Tag: Wisconsin

Wisconsin should revel in Nebraska’s failures

An explanation of why Nebraska’s failures are meaningful to the Wisconsin Badgers, and should give UW fans a measure of satisfaction.

Let’s be clear at the outset of this piece: When I say that the Wisconsin Badgers should revel in the failures of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, I don’t mean to imply or suggest that Wisconsin fans should laugh at Nebraska. No. This is not about spitting at or looking down on an opponent. I wish to convey the point that Nebraska’s inability to rise to the top tier of the Big Ten should make Wisconsin fans happy. This is an important reality to grasp on the eve of the latest football reunion between the two schools on Saturday.

Wisconsin fans, everyone else in the Big Ten, and all other college football fans in the United States know that Nebraska is immersed in an identity crisis. The Huskers were solid under Bo Pelini, often winning nine games in a season and coming close to winning a conference championship on a few occasions, but they have never regained the top-tier status they had under Frank Solich in 2001. Nebraska has played in a handful of huge games this century, but the Huskers have clearly lost their status as a program which is annually relevant in college football.

This is not funny. This is not worth laughing at. It is a reality Wisconsin fans should cherish because of what the Badgers have been able to achieve… and how they have achieved it.

What was the foundation of Nebraska’s elite status in college football, in the Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne years? Big offensive linemen knocking the snot out of the opposition. What is and has been Wisconsin’s calling card since Barry Alvarez remade and transformed the program in the early 1990s? Big offensive linemen knocking the snot out of the opposition (much as the Badgers did against Iowa this past Saturday).

The thing which made Nebraska great is the thing which made Wisconsin great… and Wisconsin is continuously winning with this identity firmly intact. Nebraska can’t get those farm-grown linemen. Nebraska can’t develop elite offensive line play. Nebraska can’t regain sledgehammer force in the trenches. That is WISCONSIN’S brand. That is WISCONSIN’S identity.

Here is something for Wisconsin fans to briefly contemplate: Yes, Minnesota might win the Big Ten West this year (though hopefully, Iowa will rise up and enable the Badgers to win the division on Nov. 30 in Minneapolis), but even if the Gophers do win the division, Wisconsin could go 10-2 in this 2019 regular season. Do you want to know how many 10-win regular seasons Nebraska has had since 2001, when it played Miami for the national title? Two.

Want to know how many 10-win (or more) regular seasons Wisconsin has had since 2014? Three. Want to know how many 10-win regular seasons Wisconsin has had this decade? Five. It will be six if the Badgers can beat Nebraska, Purdue, and Minnesota to round out their 12-game slate in 2019.

Nebraska fans would kill for Wisconsin’s level of success. Think about that. Nebraska was playing for national championships 25 years ago, when Barry Alvarez got the Badgers off the ground and roaring. The 1995 Nebraska team is the greatest team I have personally witnessed in my years following college football. Who would have possibly imagined 20 years ago that in 2019, Wisconsin — and not Nebraska — would be nationally relevant?

Nebraska’s failures magnify Wisconsin’s successes. Wisconsin’s successes make it all the more striking that the Huskers haven’t been able to replicate their own formula, the formula Barry Alvarez used and passed along to both Bret Bielema and now Paul Chryst.

No one needs to laugh at Nebraska’s misfortune. Simply know that each year Nebraska fails to recover or revive itself, is a year in which Wisconsin retains the identity of being the foremost program with a commitment to muscular and punishing line play. What Nebraska used to be is what Wisconsin now is — maybe not to the extent that the Badgers are playing for national titles, but certainly when viewed through the prism of being nationally relevant and a good bet to win 10 games a year.

Wisconsin fans don’t have to be happy due to Nebraska’s struggles. They should be happy, however, that Nebraska’s failures make it easier to marvel at and appreciate the Badgers’ successes over an extended period of time.

Wisconsin, not Ohio State, is Nebraska’s main Big Ten roadblock

A reminder about the brief period of Big Ten history connecting the Wisconsin Badgers and the Nebraska Cornhuskers

It is not breaking news to note that the Wisconsin Badgers, not the Ohio State Buckeyes (or Penn State Nittany Lions, or Michigan Wolverines), represent the foremost roadblock to progress for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. As the latest Wisconsin-Nebraska game approaches this Saturday, it is worth offering a reminder that the Badgers are more responsible for holding back the Huskers than anyone else in the Big Ten Conference.

Wisconsin holds the distinction of being the only team to play — and beat — Nebraska in a Big Ten Championship Game. Before the divisions were realigned, the Badgers and Huskers played in the 2012 game. A Wisconsin blowout not only prevented Bo Pelini from giving Nebraska its first (only) conference championship of the 21st century; it humiliated Pelini and left a lasting mark which, in the course of time, helped usher him out of Lincoln.

Yes, Pelini’s lack of people skills — an abrasive manner which rubbed people the wrong way — led to his exit from Nebraska, but if he had been winning conference titles, Pelini’s lack of tact and decorum probably would have been tolerated to a much bigger degree. When Nebraska and Wisconsin moved into the same division, the Big Ten West, Wisconsin hounded Nebraska and remained the foremost obstacle for the Huskers on their path to Big Ten glory.

Nebraska has beaten Wisconsin only once since the Huskers joined the Big Ten at the start of this decade. Nebraska has never beaten the Badgers since the formation of the current Big Ten West. We can point out that if Nebraska ever does win the Big Ten West, Ohio State will probably be looming in the Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis. Yet, it seems rather silly to center Ohio State in this discussion when Wisconsin has been extremely effective in barring Nebraska from Indianapolis. The Badgers haven’t needed Ohio State’s help, thank you very much. UW has made sure that Nebraska has remained without a conference title this century.

If Scott Frost wants to improve his program, he has to beat the team which will stare down his Cornhuskers on Saturday. The latest Wisconsin-Nebraska game is a time to remind ourselves which school stands squarely in Nebraska’s path on the road to revival.

Top remaining targets for Wisconsin in the class of 2021

With the all of the members of the 2020 recruiting class signed, here’s a look at Wisconsin’s top remaining targets in the class of 2021.

Wisconsin has officially secured its five scholarship commits in the class of 2020, as Ben Carlson, Johnny and Jordan Davis, Lorne Bowman, and Steven Crowl all put pen to paper and signed their letters of intent to play for Greg Gard on the first day of the early signing period yesterday.

As it has been a while now, all eyes are now on the 2021 class, where the Badgers are off to a fantastic start early on with commitments from Matthew Mors, Chris Hodges, and Chucky Hepburn. However, the staff is looking to add at least one and possibly even two more prospects to this class.

Here the top three remaining targets on Wisconsin’s board.

1. Julian Roper – Shooting Guard

Hometown: Franklin, Mich.

Rankings (per the 247Sports composite): 4-star (No. 36 SG, No. 152 overall)

Other offers: Northwestern, Alabama, DePaul, Illinois, Iowa, Miami (Ohio), Missouri, Ohio State and Toledo

Wisconsin has been a major player in Roper’s recruitment since extending an offer to the 6-3, 183-pound prospect in February, to the point where the Badgers could very well be the favorite as things stand today.

An athletic, high-upside guard who can slash to the basket and knock down shots from outside, Wisconsin doesn’t have players like Roper in its backcourt very often, and Gard and company have heavily prioritized him as a result. Additionally, it certainly doesn’t hurt the Badgers’ chances that they have Bowman, a high school teammate of Roper, in his ear about continuing their partnership in the backcourt at the next level.

Wisconsin is in such good shape here that many Badger fans felt there was a possibility Roper would pull the trigger and commit during his official visit last weekend, though that ultimately did not come to pass.

While Wisconsin has been trending in Roper’s recruitment, if it isn’t able to lock him down before the start of the AAU season in the spring, the competition is likely to ramp up significantly given his talent and the fact that he plays on the high-profile Nike EYBL circuit. Keep a particularly close eye on what in-state powers Michigan and Michigan State do here, as the Wolverines and the Spartans remain in play even though offers haven’t been extended.

2. Logan Duncomb – Center

Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio

Rankings (per the 247Sports composite): 4-star (No. 15 C, No. 123 overall)

Other offers: Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State, Cincinnati, Miami (Ohio), Winthrop and Xavier

Wisconsin already has a couple of frontcourt prospects committed in Mors and Hodges, but the staff wouldn’t mind adding a center to this class as well.

The Badgers have offered two 4-star recruits at the position in Duncomb and Jackson Grant (Olympia, Wash.), but the latter is off the board after committing to Washington last week. However, the good news is that Wisconsin appears to be sitting in a pretty good position for Duncomb at the moment.

The 6-9, 225-pound center has the typical skill set that the Badgers love to have in their system with his versatile, inside out offensive package, so it’s no surprise that Duncomb has become a priority target for the staff.

As with Roper, the Badgers were able to snag a crucial official visit from Duncomb in October.

An Iowa legacy, the Hawkeyes are a major factor in the recruitment as well, and Wisconsin is also facing stiff competition from Indiana and Ohio State at the moment.

3. Patrick Baldwin Jr. – Small Forward

Hometown: Sussex, Wis.

Rankings (per the 247Sports composite): 5-star (No. 2 overall)

Other offers: Duke, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Marquette, North Carolina, Northwestern, Arizona State, DePaul, Iowa, Kansas State, LSU, Minnesota, Missouri, UCLA, UNLV, USC, Wake Forest and UW-Milwaukee

Baldwin could give 2020 Duke signee Jalen Johnson a run for his money as the best player to ever come out of the state by the time his prep career is over.

There’s also a strong case to be made that the 6-8 forward is the nation’s best player in the class of 2021 with his package of excellent positional size and length, lights-out shooting, athleticism, intangibles and advanced skill set. Baldwin will almost certainly be a one-and-done prospect for whichever college program is fortunate enough to secure his services for a season, and we could potentially be talking about a lottery selection in the NBA draft if all goes according to plan.

As a result, it’s no surprise that Baldwin is being heavily pursued by teams that make up the royalty of college basketball, such as Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and North Carolina. The Blue Devils, in particular, appear to be out in front to land the best prospect in Wisconsin for the second straight season as things stand today.

While the chances of Baldwin ending up in Madison are incredibly slim, don’t be surprised if the Badgers hang around in this recruitment for a while given the proximity to home and a longstanding relationship between assistant coach Howard Moore and his father, UW-Milwaukee head coach Patrick Baldwin.

Badgers in the NFL: Andrew Van Ginkel returns to practice

Former Wisconsin Badgers linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel has been designated to return to practice by the Miami Dolphins.

The Miami Dolphins designated former Wisconsin Badgers linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel to return to practice following a 10-week stint on the injured reserve.

Van Ginkel was placed on the injured reserve on September 6, and will be eligible to make his NFL debut on December 1 when the Dolphins take on the Eagles.

Van Ginkel was a fifth-round pick by the Dolphins in 2019 after two successful seasons at Wisconsin. The Iowa Western CC transfer was a third-team All-BIG 10 selection in his senior year with the Badgers, recording 59 combined tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, three passes defended and two forced fumbles.

Van Ginkel’s designation to return to practice is a good sign that he will be a factor for Miami down the stretch, as the team had multiple players eligible to return this season, but they made him one of just two chosen to return.

However, while he is expected to compete for a role as a core special teamer for the Dolphins, he is unlikely to carve out a role on the defense until 2020 at the earliest.

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Latest CFP Rankings: 10 Thoughts

Georgia is rated over Alabama.  Does anyone in their right mind actually think Georgia is a better football team outside of Athens?

The latest College Football Playoff rankings came out Tuesday night as much drama surrounded how far Alabama would fall after losing at home to LSU, if LSU would jump previously No.1 Ohio State and how far Minnesota would rise after upsetting previously No. 4 Penn State this weekend.

Well, the wait is over and the committee’s new rankings are out and they go as follows:

25. Appalachian State
24. Kansas State
23. Navy
22. Oklahoma State
21. Boise State
20. Iowa
19. Texas
18. Memphis
17. Cincinnati
16. Notre Dame
15. Michigan
14. Wisconsin
13. Baylor
12. Auburn
11. Florida
10. Oklahoma
9. Penn State
8. Minnesota
7. Utah
6. Oregon
5.  Alabama
4. Georgia
3.  Clemson
2.  Ohio State
1.  LSU

My initial ten thoughts immediately upon release:

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Five Nebraska players who Badger fans need to know

Here are five Cornhuskers who Badger fans should keep a close eye on throughout Saturday’s matchup between Wisconsin and Nebraska.

Fresh off of a crucial victory over Iowa last weekend to maintain possession of the Heartland Trophy, No. 13 Wisconsin hits the road to Lincoln to face a stumbling Nebraska squad on Saturday.

Head coach Scott Frost’s program has been one of the great disappointments in all of college football this season after opening as the No. 24 team in the land. While the Badgers were able to snap their two-game losing streak and stay alive in the Big Ten West race by taking care of business against the Hawkeyes, the 4-5 Cornhuskers are reeling after suffering three straight losses and mustering just one victory in their last five contests.

Wisconsin has won six in a row against Nebraska and is a 14.5-point favorite as of Tuesday, but Memorial Stadium can often be a difficult environment for visiting teams, especially for a rivalry game such as this. However, if an upset is in the cards, the Cornhuskers will need their stars at their best.

Here are five players on the opposing sideline who Badger fans should keep a close eye on throughout the game.

1. Adrian Martinez – Quarterback

2019 stats: 59.5% passing, 1,491 yds, 7 TD, 6 INT/4.1 YPC, 399 yds, 5 TD

Nebraska’s upset hopes will ride squarely on the shoulders of its sophomore signal-caller.

A dark horse Heisman candidate in the eyes of many college football pundits leading into the season after a huge year in 2018 as a true freshman, Martinez hasn’t come remotely close to living up to that hype through the Cornhuskers’ first nine games. His accuracy has regressed and he’s already tossed six interceptions so far this season, which is the fourth most in the Big Ten. He’s only No. 9 in the conference in passing efficiency rating as well.

Nonetheless, as Martinez goes, so too does the Nebraska offense, which is often the case with quarterbacks but especially true here given that he is the team’s second-leading rusher as well as its top passer.

The Cornhuskers will likely need Martinez to have his best outing of the season against the Badgers if a victory is on the table. If he can replicate his state line from last season’s 41-24 loss at Camp Randall (24-42, 384 yds, 2 TD to go along with 13 carries for 57 yards), they’ll have a shot.

2. JD Spielman – Wide Receiver

2019 stats: 35 rec, 688 yds (19.7 avg), 2 TD

Nov 2, 2019; West Lafayette, IN, USA; Purdue Boilermakers safety Cory Trice (23) runs Nebraska Cornhuskers receiver JD Spielman (10) out of bounds in the first half at Ross-Ade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports

A Third-Team All-Big Ten selection a season ago, Spielman has followed up his outstanding play in 2018 by serving as Nebraska’s most dangerous weapon on offense this year, though there’s a case to be made for the next player on this list as well.

As he has been throughout his entire career in Lincoln, the Cornhuskers’ leading receiver has been a big play waiting to happen whenever he touches the ball, ranking No. 5 in the conference in average yards per catch. The Badgers are all too familiar with Spielman’s playmaking ability after he torched them for a school-record 209 yards and a touchdown on nine receptions in last year’s meeting in Madison.

Wisconsin could have its hands full with Spielman again this weekend, as the junior wideout is red-hot coming off of back to back dominant showings; he had 6 receptions for 123 yards in the Nov. 2 loss to Purdue and racked up 5 catches for 95 yards the week before in the loss to Indiana.

NEXT: Wan’Dale Robinson/Mohamed Barry/Lamar Jackson

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Wisconsin fixed problems against Iowa, but will that beat Minnesota?

Considering the Wisconsin Badgers’ situation relative to the Minnesota Golden Gophers after UW’s win over the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Had the Minnesota Golden Gophers not beaten Penn State and made themselves an even bigger target for the Wisconsin Badgers, we wouldn’t be devoting quite as much time or energy to the task of beating the Gophers on Nov. 30. Yet, one can’t work with events as one wishes they would be. One must deal with events as they actually are. It’s called living in the real world.

Minnesota has made itself more of a problem for Wisconsin. It’s not what UW fans wanted, but it is the reality the Badgers must confront. That will be a very hard game to win. Therefore, it is worth spending some of these November days focusing not just on Nebraska and then Purdue, but on P.J. Fleck and his folks. How will the Badgers go into Minneapolis and come away with Paul Bunyan’s Axe?

Based on Wisconsin’s win over the Iowa Hawkeyes this past Saturday, a number of interesting questions and attached tension points have emerged. The question I will explore in this particular piece is as follows: Can Wisconsin win this game simply by eradicating mistakes, or will the Badgers need to push themselves far beyond their limits?

Yes, the best answer is “both,” but let’s be clear before we continue with this brief piece: Against Ohio State (or, to use a non-Big Ten example, LSU or Clemson), it is obvious that Wisconsin and other second-tier teams in the United States have to play way over their heads and make “value-added” plays to have a real chance to win. Is Minnesota that kind of opponent? I am inclined to say “no,” but my opinion doesn’t matter that much. A reasonable middle ground on this question is that while Minnesota certainly isn’t in Ohio State’s league, the Gophers made Penn State look bad for much of this past Saturday’s game and — had they not fumbled when leading by two scores in the third quarter — could have blown the doors off the Nittany Lions.

Minnesota went from being “a team which beats up on the bottom of the Big Ten” to “a team that is for real” against Penn State. Do we know yet if the Gophers are not merely “for real” and “a team to be taken seriously,” but genuinely ELITE? I don’t think so.

The tricky part for Wisconsin: The Badgers can’t use that lack of knowledge to assume they can win merely by avoiding mistakes against the Gophers. This leads us into the heart of this piece, and one of the most fascinating tension points of the game on Nov. 30 in TCF Bank Stadium:

The Badgers’ offense improved when the dumb penalties ceased. Wisconsin’s offense got out of its own way. Its running game flourished when the Badgers weren’t behind schedule. Two plus two equals four.

However, after the offense got out of its own way, the defense allowed a 75-yard touchdown and endured another one of its fourth-quarter swoons, the previous one being against Illinois. We wrote about the problems in the secondary which have allowed that alarming detail to remain part of this team’s identity in the second half of the season.

Imagine, then, if both the offense and the defense spend a full game not making huge mistakes, with the level of performance we saw from Jack Coan (tolerable, but not spectacular). Is that going to be enough against the Gophers? It’s an interesting query. One could go back and forth on that topic.

The strength of the argument rests with the offensive line. If there aren’t any false-start penalties and Jonathan Taylor gets four or more yards per carry, the Badgers could pound Minnesota’s defensive front and turn this game into the trench warfare battle they want. A game based on the elimination of mistakes could be all Wisconsin needs.

The weakness of this argument is based on the awareness of how much speed Minnesota has, not only in relationship to Iowa but to a Wisconsin team which was outflanked at times by Illinois. Keep in mind that if Jack Coan throws the ball against Minnesota the way he did against Iowa, the Gophers’ closing speed in the secondary might turn Wisconsin catches into incompletions on successful pass breakups. Eliminating bad mistakes from the ledger sheet will put Wisconsin in position to win, but that might not be enough to put UW over the top.

Yes, Wisconsin’s offense fixed its problems versus Iowa, and the team in general took a clear step forward from the previous two games. Yet, will that be enough to beat Minnesota? You don’t have to answer that question right away… and that’s part of the point. Wisconsin will have to wrestle with that question over the next few weeks. This is the reality facing the Badgers, now that the Gophers have made themselves such an obstacle, at least in 2019.

The secondary is primary for Wisconsin if it wants to beat Minnesota

A look at the Wisconsin Badgers’ secondary heading into the final stretch of the regular season.

There is a difference between playing poorly and playing “not well enough.” This reality is a good framework to use when assessing the Wisconsin Badgers’ secondary the past few weeks.

Solid and competent through two and a half or three quarters, the Wisconsin secondary has let down its guard in the fourth quarters of recent games against Illinois in October and then this past Saturday against Iowa. The similarities between the two games are very obvious, and they inform how the Badgers need to improve before the clash against the Minnesota Golden Gophers later this month. Beating Minnesota will enable this season to be remembered with a sense of satisfaction. If the Badgers are to build themselves to a point where they can withstand all of P.J. Fleck’s arrows and spears, the secondary — which hasn’t been bad — needs to be a lot better.

If a team or position unit does its job for two and a half or three quarters, it doesn’t deserve extremely low grades, but if that unit has enough lapses in the final 15 to 20 minutes of a game, no one will care how good the first two and a half quarters were. Such was the reality for Wisconsin after the Illinois game. That scenario very nearly unfolded again versus Iowa, but Chris Orr’s tackle on the 2-point conversion spared the Badgers an overtime period and a possible crisis.

Wisconsin led Illinois 20-7 deep into the third quarter. Illinois scored 17 points in the final 16 minutes to win. Wisconsin led Iowa 21-6 after three quarters. Iowa scored 16 points in the final 15 minutes to very nearly forge a tie. The Badgers’ secondary is like LeBron James in his disastrous 2011 NBA Finals series against the Dallas Mavericks: He wasn’t worth a dollar because he always came a quarter short.

LeBron couldn’t solve the fourth quarter in that series, as a member of the Miami Heat. The Mavs raised their game, and LeBron froze instead of becoming sharper in the cauldron of pressure. Something akin to that has happened with the Wisconsin secondary against Illinois and now Iowa. The Badgers gave hardly anything away and put an opposing offense on lockdown for nearly 45 minutes, and then lost the plot in the final 15.

Iowa’s Tyrone Tracy got free on an intermediate/deep-intermediate pass and outraced the Wisconsin defense the rest of the way for a 75-yard touchdown which changed the tone and trajectory of Saturday’s fourth quarter in Camp Randall Stadium. Illinois produced pass plays of 48 and 29 yards against Wisconsin to fuel its comeback. The Illini also got a 43-yard touchdown run in their late rally.

The big pass plays which have struck Wisconsin’s secondary have not been long bombs, either. These are not cases of quarterbacks throwing 50-yard heaves and the receivers outleap Badger cornerbacks. These are intermediate or deep-intermediate throws which involve a long run after the catch is made. Angles, reactions, positioning, and responsibility all enter into these shortcomings. They keep recurring, and they have to be nipped in the bud.

Wisconsin has a 75-cent defense right now. Finding that fourth and final quarter of quality is primary for the Badgers and their secondary.

Jack Coan needs to start hitting his spots

An assessment of Wisconsin Badgers quarterback Jack Coan after Saturday’s win over the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Jack Coan wasn’t bad for the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday against the Iowa Hawkeyes. For the most part, the football went where it needed to go. Coan made enough of the throws he had to make to assist the running game and Jonathan Taylor. Wisconsin needed every one of the 24 points it scored to fend off Iowa and move to 7-2 on the season, keeping alive hopes for a New Year’s Six bowl bid.

Coan was solid. He did what he had to do. That certainly rates as progress after an Ohio State game which quickly went sideways and never got back on track. If Coan can make steady progress in and through the month of November, Wisconsin can beat Minnesota on Nov. 30, the game which looms as the defining moment of this season for the Badgers.

When considering Wisconsin’s checklist against Minnesota — a team which currently stands above the Badgers in the Big Ten pecking order due to their win over Penn State — one thing which has to happen is that Coan has to become a far more accurate quarterback. Explaining this point requires a look back at the Iowa game.

If you go through this contest, you will note that even when Wisconsin hit an intermediate or deep pass, the receiver gained enough separation from an Iowa defender that Coan didn’t have to be letter-perfect with his throw. Whether we are talking about zip, touch, angle, or placement, Coan was not at the height of his powers. He did get the ball there, but that was more a reflection of his receivers’ ability to separate from defenders.

Against Minnesota’s team speed (on a general level) and its secondary (on a more particular level), Coan will likely not have the same large windows to throw to. Margins are likely to be smaller. The Golden Gophers’ closing speed was a problem for Penn State and quarterback Sean Clifford, who was unable to gun the ball into coverage. His throws were often lobbed toward his receivers, and Minnesota was able to pick off multiple passes as a result.

Coan has to look at film of Clifford versus Minnesota (not this week, but certainly during game week in late November) and understand just how important it is that he not float passes into traffic. That is one part of the equation Coan needs to figure out in the coming weeks.

The other part of the puzzle for Coan — if Wisconsin wants to have the best possible chance of beating Minnesota — is that he has to be more precise with his throws. Think of Josh Hader this past season. His regression from 2018 cost the Milwaukee Brewers a division title and the National League Wild Card Game against the eventual World Series champion Washington Nationals. Hader simply didn’t hit his spots often enough. So it was for Coan against Iowa, even though he still made enough important completions to deliver the win.

Go back to the Iowa game and notice all the times Coan completed a short or intermediate pass into the flat or outside the numbers. On several of those occasions, a receiver had to reach up or to the side to gather the ball. This process of extending for the ball — instead of having the ball thrown to the place where the receiver could easily catch the ball in stride — slowed down the receiver’s momentum. A receiver could not make a catch and then quickly turn upfield to either avoid the Iowa defender entirely, or at least make an upward cut to gain five or six more yards after the catch.

Against Minnesota, Jack Coan will need to hit receivers in stride, so that the plays which gained seven yards against Iowa will gain 13 against the Gophers, and plays which gained 20 yards can become 30-yarders. The 30-yarders can turn into 60-yard home runs.

Jack Coan’s imperfect placement wasn’t punished by Iowa. An effective running game and a strong offensive line enabled Wisconsin’s passing game to be more effective, since Iowa was so focused on stopping Jonathan Taylor. Against Minnesota, though, Jack Coan will need to be more precise. It would hit the spot if the Badgers can make the Gophers miserable. Hitting the spot will happen, however, only if Jack Coan hits the spot himself.