Bucky sticks it to the Illini

Mark87 said:
UW needs to be recruiting Kansas more....I watch HS ball there every week. They have kids that fit UW to a tee but with more skills than some of the homegrown natives. Yes, that is consider sacred in the state but WFCA needs to be told to sit down and shut it already.
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I've watched a few of their games out there. I saw a couple when Mertz was a senior. That's why I was so excited about seeing him choose Wisconsin. My cousin, who lives out there, and played college football and ended up not playing in the NFL because of stenosis knows their family, and Wisconsin has always been on of Graham's favorite teams. The family still spends summer vacations in Door County, and there's a lot of relatives of his Mom up in Green Bay.

From what I've been told, when he decided on Wisconsin, it was like him choosing to go back to his family roots, even though his Dad played for Minnesota.

Now he has to fulfill the promise of what we saw in his first game. This could be the start of something big, or it could fizzle. I do know one thing. Teams will no longer be able to sell out on defending against the run. They need to worry about his being able to find the open receivers. This is such a departure "at this point," from previous Badger teams. I saw a little bit of what we saw when Russell Wilson was under center. Though, Graham is not as good a runner.
 
I remember Lou Saban. Wasn't he the first Boston Patriots coach also? Trying to remember.

But I am that old. I just hit 80 a couple of days ago.
 
If we want Mertz to succed long term the Badgers need to start getting better recurits into WI. For 2021 they only have 1 WR a 3 star kid named Skyler Ball and 1 TE a 4 star kid named Jack Pugh right now have zero players for the 2022 class. You can't expect to give the kid dog food and make steak out of it.
 
The Good
  • Great job by Chryst for putting Mertz in a position to succeed. Very few high stress throws. His best throw of the night was the down and up throw to Ferguson on the sideline
  • Ferguson’s bouncing back from the fumble. That’s what upperclassman do
  • Herbig will be the next great UW LB. Good instincts and can move
  • Groshek was solid but not spectacular and that’s fine. It’s his ceiling and he’s reliable
  • Loudermilk needs to stay healthy. Can push and pocket and stuff the run. Played great
The Bad
  • WR’s. Very pedestrian. Maybe Berger can step in at some point split and get looks
  • Watson just does not have great vision and in the zone scheme you are going to get stuffed
  • Guerendo was tentative but probably has the most upside of the group. Again maybe Berger breaks the 2 deep
  • Vujnovich was inconsistent. Needs to get better
Other Stuff
  • As good as the offense looked Illinois was playing without it’s top 2 defenders for the majority of the 1st half.
  • Have to learn to defend the read option. That’s was a pretty pedestrian QB getting chunk plays
 
Packinatl said:
His best throw of the night was the down and up throw to Ferguson on the sideline
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i preferred the 53 yard td pass to davis. davis was wide open, but that ball hit him in stride, allowing him to score a td just before time expired in the first half.
 
realitybytes said:
i preferred the 53 yard td pass to davis. davis was wide open, but that ball hit him in stride, allowing him to score a td just before time expired in the first half.
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Reason I liked the throw to 84 was the coverage was tight and just dropped a dime. Don’t get me wrong the throw to Davis was nice.
 
Packinatl said:
Reason I liked the throw to 84 was the coverage was tight and just dropped a dime. Don’t get me wrong the throw to Davis was nice.
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both throws were good. i just thought with this being mertz' first start, he showed a lot of poise on that play to make that throw with so little time left in the half. i thought it was big-time.
 
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