Graham Mertz might be sidelined for a while in Madison.
Few expected Wisconsin to give us the Big Ten’s greatest passing performance, but Wisconsin’s Graham Mertz looked like a Heisman contender in a 45-7 thrashing of Illinois. Mertz threw just one incompletion while tossing five touchdowns in a performance that earned him praise from Badgers legends, J.J. Watt and Joe Thomas as well as Patrick Mahomes. Unfortunately, Mertz’s breakout year has hit a speed bump after testing positive for COVID-19.
If Mertz’s second PCR test confirms the diagnosis, he will be out for 21 days, which will encompass the Nebraska, Purdue and Michigan games.
Chase Wolf won the backup job and entered their season-opening win after the result was decided. It will be up to Wolf to keep the Badgers’ offense rolling.
Chase Wolf might be able to stand in for Graham Mertz for a game or two
Wolf was a 3-star recruit from Cincinnati that had interest from South Carolina, Maryland, and Pitt before choosing Wisconsin. With Jack Coan sidelined due to injury, Wolf showed enough in practice to take Mertz’s backup job away from Danny Vanden Boom. While Mertz looks like the superior arm talent, Wolf has enough accuracy to efficiently guide this passing game.
The three-headed monster of Garrett Groshek, Nakia Watson and Isaac Guerendo proved to moved the ball well against a suspect Illini defense. While Wolf was certainly a hyped recruit that can make some nice plays with his arm, Paul Chryst has to know that asking him to drop back and chuck it all over the field is not a winning formula. Look for the Boilermakers to get a major dose of old fashioned Badger power running next week.
While the Badgers might not be Big Ten or national title contenders without Mertz under center, Chryst should have enough trust in Wolf to allow him to play mistake-free football and lead this offense for a few games. If Wolf can hold down the fort until Mertz returns, the Badgers might end up as Big Ten West champs once again.
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