The Wisconsin Badgers and redshirt freshman quarterback Graham Mertz have had a rough go of it since their 49-11 victory over the Michigan Wolverines.
Their poor performances can be attributed to several factors–the team constantly missing games due to COVID-19 protocols, injuries to key positions, inexperience on offense and more.
Related: Studs and duds from the Badgers’ 28-7 loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes
But one of the biggest factors has been the play of the quarterback, a guy who now has turned the ball over eight times in three games and has struggled to bring his team into the end zone.
Now not all of those turnovers are his fault, as yesterday’s fumble can be fully attributed to wide receiver Chimere Dike running into the football while Mertz was handing it off to Nakia Watson in the backfield.
The fumble:
-Dike (yet again) makes a horrible and easily-avoided mistake (last wk it was forgetting to block down the field)
-They're faking the sweep to him BUT HE RUNS RIGHT INTO WHERE MERTZ IS HANDING OFF THE BALL
-I don't know what else to say. That just can't happen pic.twitter.com/nIHboHcaCu— Ben Kenney (@benzkenney) December 14, 2020
But a lot of the offensive miscues are on the quarterback and the things that he has to fix as he develops throughout his career.
Last week I broke down the film of his performance against Indiana, citing his tendency to lock on to Jake Ferguson and his decision-making as two things that would need to improve moving forward.
Related: Five takeaways from Wisconsin’s 28-7 loss to Iowa
Well, yesterday against Iowa those problems persisted, as Mertz threw for just 169 yards and turned the ball over twice.
In this piece, I go through the Iowa game and show you the good, the bad and the questionable from his performance.