The checklist of “to-do items” for Wisconsin Badgers quarterback Jack Coan has not changed. Coan’s priorities against the Ohio State Buckeyes this Saturday night in the Big Ten Championship Game are not different from Oct. 26, the date of the first meeting between these two teams in Columbus. In this Indianapolis reunion, Coan doesn’t have a different battle plan. The key is to simply actualize it. He didn’t in the Horseshoe several weeks ago.
We know that a Wisconsin victory becomes a lot more possible if Coan can move the sticks on third and five. It was true in late October. It will be true on the first Saturday of December. We don’t need to explain the importance of that statement a second time. We don’t have to revisit that discussion point in great detail. It is self-evident that Wisconsin must keep Justin Fields on the sideline as much as humanly possible.
There are two primary angles connected to Coan’s rematch against Ohio State. In this first piece (part two will soon follow), I will stress the point that Coan has very clearly evolved and is in a position to build on that evolution on Saturday night.
Jack Coan’s evolution in 2019 is most profoundly seen in the two bad-weather games he has played. The first was the Ohio State game in Columbus. The second one was this past weekend against Minnesota, also a road game. Yes, it is true that Ohio State has Chase Young and Minnesota does not. Yes, the Buckeyes have athletes — and depth — on a scale the Gophers lack. No one needs to be reminded of these obvious truths.
Nevertheless, Coan handled bad weather and big-game pressure with so much more steadiness and command in Minneapolis. Instructively, it’s not as though Wisconsin’s ground game flourished against Minnesota. Coan did not throw for 280 yards and a number of big plays because the Badgers established their ground game. Jonathan Taylor was held in check. P.J. Fleck would have liked his chances of winning if told that Taylor would be held to 76 rushing yards. Coan was asked to do more… and he did more.
Coan didn’t have to be the hero against Iowa, Nebraska or Purdue, not with the offensive line blasting open big holes for Taylor and the ground game. Those games required competent, game-manager-level performances from Coan, which he delivered. The Minnesota game was likely to require something extra from Coan. In bad weather, the quarterback gave Paul Chryst and his defense exactly that. This is the evolution of Coan, whose confidence ought to be sky-high heading into Indianapolis.
Now, as Coan’s reward for evolving in bad-weather conditions against quality opposition, he gets to throw in a climate-controlled environment. His feel for a wet ball wasn’t great in Columbus, but it dramatically improved in Minneapolis. Now, Coan can throw without worrying about the ball sliding, or the wind changing the flight path, or his receivers possibly slipping. An evolving quarterback gets to play in ideal conditions for a passing game and an offense. Everything Coan and Wisconsin lacked on Oct. 26 in the Shoe can rise to the forefront on Dec. 7 in Lucas Oil Stadium.
This is one clear reason Wisconsin has a legitimate hope of pulling off a significant upset… and winning its first Big Ten title in seven years.