 

Nelson let two receivers get by him early in the first and was only saved by two flat out drops. Nobody is calling for him to be replaced. Our historically inaccurate passing QBs on good teams and a highly touted recruit behind him sure casts Coan in a different light.

 

I never got the hype about Nelson last year.

He wasnt very good.

 

Yeah, he really was. Especially in context. A freshmen safety starting in the B10? He was a sure tackler and always around the ball and helped turn around a couple early games with a big pick in a close game and another PD that turned into a breakup in back to back weeks. I mean...yeah, he wasn't Taylor Mays right out of the gate, but not sure where that "hype" you're talking about was coming from.

 

It's kinda baffling to read some of these responses. I'm genuinely curious what the people complaining would personally find acceptable if beating a talented team on the road in the 1st game of the season 49-0 wasn't?

 

You ever hear how when a team or player is playing well early on, they talk about how that team/player is "in mid-season form?" Yeah, it's because you generally aren't at your absolute best week 1 of the Season, especially with no pre-season.

 

 

I'm curious what the Packers threads are going to look like when their offense starts out extremely sluggish right out of the gate(I'd expect them to struggle the 1st quarter of the year).

[HiAndTight]

 

I seriously doubt there was another P5 Conference team that he could start for other than the Badgers.

 

 

I won't defend Hornibrook, but this is a gross exaggeration. I'd assume it was a joke, but you actually qualified your remarks by sayng you were serious. Hornibrook DOES have the best record of any Badgers QB ever(26-6) and there were times he was brilliant(Miami bowl game). You DO remember we went 13-1, lost 27-21 in the B10 Title game and Hornibrook had a pretty solid year his soph year, right? So he as a TD away from putting us in the CFB playoffs. And this is the guy who couldn't start for ANY other power 5 schools?

 

Fans seem to only remember the worst when a guy leaves a team on bad terms. Like I said, he was good at times, average most of the time and bad at the worst times, but if you don't think there are any other Power5 schools he'd start for, I don't think you're watching much CFB. I'd guess he'd start for probably half of them this ye

 

 

But Hornibrook is gone and good riddance. Not so much because of his play...he looked to be ascending his Freshmen to Sophomore year, Soph to Jr and then just totally lost the team last year and he's just been petty posting annoying little comments on twitter.

 

Jack Coan is our starting QB and we got the #1 Pro-style QB in the country this past year, some nice weapons outside...no reason to be looking back at Hornibrook when the future looks so bright.

 

Coan either settles in, makes those easy throws...and he'll likely get more opportunities with Taylor back there and a really nice OL and what thus far appears to be a potentially elite defense.

 

And if we're 4 games into the season and Coan can't get it going...and Mertz was actually as close as many on here are assuming, hopefully we follow a poor mans Clemson route and insert the Freshmen that propels us the reset of the year.

[MrTPlush]

I thought Coan played well. He was accurate outside of the deep balls (which he really only threw two of) and made good decisions (outside of maybe the last second TD before half). If he plays like those every week he isn’t going to lose his job.

 

MERTZ IS A FRESHMAN...one that clearly was outplayed in camp and wasn’t as good. If he can’t even play better than Coan in practice you are sadly mistaken if you think he can be anywhere near as good in a real game. The hype train needs to halt and not be critical of Coan’s every move.

 

I don’t get being critical of Nelson either. Yes, he was sloppy early on, but he and the rest of the secondary settled down for the most part after that. It is a secondary that still features a freshman safety and a bunch of sophomores.

 

The real problems:

 

1) The kicker. New kicker with zero experience missed a somewhat short field goal. No one will give a rip because the game was already a joke, but that that was a real bad start. They can’t afford to have a crummy kicker if they want to win close games against good schools.

 

2) O-Line. I’m not saying they were bad...but it was a very shaky performance. The announcer said some stat that we only had 18 rushing plays that went for a loss last year. I’m almost positive we had over half that before I turned the game off a tad into the 4th quarter. It may be partially Coan’s fault, but there were times USF looked like they were going to bring the house, did, and Coan just crumbled to the ground. Gotta figure out how to block or audible to a quick pass.

[OldHeidelberg]

I think Coan will eventually get replaced by Mertz this year, but I have no issue with Coan getting this start. No need to put the Frosh in till he’s fully ready. Don’t need to put him in a situation where he struggles early.

 

Nelson let two receivers get by him early in the first and was only saved by two flat out drops. Nobody is calling for him to be replaced. Our historically inaccurate passing QBs on good teams and a highly touted recruit behind him sure casts Coan in a different light.

 

 

Yeah, and we have really had a long string of bad QB's recently so when Coan looks mediocre it's pretty easy to throw him on the pile. I was optimistic about him when he took over last season but he hasn't really shown much. Now that the defense had a good showing the QB position is even more magnified, with Taylor making teams stack the box and a deep WR core some good QB play could really make this a good season. But it's college, as someone else pointed out we almost went unbeaten with AH.

 

I don't know how good South Florida is but I was expecting more of a 27-10 game. The announcers seemed to think they should be good offensively so the defense pitching the shutout was really impressive. Great start.

[ZBTMP]

 

I never got the hype about Nelson last year.

He wasnt very good.

 

Yeah, he really was. Especially in context. A freshmen safety starting in the B10? He was a sure tackler and always around the ball and helped turn around a couple early games with a big pick in a close game and another PD that turned into a breakup in back to back weeks. I mean...yeah, he wasn't Taylor Mays right out of the gate, but not sure where that "hype" you're talking about was coming from.

 

I give you credit for repressing the Minnesota disaster, but that was one of the most brutal tackling performances I've seen from a player. He is great when he is the "center fielder" reading plays on the backend, but when he is required to play man coverage or fill a gap in the run game he has been exposed a bit. He was freshmen so its not like he cant improve but the coaches have to be willing to pull the plug if a team is repeatedly exposing him.

[PeaveyFury]

A few additional thoughts this morning:

 

Taylor obviously is the big story. The o-line play was inconsistent as others noted, but they opened up some great holes, and I love the apparent plan to get Taylor the ball in the passing game. If he becomes a Montee Ball-type receiving the ball, he'll be in New York at the end of the year for sure.

 

The o-line is inexperienced, but the talent is there. Seemed like Chryst's plan passing the ball set them up for success, generally. Coan was great with the quick throws and short/middle passes that help limit a pass rush. Excited to watch the unit (hopefully) mature as we head through this year.

 

The defense certainly looked better than last year, though obviously it's one game. It's fairly apparent how the inexperience and significant injuries to key players last year hurt the 2018 defense. They've talked up Baun for a couple of years now, and now that he's healthy, he looked like a potential monster pash rusher.

 

Someone compared Coan last night to Tolzien in his time as starter with the Badgers- yep. If he plays like Tolzien did, they'll win a lot of games. Manage the game, hit the easy/moderate throws, and HANG ON TO THE BALL (unlike Hornibrook's 2 devastating bone-headed INT's a game). That's all Wisconsin truly needs at QB with their running game.

 

Kicking.... ugh. I fear this is going to be a major problem, but hopefully that was just first game jitters. But that FG was ugly.

 

Finally, this game was supposed to be a legit challenge for Wisconsin on the road. The line was -11-ish, (10.5 at kickoff, I believe) and they dismantled them in a way I'd have expected them to dismantle directional Michigan next weekend. A very impressive, very exciting performance overall.

[homer]

Some of UW's best seasons were kicked off with an iffy first couple of games. I wouldn't read much into this one good or bad.

[HiAndTight]

 

I never got the hype about Nelson last year.

He wasnt very good.

 

Yeah, he really was. Especially in context. A freshmen safety starting in the B10? He was a sure tackler and always around the ball and helped turn around a couple early games with a big pick in a close game and another PD that turned into a breakup in back to back weeks. I mean...yeah, he wasn't Taylor Mays right out of the gate, but not sure where that "hype" you're talking about was coming from.

 

I give you credit for repressing the Minnesota disaster, but that was one of the most brutal tackling performances I've seen from a player. He is great when he is the "center fielder" reading plays on the backend, but when he is required to play man coverage or fill a gap in the run game he has been exposed a bit. He was freshmen so its not like he cant improve but the coaches have to be willing to pull the plug if a team is repeatedly exposing him.

 

I'm not repressing anything, I'm taking the season as a whole, not breaking it down to his worst game and identifying him by that.

 

And no, of course, he's not good in man. That was like two years ago when they put Ferguson(The safety) in man vs Campbell from Ohio State. The best corners in the country will get burned.

 

He's not a CB, so I don't expect him to be able to keep up in coverage with guys running a 4.3.

 

But I disagree, I do think he's good at coming up and filling. He did a great job of it vs a good team with a lot of athletes.

[wildcat83]

I didn’t mean to start a Nelson debate, other than the two early coverages he played pretty well. I was simply pointing out that one guy made two mistakes in the first few minutes of the first game and flew totally under the radar, while another made two mistakes in the same time frame and 4 people posted they were done with him. Fair or not Coan will be under a gigantic microscope this year. Coan screams game manager to me right now. If a team like Michigan stacks the box and shuts down or limits Taylor, then we’ll see if he can make enough plays with his arm. If not, people will be screaming for Mertz and the upside of that arm talent.

 

The OL looked shaky at times. They said there were 10 TFLs and that was early 4th quarter I believe. They have a wealth of options there, so you have to think that gets ironed out one way or another. With the two walk ons starting at G there are some pretty high recruits waiting in the wings. You have to think someone steps up, it’s not like the DL last year where they literally ran out of bodies.

 

Speaking of the DL, the biggest weakness last year was a strength last night. Those young guys along the front were STOUT. We’ll see how they hold up against a power run game in the Big 10, but that front 7 looked great last night.

[JosephC]

Coan was excellent last night, as was pretty much the entire team. Even on Coan's two overthrows, on one of them it was very obvious that the defensive back held up Cephus and threw off the timing of the play. Coan was absolutely on fire in the second and third quarter, didn't come anywhere near throwing an interception and completed 73% of his passes. There is no way he is getting replaced by anyone if he keeps performing like that.

 

Defense was also tremendous at all three levels. How many missed tackles last night? Not very many. Fast and physical and fundamentally sound.

 

I only had one concern and that is the new kicker missed his only field goal attempt. Just love the way the rest of the team played.

 

Maybe South Florida will just suck this year, Charlie Strong looks more and more like a big pretender when it comes to college football coaches. But even if South Florida are bad, bad teams need to get beat by 40 points and the Badgers did what they needed to do and dominated them.

 

My biggest gripe was listening to flunkie Dave Flemming's AWFUL play-by-play last night. How far can a broadcaster have his head stuck up one player's butt? Based on what I saw last night, there is a reason why South Florida's QB has been with 3 different schools so far, and that's because he's not very good.

[MrTPlush]

Yah, did you know that USF QB has had 6 different offensive coordinators in his career?

 

Oh and did you know that USF QB has had 6 different offensive coordinators in his career?

 

Last point I’d like to mention is did you know that USF QB has had 6 different offensive coordinators in his career?

[OldHeidelberg]

One thing that was really apparent is that Cephus just a couple of weeks back with the team is already the #1 guy. Getting him back is really a shot in the arm to this teams chances this year, he was emerging as an all conference caliber guy when he went down with the knee injury in 17. I like all the other receivers but I don't think any are on his level, maybe Pryor will get there.

[lcbj68c]

I get all things are never "equal", but I don't understand why Mertz is not starting. I am watching Hank Bachmeier, a true Freshman for Boise State the entire game and he has Boise very much in that game on the road at Florida State. Mertz was probably a higher recruit (I'll admit I didn't look) than Bachmeier with a better coach and supporting cast. I don't understand why talent doesn't win out and you don't allow Mertz to grow from being on the field.

[PeaveyFury]

I get all things are never "equal", but I don't understand why Mertz is not starting. I am watching Hank Bachmeier, a true Freshman for Boise State the entire game and he has Boise very much in that game on the road at Florida State. Mertz was probably a higher recruit (I'll admit I didn't look) than Bachmeier with a better coach and supporting cast. I don't understand why talent doesn't win out and you don't allow Mertz to grow from being on the field.

 

Coan wasn't exactly a walk-on. He was a 4-star QB recruit himself. I'd rather win games now and let Mertz redshirt than to throw him in and hope he can upset Michigan with two starts under his belt...

[lcbj68c]

I understand that POV. I'd just rather Mertz get beat by Michigan in 2019, if it meant he learned something to beat them in 2021 when it is likely to matter more.

[PeaveyFury]

I guess I'm not a fan of potentially throwing away an opportunity for a good season away for a chance to be better 3 years from now.