Outgoing offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig attempted to give quarterback Joel Stave the perfect audition to be the Badgers’ full-time quarterback in 2015. He didn’t just ground and pound the football, instead he gave the keys to the car to Stave and it just wouldn’t start.
Wisconsin came out swinging in the pass game, hoping to loosen up the Auburn defense a bit.
“Our game plan was to open it up early, throw the ball to loosen them up, then let the offensive line take over and establish our running game,” Alvarez said following the game.
It worked at first, but then the inconsistent and inaccurate Joel Stave showed up. That couldn’t have come at a worst time for Stave either, as new head coach Paul Chryst sat in the stands taking in his performance.
Stave finished the game 14 of 27 for 121 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions to his name. Two of Stave’s three interceptions came in the first half and after the break the Badgers took the game out of his hands and in to the arms of running backs Melvin Gordon and Corey Clement.
On the first drive of the half the Badgers went six plays, 75 yards for a touchdown. All six plays were runs to either Gordon or Clement, showing how one facet of the game can be leaned on when it is productive and consistent.
Stave showed his maddening inconsistency in failing during the middle of the game, but coming up big in the big moment at the end of the game. As a three-year starter, Stave should be better than that by this point in time.
There may be some improvement in Stave’s game with Chryst’s tutelage, but the Joel Stave we saw during the Outback Bowl is the same one we’ve seen for the past three years. He’s got the talent, but something is just missing.
Some will likely point to the fact that Stave is 20-7 as a starter in his career and that he’s fifth in touchdown passes with 37. Then there’s the fact that his career yardage total (4,948) ranks seventh in program history.
Those numbers suggest he is one of the more prolific quarterbacks in Badger history. However, Stave has been able to accumulate those numbers while playing for the majority of three seasons as a starter for the Badgers. Few Wisconsin quarterbacks have been able to say that alone.
The fact that the’s got a career completion percentage of just 59 percent and that he completed just 53.9 percent of his passes this season are two big clues that the overall rankings are a bit misleading with Stave.
No matter, as some see the criticism Stave has taken as unfair.
“I don’t think (the criticism) has been overly fair, but that’s what happens when you follow Russell Wilson and you’re playing in the same state as Aaron Rodgers,” Bryan Stave said, via the Wisconsin State Journal. “People have kind of unrealistic expectations.”
Sure, that’s Stave’s family taking up for his son and that’s to be expected but the reality of where the Badgers offense is with him at QB and where it could be with someone of even Scott Tolzien’s caliber make one yearn for more out of the position than what we witnessed in 2014.
Is it really unrealistic to expect a quarterback to throw more touchdown passes than interceptions? How about completing somewhere in the vicinity of 60 percent of his passes?
By start 28, a player is who he is in this game and the inconsistency in Stave’s game has never changed.
Unless miraculous changes happen in this offseason, it’s hard to see how Stave is the answer to what the Badgers are going to need in a Paul Chryst offense.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
