Wisconsin finished its fifth season under head coach Paul Chryst as Chryst improved his overall record to 52-16 and has a posted a 34-10 record in conference games. After not winning the Big Ten West Division title in 2018 the Badgers were back in Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship game as the West representative for the fourth time in the last six years since the Big Ten went to its current format.
In this Badgers Wire feature we will examine the play of Wisconsin’s quarterback from the 2019 season and take a sneak into what the 2020 season may have in store for the position:
Entering the season there was much speculation about highly touted true freshman quarterback Graham Mertz and how much he would play and if he would eventually overtake Jack Coan as the starter.
Mertz ended up only appearing in two games as he went 9-for-10 on his throws resulting in 73 yards.
With Coan starting all 14 games for Wisconsin and helping guide the Badgers to a 10-4 record he’ll enter the 2020 season once again as the likely favorite to start.
In particular, Coan over his last six games of the year played some really good football as over that stretch he went 99-for-155 (63.8 percent) on his passing for 1,236 yards, and eight touchdowns to three interceptions.
Coan was one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the country as he posted an efficiency rating of 151.8, which ranked 19th nationally as only Ohio State’s Justin Fields (181.4) and Minnesota’s Tanner Morgan (178.7) ranked higher than Coan from the Big Ten.
Coan finished the season with five interceptions but in three consecutive weeks against Illinois, Ohio State, and Iowa he was responsible for a turnover.
Coan’s efficiency on offense helped lead Wisconsin to average 34.1 points per game their highest scoring average since 2014 (34.6 points per game) and Wisconsin’s offense averaged 433.2 yards of total offense.
In particular, with the strength of Wisconsin’s run game and with opponents consistently loading the box it forced Coan to beat teams with his arm in order to help take the pressure off of the run game.
Coan toward the end of the season showed he was capable of making passes at all three levels. Coan will need to continue to work on this area though as he goes into his senior season particularly with his deeper throws.
Redshirt freshman Chase Wolf was the only other quarterback to see the field as he appeared in three games completing his only pass for two yards.
2020 Wisconsin Quarterbacks
Coan’s play over the season likely didn’t warrant another quarterback competition as he averaged 194.7 yards passing, had 18 touchdown passes, and also ran for four touchdowns. Mertz certainly has the talent to be Wisconsin’s starter and with him having a year under his belt should allow him to be more comfortable in Wisconsin’s system and possibly challenge for the starting position.