Badger Football 2021

[DuWayne Steurer]

Outside of Army there might not be another win on the schedule.

 

 

Rutgers has to play OSU and MSU the next few weeks. Let's see how real they actually are. We might have 2 more wins on the schedule. And Nebraska could be 3.

[MrTPlush]

Outside of Army there might not be another win on the schedule.

 

Illinois and Army are arguably the cupcake opponents leff…but still a bunch of other not great teams to face.

 

Assuming they lose today I still figure they get to 6 wins. They will be in trouble if they don’t win against both Illinois and Army.

[PinaMadness]

That's not PI????

[adambr2]

How in the world is that not PI?

[yourout]

Man is Melluzi is easy to get to the ground. Edited October 2, 2021 by yourout

[MrTPlush]

He tried to sell the PI…but it didn’t look like all that much. Still feels like it warranted a flag though.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Man is Melluzi is easy to get to the ground.

 

Decent burst, seems like he has good vision to find the hole quickly, but you're right. Seems like first contact takes him down more often than not. He's not a *tough* runner. At all.

[LouisEly]

I started a game thread - please place Michigan game posts in that thread

[PinaMadness]

I started a game thread - please place Michigan game posts in that thread

I was thinking about starting one but I wasn't sure if the peons were allowed to do that.

[yourout]

Man is Melluzi is easy to get to the ground.

 

Decent burst, seems like he has good vision to find the hole quickly, but you're right. Seems like first contact takes him down more often than not. He's not a *tough* runner. At all.

 

That was the thing about Taylor that went somewhat unnoticed. He was always on his feet.

It took a lot to get him on the ground.

[balsamlaker]

In the NFL your top paid players need to play well to win. In college football, I feel like your top paid coaches need to do similar. Leonhard is doing great. Rudolph is next on the pay scale and had play calling taken from him and had strong lines from 17-19, but otherwise has had average at best results. I think Haering is third on the pay scale with very mixed results and does not help out the coaching staff coaching other positions like many special teams coaches which takes away coaching flexibility with a ten-coach staff. Which brings me to my ultimate head scratcher from the offseason - why did Chryst replace his departing quarterback coach with a cornerback coach (unless this was required to keep Leonhard from GB)? He put a great deal of responsibility on himself as head coach, coordinator, and quarterback coach. Did he think his nephew, who has never coached, would make all the difference?

[yourout]

In the NFL your top paid players need to play well to win. In college football, I feel like your top paid coaches need to do similar. Leonhard is doing great. Rudolph is next on the pay scale and had play calling taken from him and had strong lines from 17-19, but otherwise has had average at best results. I think Haering is third on the pay scale with very mixed results and does not help out the coaching staff coaching other positions like many special teams coaches which takes away coaching flexibility with a ten-coach staff. Which brings me to my ultimate head scratcher from the offseason - why did Chryst replace his departing quarterback coach with a cornerback coach (unless this was required to keep Leonhard from GB)? He put a great deal of responsibility on himself as head coach, coordinator, and quarterback coach. Did he think his nephew, who has never coached, would make all the difference?

 

If Chryst doesn't make some changes to the coaching staff on the offensive side this offseason he may not be around long.

[pacopete4]

Jump Around should take a back seat until we are a respectable program again. Feels embarrassing.

[nodakfan17]

[sarcasm]I expected better things from a QB with his own logo.[/sarcasm]

[yourout]

[sarcasm]I expected better things from a QB with his own logo.[/sarcasm]

 

He got his own label today as well and it's a big yellow M and it doesn't stand for Mertz.

[MrTPlush]

Jack Coan is likely out as the Notre Dame QB. Can he transfer mid season and just start playing for us…

[yourout]

While there's been a few subpar units along the way this offensive line is the worst in the last 30 years. And the sad thing is it has the highest ranked recruits ever.

If things don't change Joe Rudolph is going to get his buddy fired

[pacopete4]

Coan being benched at ND is somewhat comical.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Coan being benched at ND is somewhat comical.

 

Yep ... especially considering that Mertz actually looked a lot better before getting trucked today.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Coan being benched at ND is somewhat comical.

 

Yep ... especially considering that Mertz actually looked a lot better before getting trucked today.

 

A lot better than what? He's looked pretty brutal so far, so looking a lot better than "awful" isn't a high bar to clear. He started 0-4 and was 8-15 for 115. I'm not gonna draw a lot of conclusions from that.

 

Fair or not, Coan and Mertz are going to be compared going forward, but we have what we have. It is what it is. Mertz sucks, this offense sucks, and Cryst, right now, sucks. One half of "doesn't suck" qb play isn't enough to get me close to excited about this team how it stands right now. Michigan did ANYTHING they wanted in the 2nd half, and Mertz being in there wasn't going to change that one bit. The O-line is going to get whatever QB we have killed, whether it's Coan, Mertz, Wolff, Dan Marino, or a space robot. Doesn't matter. Unless/until Cryst figures out "running the same 5 plays over and over" isn't working (it's not) and injects some life into the offense with some motion, some wrinkles, creativity or SOMETHING, we have bigger things to worry about than Coan and ND.

[MrTPlush]

Coan being benched at ND is somewhat comical.

 

Yah, only thing more comical is our former QB getting benched somewhere yet is still light years better than the guy we have to trot out.

[LouisEly]

While there's been a few subpar units along the way this offensive line is the worst in the last 30 years. And the sad thing is it has the highest ranked recruits ever.

If things don't change Joe Rudolph is going to get his buddy fired

Those highly ranked recruits are freshman and redshirt freshmen. Their starting tackles were mid-three stars and one starting guard is a former walk on.

 

The young guys weren't able to practice much last year and Brown was hurt in 2019 so he hasn't practiced much even though it's his third year.

 

That being said, Rudolph needs to go. Not only is he the o-line coach but he's also the running game coordinator.

[MrTPlush]

So what is everyone thinking for final record. They have been bad, but this was a brutal open to the season. Things from here on out are way more generous. Not easy for a not great team like this years Badgers, but games are much more winnable. Assuming they win their next two games I still think they get to 6 wins, 7 wins wouldn’t shock me. If they lose against Illinois or Army I’d get a little more nervous. The offense is horrid, but it can only go up and the defense should help win games against less daunting opponents.

 

Of course they probably need a healthy Mertz (no matter how much he sucks) and for the love of god could they please stop turning it over so much.

[nate82]

So what is everyone thinking for final record. They have been bad, but this was a brutal open to the season. Things from here on out are way more generous. Not easy for a not great team like this years Badgers, but games are much more winnable. Assuming they win their next two games I still think they get to 6 wins, 7 wins wouldn’t shock me. If they lose against Illinois or Army I’d get a little more nervous. The offense is horrid, but it can only go up and the defense should help win games against less daunting opponents.

 

Of course they probably need a healthy Mertz (no matter how much he sucks) and for the love of god could they please stop turning it over so much.

 

Of the 8 remaining games I think they go 4-4. Which puts them at 5 wins on the year and no bowl game, if the Badgers don't get to a bowl game I think that will get PC fired which is a good thing. The Badgers could go 7-1 and that would put them in a bowl game but I have no confidence in PC making changes and adjustments to the offense to fit the players that he has.

 

The pessimist in me is saying the team goes 2-6 only winning against Army and Minnesota.

[CheezWizHed]

Coan being benched at ND is somewhat comical.

 

Sad for us, yes. But I can't say I'm surprised. The 3rd string QB outplayed him pretty significantly. As I've said elsewhere, Coan is a good game-managing QB, but not more. ND sees that is is betting on the younger QBs.