Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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34 SEPT. 25, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: WISCONSIN BY TYLER HORKA M ake no mistake, this is the Jack Coan game. It's not often a quarter- back leaves a Power Five school and has to start against his for- mer coaches and teammates so early in the first season with his new program. That's exactly what Coan, Notre Dame's starter, is tasked with doing against Wisconsin this week at Soldier Field, though. But just because it's the Jack Coan game does not mean there isn't more to it than that. There is. A whole lot more. You can drive from South Bend to Madison, Wis., in roughly four hours. Just around the southern tip of Lake Michigan, through Chicago, right by Rockford, Ill., and north into the Bad- ger State. Boom, you're there. All in the time it takes to kick a college football game off until the final whistle blows. That's the case a lot of the time these days, anyway. And yet, Notre Dame and Wisconsin haven't gotten together on the gridiron since 1964. It's been 57 years. Legendary Notre Dame head coach Ara Parseghian was in the first year of his tenure when the Fighting Irish beat Milton Bruhn and the Badgers 31-7 in Madison. It was Parseghian's Notre Dame debut, in fact. Much has changed since then. Parseghian won two national titles in the next decade. Notre Dame won two more thereafter in 1977 and 1988. Wisconsin, meanwhile, has recently en- joyed some of the best seasons in pro- gram history, including a 13-1 campaign in 2017. Of course, Notre Dame has been at the top of its game as well. The Irish have reached double digits in wins in five of the last six seasons. Wisconsin can say the same in five of the last seven. It's only fitting a matchup nearly six decades in the making pits two of col- lege football's best programs of the last couple handfuls of seasons against each other — and they're meeting in the mid- dle, on the hallowed grounds of Soldier Field in Chicago, to get it going. BREAKING DOWN BADGERS OFFENSE This tilt might've lost a bit of its luster right out of the gates. Wisconsin was underwhelming in a season-opening 16-10 home loss to Penn State. The Badgers outgained the Nittany Lions in total yards 365-297, but turnovers and a lack of offensive execu- tion defined the day. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Graham Mertz, who replaced Coan as the Badgers' starter, threw two inter- ceptions. He also lost a fumble. "I think there is so much for him to learn from," Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst said after the loss. Mertz has middling numbers since making his first career start last season. In nine games, Mertz has completed 154 of 247 passes (62.3 percent) for 1,637 yards (181.9 yards per game) with nine touch- downs and seven interceptions. Mertz did not throw a touchdown pass in either of Wisconsin's first two games this season. Coan, meanwhile, completed 47 of 68 passes (69.1 percent) for 605 yards with six touchdowns and two intercep- tions through the first two Notre Dame starts. But again, there's much more to this game than the dynamic between the two signal-callers — as intriguing as that aspect might be. Wisconsin can run the ball. The Bad- gers ranked No. 12 nationally in rushing yards per game (266.0) through the first two weeks of the season. Wisconsin is also lethal against the opposition's run- ning game. The Badgers ranked No. 3 in the country in rushing yards allowed per game (33.0). Notre Dame ranked 110th and 108th in those respective categories through Facts & Figures NOTRE DAME VS. WISCONSIN Date: Sept. 25, 2021 Site: Soldier Field (Chicago) Kickoff: Noon ET Broadcast: FOX Radio: This game can be heard on Notre Dame IMG affiliates. Series Facts: This is the 17th time Wisconsin and Notre Dame have played. Notre Dame has a slight edge in the series with a record of 8-6-2. The Fighting Irish beat the Badgers 31-7 in the last meeting on Sept. 26, 1964, in Madison, Wis. The two programs first met in Madison on Nov. 11, 1900. The Badgers won that matchup 54-0, but the Irish had a stretch of 6-0-1 from 1929-44. Head coaches: Wisconsin — Paul Chryst (57-20, seventh season); Notre Dame — Brian Kelly (105-39, 12th season). Noting Wisconsin: The Badgers have been in a great place under head coach Paul Chryst, who has continued the nation's third-longest active streak of bowl game appearances. Wisconsin has been to 19 bowl games in a row, trailing only Georgia (24) and Oklahoma (22) in that category. … Not only is Chryst getting Wisconsin to bowl games, but he's winning them once he gets the program there. The Badgers are 5-1 under Chryst in postseason affairs. The only loss came to Oregon in the 2019 Rose Bowl. Current Notre Dame quarterback Jack Coan went 23-of-35 passing for 186 yards with one touchdown and one interception in Wisconsin's 28-27 loss to the Ducks. … Redshirt sophomore quarterback Mertz has not been proficient in throwing the ball downfield; his longest completion of the season has gone for 23 yards. … Wisconsin has lost six games in a row to ranked opponents dating back to the regular-season finale against Ohio State in 2019. BAD NEWS BADGERS Wisconsin's dominance on the defensive line presents a big challenge for Notre Dame's offensive line Redshirt sophomore quarterback Graham Mertz is off to a slow start this season, averaging just 163.0 passing yards per game with no touch- downs and two interceptions during Wisconsin's 1-1 start. PHOTO BY TONY LYNN/COURTESY WISCONSIN ATHLETICS