Why it's Not Time to Panic About Colton Joseph Despite Struggles vs. Western Illinois

It wasn't the most consistent against Notre Dame, but Colton Joseph looked good in his Badgers debut; fiery and competitive with some dangerous mobility and an arm with upside.

He had his plays he'd like back, like the pick-six he threw essentially right to Fighting Irish cornerback. But overall, tossing for 217 yards and a score on 19-of-29 passing against one of the best defenses in the country? Wisconsin had to feel good with where Joseph was.

Quite surprisingly, he somehow looked worse in Week 2 against the FCS Western Illinois leathernecks.

There were good moments, like Wisconsin's final scoring drive in which he picked up 84 yards through the air on two throws, one to Tyrell Henry and the run-and-catch score going to Chris Brooks Jr.

Otherwise, Joseph didn't show a whole lot through the air. He had a nice 3rd-and-12 toss to Tyrell Henry to move the sticks that comes to mind, but the misses stand out more than the makes for Joseph, especially in the first half.

On the Badgers' second drive, he missed an open Jacob Harris in the end zone, putting the ball just too high for the 6-6 tight end. That was probably his most memorable miss, but there were others; to Harris, to Malachi Coleman, to Tyrell Henry. He had a particularly rough throw to the latter on Wisconsin's final play before the half, air-mailing a pass for Henry that should've been picked off by the Leathernecks.

I wrote several times that Joseph's decision-making would be key to track against Western Illinois. Regardless of the inferior opponent, getting the ball to the right places at the right time matters the most.

Through two games, Joseph's decision-making has largely been great. He's making the right reads and his eyes are in the right place. You can tell his head isn't spinning. But now, the mechanics need to catch up. Again, he had too many missed layups, putting throws a hair high, a touch low or a bit behind.

Joseph's legs

Wisconsin Badgers quarterback Colton Joseph. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The quarterback got a little more involved on the ground than he did against Notre Dame, but he still only tallied 33 yards on four carries. Whenever he did tuck it, it resulted in a successful running play. Western Illinois certainly made an effort to keep him contained and potentially influenced him to hand the ball off more on read options, but there's also been a distinct lack of plays specifically drawn up to get Joseph in space.

The quarterback is looking to throw the ball from the pocket, and that's a good sign. He's not just bailing when his first read isn't there. If Joseph was too quick to scramble, that would also be an issue.

I do think Joseph has done a nice job taking what's available for him on the ground. It's just surprising that his legs haven't been a bigger part of the scripted game-plan.

The verdict

Ultimately, Joseph settled in after a very forgettable first half. He made some nice tosses in the second half as the Badgers were able to lean on their running game and take some of the pressure off their quarterback. While it's odd that we didn't see much of this at Lambeau Field, I'm willing to at least humor the possibility that he had first-time-playing-in-Camp-Randall jitters.

The arm talent is clearly there, and again, it's not like Joseph is making mind-numbingly poor decisions about where to go with the football. In fact, it's been quite the opposite. He's made almost exclusively great decisions in that department. But the ball placement just needs to tighten up a little for this passing game to become truly dangerous.

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