GAME THREAD: Wisconsin at Michigan (UPDATE x2: Graham Mertz is warming up and a depth chart!)

First of all, welcome to college football Saturday. It has been a long couple of weeks with no Badgers on the TV but now, we have football, men’s hockey AND men’s basketball on the same dang day! Here is the info for the virtual Red and White scrimmage:

The men’s hockey team is also on TV tonight and will be looking to continue their season-long shutout streak that sits at, uh, one game after beating Notre Dame 2-0 on Friday evening.

Finally, we get to the main event! The No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers (1-0 overall) are in Ann Arbor, Mich. to take on the Michigan Wolverines (1-2 overall) in a primetime showdown on ABC. The Wolverines have lost two games in a row and are in desperate need of good showing against the Badgers. Wisconsin, on the other hand, will be looking to shake the rust off after having their last two games canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak among the players and staff.

As we’ve mentioned elsewhere on the site, we do not know exactly who will be in the lineup for the Badgers and who is still in the COVID-19 protocol and has to sit out. Once we learn any details, we will fill y’all in.

If Graham Mertz is under center for Wisconsin, he should find it easier to get back in the swing of things than others on the team because Michigan’s pass defense has been dreadful this year. The Wolverines also have a banged up defensive line so hopefully the Badgers running game get going after they struggled out of the gate against Illinois.

On defense, the Badgers will have their hands full with a talented, yet mistake prone, quarterback in Joe Milton. Milton has a stable of running backs to hand off to as well and he can even scamper for yards if needed. Despite Michigan’s struggles this year, their battles with Wisconsin are often close, tense games and regardless...it’s ALWAYS good to beat Michigan.

Here are the staff predictions for the game:

Bob: 35-21, Wisconsin

Ryan: 34-10, Wisconsin

Tyler: 31-17, Wisconsin

Owen: 31-24, Wisconsin

Belz: 31-27, Wisconsin

Neal: 33-21, Wisconsin

Rock: 42-30, Wisconsin

Drew: 30-21, Wisconsin

Kevin: 38-24, Wisconsin

J.J.: 45-35, Wisconsin

Neither Wisconsin nor Michigan released a depth chart for this game sooooooo, we’ll post one more fun fact here instead of the those:

• The Michigan quarterback who has thrown for the most yards in a game against Wisconsin is none other than...current head coach Jim Harbaugh! He hucked it around the field to the tune of 310 yards in 1986 in a 34-17 UM win.

UPDATE, Saturday Nov. 14th, 5:22 p.m. CST

UPDATE x2, Nov. 14th, 5:47 p.m. CST:

Players who are out according to reports:

DE Garrett Rand
OG Josh Seltzner
RB Garrett Groshek

CB Rachad Wildgoose isn’t on the depth chart but his status is unknown

P Andy Vujnovich is out on the field and in uniform