Getting the start tonight due to injury and is 14-14 for 190 and 4 td’s in the first half vs Illinois. I was of the belief that they should’ve started him in place of Coan last year as his upside is way, way higher and Mertz gives them a much better chance in big games against more talented teams that Wisconsin always loses.
Graham Mertz 1st start for Wisconsin
- Thread starter BFo8
- Start date
He looks good. But I’d probably go for 250 on Illinois.
To be honest I posted this partially with you in mind, as we debated this last year.
I do think his upside is much higher than Coan’s though.
As a Kansas City resident, I got to see Graham come up through the ranks at Blue Valley North. You could tell he was going to be special. Glad to see him having success, even if he did have to wait a year.
KC has had some good QBs come out of the metro as of late; Drew Lock, Kansas State’s Skyler Thompson, and now Mertz.
What did we debate? Coan’s capabilities? I felt he was a solid game manager type. Wasn’t gonna win a game for them but wouldn’t lose one. Certainly Mertz is a completely different talent level. Never any argument there. But I’m not usually a believer in starting a true frosh QB over a senior who isn’t a disaster. There are exceptions of course....but it’s a hell of a transition for a QB from HS to the P5.
Not taking anything away from Mertz, but Illinois has played a very undisciplined game tonight. Terrible penalties at the wrong times. But Wisky is clearly the better team all around.
Totally digressing, but I am a homer. I will defend our coaches until I can't. I really liked Paul Chryst and thought there was a lot of unnecessary snarkiness about him on these boards. But now? The only time I will root for him is vs. PSU. I get why he jumped ship, but kind of dead to me now. Just being honest.
Totally digressing, but I am a homer. I will defend our coaches until I can't. I really liked Paul Chryst and thought there was a lot of unnecessary snarkiness about him on these boards. But now? The only time I will root for him is vs. PSU. I get why he jumped ship, but kind of dead to me now. Just being honest.
I believe the crux was I thought that even though Coan was having a nice year I was of the opinion that Mertz should have gotten more reps early and eventually became the starter by mid season last year. Maybe I’m looking at it wrong, but to me Wisconsin pretty much churns out the same type seasons most years no matter who the QB is. They beat most of the teams they overwhelm with talent, but rarely beat the big boys on their schedule. I thought Mertz would give them a better shot at winning those games.
It was well deserved snarkiness. Year 3 of his regime, easiest schedule since 2009, Conner, Boyd, etc, and turned in a 6-7 campaign, after starting 3-0. Included losses to an Akron team that fired their coach at the end of the year and an Iowa team that he should have been well familiar with. Nothing fancy, no crazy RPO.
But I agree with your assessment. Root for them against UPS and that is it. The way he left was every bit as bad as Graham, yet he didn't get called out for it.
Totally disagree. Chryst’s departure stung but was honest. Like it or not he was going home. IMHO Alvarez burned some bridges, not him.
Graham was nothing but a snake oil salesman who disappeared in the middle of the night. You can run, but you can’t hide forever. Karma is real.
Don't forget the GaTech fiasco. That game was out of reach in the first 5 minutes. GEORGIA TECH!!!
It would have been interesting to see Chryst work with heather. May have improved things for defensive recruiting. Hcpn recruiting has been much more aggressive but I really liked and respected chryst ability to call an offensive game and develop qbs
Chryst would have gotten better as his roster got older.
Chryst is about 400 billion times better than Narduzzi. And Joe Rudolph is incalculably better than Mark Whipple. Chryst was gone regardless, but the program regressed when Chryst’s recruits graduated
Was not a Chryst fan but I agree 100% with you about P.C’s departure. I don’t know how anyone could fault him for that.
Also agree that Graham was a POS from a character standpoint but I did think at the time that it was finally a good forward thinking football hire at Pitt. highly successful head coach with an innovative modern offense and am aggressive plan. Unfortunately as you said he was a carpetbagging POS, he pulled a total bag job on Pitt and he deserves all the animus he gets from Pitt fans.
I’m pretty sure Coan would still be the starter if he was healthy. But Mertz appeared to grab the job with both hands last night.
You’re right about the Wisky running game this year. Looking a little shaky and I don’t see another Heisman candidate tailback on the roster this year. I noticed Chryst was running a lot of different formations last night including quite a few shotgun spread looks with 4 wide. Much more multiple than he has been in the past. Might be re-tooling to Mertz.
Slick manager, your anti-Chryst stuff is really over the top dude. Imho Mertz has the most upside of any Wisconsin QB not named Russell Wilson. Bollinger was more of an overachiever.
Marshall, he was the picture of average here and got a on a plane without ever saying a word to his players. Graham was the same average as Chryst, got on a plane and at least texted his players. So why, other than not leaving an empty cupboard for Narduzzi, do you hold him in such high regard? If you are happy with mediocrity, more power to you. you were probably one of the ones on Hobo's stupid thread saying you would send your blue chip son to Alabama.
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Chryst was .500 here and got on a plane without saying a word to his team. Graham was .500 here got on a plane and texted his players. Explain the difference please? Dream job? Well, Todd said it was his dream job too.
The only difference there being that Chryst was telling the truth and Graham was lying.
he wouldn't have left ASU unless he was forced to, so who are we to say what is or isn't true?
Come on Slick. The notion that ASU was Graham's dream job is so batshit crazy that I'm not even sure what an appropriate response to that would be. You can't seriously believe that.
I don't believe it, but to say that Chryst was somehow more noble than Graham in his departure is equally bat-shit crazy.
I don't know that there is any sort of nobility in college football. But everyone knew that Chryst would leave for Wisconsin if he were offered that job. No one expected that Graham would run for the exits after one season. Which makes their situations just a little bit different.
ok. It gets a bit mind numbing after a while arguing who was the best mediocre coach we have had in the past 35 years!!
I think it would be accurate to say the offense regressed when Chryst's recruits graduated. Definitely not the defense, or the program overall. Peterman wasn't a Chryst recruit. Duzzi inherited Voytik, who transferred after a year of playing backup.
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Agreed. Plus nobody including BA expected Gary Andersen to just up and quit Wisky after a 10-3 season. If that hadn’t happened PC might still be the HC at a Pitt. Or he might have eventually 6-6ed himself out of here, but not under his own steam.
Which really turned out well for him, didn't it.
9-4 then 10-3 at Wisconsin. Then 2-10, 4-8, 1-5 and fired at Oregon State. And now at Utah State.
At that rate of "progression" he'll be named the head coach at Thiel College in about 2030.
I never said he was going 10-1, but I do think he would have ended up being better than a 6-6 coach here. What's that worth? Probably not much, but I actually think we would have played PSU better with his style of play.
Graham was a weird fit. He turned Pitt's first offer down didn't he? I don't think he ever really wanted to be here.
You act like GT was a pushover that year? They went 11-3, won the coastal, and beat no 9 and no 7 Georgia and miss state, and lost to FSU by 2. They were a few points from being in the CFP.
They were really good.
want to talk how in year 4 narduzzi lost to a UNC team that went 2-9 and we were their only D1 win if the year? That is the worst Pitt loss in recent memory.
Chryst also inherited a dumpster fire...Pitt was on the edge of turning into kansas.
He should have done better in year three, for sure but for all the complaining he had the exact same record in ACC play as narduzzi in year 5.
congrats! You found narduzzi’s best recruit, a transfer! Who else has narduzzi recruited that will see the NFL on offense. Maybe Pickett. French. Maybe Addison.
In6 years that is horrific, and chryst had at least 3 dbs that played in the league he recruited.
Akron or YSU, easily the worst.
I'm not saying GaTech was bad. All I'm saying is the game was over before some fans got in their seats.
