The revenge storyline was bound to come up this week. Sure, there is the incredible storyline of how we got here in the first place. Cancelled seasons, parent protests, a global pandemic still raging, and three different schedules in the past few months. There is the story of redshirt-freshman QB Graham Mertz making his first collegiate start under the lights but also under the gaze of only a few hundred people this Friday night with only family in attendance. Yet, for anybody on last year’s team, this game still has to mean just a bit more. It’s a chance for redemption.
Wisconsin was on top of the world heading into the 2019 version of this Big Ten battle. A 6-0 team ready to play Ohio State on the road the following week, and a team that looked every part of a CFP contender. So, what lead to a 24-23 loss on the road at Illinois as 30.5 point Vegas favorites? The Badgers beat themselves.
Two fourth quarter turnovers — a Jonathan Taylor fumble and a Jack Coan interception — led to the biggest upset of the Big Ten calendar in 2019. The first thing that senior RB Garrett Groshek mentioned this morning in the first game week press conference of the year? Ball secruity.
In looking back at the upset loss a year ago, Groshek felt that Wisconsin beat themselves even more than the Fighting Illini took it to the Badgers. “The big thing was ball security,” said the senior back. “If we are able to hold on to the ball that game probably has a different outcome.”
A large portion of that task falls on the young shoulders of Graham Mertz in his first ever start as a Wisconsin Badger. Taking care of the football was something that Jack Coan did better than almost anybody in the country (aside from the road loss at Illinois), throwing only five interceptions through all of 2019. The Badgers will need that kind of attention to detail from the talented right arm of Mertz.
If you check the box score after the game on Friday night and see a goose egg in the turnover column, chances are you will also see a one in the win column for Wisconsin.