For the second straight week, the Wisconsin Badgers pitched a shutout at their opponent, blanking Central Michigan 61-0 on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium.
Jonathan Taylor, who scored four touchdowns in week one at South Florida, scored four more touchdowns in the week two romp over the Chippewas. Taylor finished with 102 yards and three touchdowns on 19 rushes and added three receptions for 17 yards and a receiving touchdown.
But this game belonged to junior quarterback Jack Coan. After a solid performance last week at South Florida, Coan was outstanding in the Badgers home opener. He set career highs in completions, attempts, yards and touchdowns, going 26-for-33 for 363 yards with three touchdown passes and no interceptions (201.2 pass efficiency rating) in his first start at Camp Randall Stadium.
Coan’s 363 yards are the 5th-highest single-game total in school history and the most by a Badgers quarterback since Tyler Donovan threw for 392 yards against Illinois on Oct. 6, 2007. Coan became the 11th Badger to throw for 300 yards in a game, doing so for the 24th time in school history, and the first since Joel Stave threw for 322 yards in back-to-back weeks at Nebraska (Oct. 10) and vs. Purdue (Oct. 17) in 2015.
Coan is certainly keeping everyone happy, completing passes to nine different receivers in the opener at South Florida and seven different receivers in the win over Central Michigan.
The Badgers have now won each of Coan’s last four starts, dating back to last season.
Junior wide receiver Quintez Cephus set career highs with 6 catches for 130 yards and also matched his carer with two touchdown receptions.
Senior wide receiver A.J. Taylor caught 7 passes for 78 yards.
Freshman quarterback Graham Mertz also made his Badgers debut, entering in the third quarter, going 4-for-5 for 35 yards.
The Badgers recorded consecutive shutouts for the first time since opening the 2013 season by blanking U-Mass and Tennessee Tech.
Wisconsin hasn’t allowed a point since the first quarter of the 2018 Pinstripe Bowl, owning a scoreless streak spanning 11 quarters.
Through two games, the UW defense has allowed just 215 total yards and 41 yards rushing, those are the team’s lowest 2-game totals since at least 1998.
The Badgers now get a week off before opening Big Ten play in two weeks against the Michigan Wolverines at Camp Randall Stadium.
Nelson done
Sophomore safety Scott Nelson announced on Twitter that his 2019 season is finished due to a knee injury. Nelson told his teammates of the news over the weekend.
Coach Paul Chryst acknowledged the injury and said they’re going to miss Nelson. But he said he expects Nelson to make a full recovery and be back on the field with the Badgers in 2020.