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Wisconsin Football: Did the Badgers make a mistake with Jack Coan?

By Christian Borman

Sep 5, 2021; Tallahassee, Florida, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Jack Coan (17) runs with the ball during the second quarter against the Florida State Seminoles at Doak S. Campbell Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Melina Myers-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 5, 2021; Tallahassee, Florida, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Jack Coan (17) runs with the ball during the second quarter against the Florida State Seminoles at Doak S. Campbell Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Melina Myers-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jack Coan, the former quarterback for the Wisconsin football team poured salt into the wound for a lot of Badger fans on Sunday night. A day after Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz struggled mightily against Penn State, Coan went off for Notre Dame, throwing for 366 yards and four touchdowns in an OT win against Florida State on Sunday night.

While watching the Notre Dame-Florida State game, some Badger fans were out in full force ripping Wisconsin for moving on from Coan to get Mertz on the field.

So I guess that’s a fair question to ask. Did the Badgers make a mistake moving on from Jack Coan?

The simple answer is: no.

As soon as Coan broke his foot in camp last fall, he was done in Madison. Coan being injured opened the door for Mertz, the future of the program, who a lot of Badger fans were clamoring for by the way.

When your future quarterback gets a whole season to start, you don’t put him back on the bench for one more year so Coan can start. It’s just want going to happen. As soon as Mertz was named the starter, Coan was gone.

BadgersWire writer and Locked on Badger cohost Ben Kenney, a Jack Coan-stan agrees and essentially said the same thing on Twitter.

It’s perfectly fine to be frustrating with Graham Mertz from last game. He didn’t play well, but that doesn’t mean Wisconsin made a mistake with how they handled the quarterback situation.

And before we turn on Mertz and throw him to the wolves, let’s take a breath. It’s a long season and it’s been one game. Starting out of the gates playing a conference game against Penn State isn’t easy. Have some fair things that he’ll clean some things up and gain some confidence.

Support Graham Mertz and be happy for Jack Coan, and cheer for him outside of the Notre Dame-Wisconsin football game coming up. The Badgers will be fine, it’s a long season.