Bronx to Roses: Pinstripe Bowl set QB Jack Coan on the path towards success
LOS ANGELES – From the outside looking in, the University of Wisconsin’s victory in the Pinstripe Bowl in last December was meaningless.
The Badgers – winners of New Year’s Six bowls the previous two seasons – delivered a one-sided 35-3 victory over Miami. While it was the program’s fifth-straight bowl triumph, the reality of winning a middle-tier bowl two days after Christmas to finish a mediocre 8-5 was hardly a reason to celebrate.
It probably wasn’t realized at the time, but the reality was the performance by quarterback Jack Coan in the Bronx set the stage for this year’s run for the roses.
“I always feel like I’ve been pretty confident in my abilities and abilities of the guys around me,” Coan said. “I definitely feel, I’d say (after the bowl win), a little more confident with how I’ve played and how I’ve progressed in the offense.”
The success of Coan is one of the nice surprises this season for No. 8 Wisconsin (10-3), which will play No. 6 Oregon (11-2) in Wednesday’s 106th Rose Bowl (4 p.m. CT/ESPN). In his first full season as the starter, the Sayville, N.Y., native has completed 70.1 percent of his passes (tops in the Big Ten), has thrown for 2,541 yards (seventh all-time at UW for a single single) and been responsible for 21 touchdowns (17 throwing, four running).
Over the final three games, only Heisman winner Joe Burrow (LSU) and Heisman finalists Justin Fields (OSU) and Jalen Hurts (Oklahoma) have been more efficient throwing the football.
“Man, he's a steady, steady dude,” Wisconsin offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph said. “I think this team really appreciates that about him, and that's probably where I've seen him grow the most. And I think from that steadiness, I think his confidence has continued to grow. He realized he can be himself and being himself can take him to some high levels.”
Strangely enough, had things gone according to the plan of the coaching staff, Coan likely would not have seen the field this season. With quarterback Alex Hornibrook entering his third season as a starter in 2018, the coaching staff was going to try to redshirt Coan to preserve a year of eligibility, used only in a break-glass-if-necessary situation. In October 2018, the glass broke.
Hornibrook had suffered a concussion and was not medically cleared to play in a key road tilt at Northwestern. Having not thrown a pass all season, Coan was thrust into a pivotal division matchup. The results were OK (20-for-31, 158 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs) but the offense lacked punch in a listless 31-17 defeat.
That remained the story for the next four weeks, as both Hornibrook and Coan took turns leading a struggling offense as the program ended up alternating wins and losses the final seven games of the regular season. Then came the Pinstripe Bowl.
Hornibrook was declared out early in the bowl preparation, leading Coan to get all the practice reps and start to build chemistry with his receivers. He wasn’t spectacular in the win, but his voice was starting to be heard. And when Hornibrook transferred following the bowl game, Coan was given the keys to offense. He pressed full speed ahead, putting in countless hours studying film, studying his offense and working with Super Bowl winning quarterback Phil Simms on improving his intangibles and throwing motion.
Most important, he jumped head first into a leadership role and built chemistry with his receivers and teammates.
“You definitely saw it in that Pinstripe Bowl game last year, him really taking the reins and taking control of the game,” tight end Jake Ferguson said. “You saw it often this year. You get a front-row seat and watch all of it. It’s been awesome to watch him in the huddle.
“That Pinstripe Bowl game really built that connection for him and all the receivers. Him being able to work as hard as he did in fall camp solidified those relationships and made it easier for us to just play ball.”
The highlights for Coan this year are plentiful. He threw for a career-high 363 yards (fifth-most ever by a UW quarterback in a single game) in a win over Central Michigan, he rushed for a pair of touchdowns and had only three incompletions in a win over No. 8 Michigan and completed a career-best 85.7 percent of his passes in a victory over Michigan State.
It wasn’t all clear sailing. Coan admitted he battled through injuries that caused him to miss practices and slow his mobility in games. What exactly the issues were are unknown but they were serious enough where Coan didn’t practice the week leading into the Iowa game, leading Rudolph to caution true freshman quarterback Graham Mertz that he might be needed to step in.
“I’d say (Jack has) had a complete season,” Rudolph said. “He's battled through things, he's battled through injuries. He's had games where everyone loved him. He's had games where he wished he had done better. And I think that's what a season's all about.”
After the offense sputtered in consecutive losses to Illinois and Ohio State in late October, Wisconsin’s offense used the bye week to regain its identity, or as Coan put it “doing what we do best, running the plays we do best, getting a bunch of guys involved with different formations and different plays. Just putting it all out there.”
The result was Wisconsin averaging 36 points per game, rushing for at least 170 yards in each game and have Coan excel. In UW’s final three games, Coan completed 63.5 percent of his passes, threw for 715 yards and had four touchdowns to one interception against Purdue and a pair of top-10 opponents in Minnesota and Ohio State. Against those top-10 teams, Coan rushed 11 times for 47 yards and two touchdowns.
The Ducks will be the third straight top-10 test and another stressful challenge. Oregon has intercepted 19 passes by 11 different plays and recorded 41 sacks from a combined 16 players. Coan has thrown four interceptions in 314 attempts, one every 78.5 passes.
“They’re definitely a really good defense and cause a lot of turnovers,” Coan said. “It’s something we have to be careful of, but not play scared.”