MADISON — The Wisconsin Badgers will travel to Evanston, Illinois, to face the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday as theyattempt to improve their winning streak to three.

Here are the four biggest factors that will decide the outcome of Saturday’s contest against Northwestern.

It can be argued who or what has been most responsible for Wisconsin’s improvement over the past two games, but it's undeniable that their offensive explosion would not have been possible without the work of the offensive line.

“I think everything starts with our o-line, and it’s really helped us play well the past few weeks,” quarterback Braedyn Locke said Tuesday.

“You look at the pocket, and you look at the ability for Braeden to have some patience with it, to be able to move himself a little bit, step up and have a free lane. Those are the things that sometimes people don't talk about. They just look at the shots down the field. And I think that's where [I’m] putting some pressure on the guys up front, saying, ‘Okay, it's not just pound the football. It's not just the run game. It's how clean can we keep him?’ I think he was sacked one time. He probably was only hit a couple times,” coach Luke Fickell said during his Monday press conference.

They’ve allowed Tawee Walker to finally look like a real RB1 and Locke enough comfort to take and convert deep shots.

The offense has outscored opponents 94-13 and outgained them in yards 1,138-487 over the past two games.

Locke and Walker deserve credit, but their job has been much easier because of the work of their offensive line.

But, to be cynical, Purdue’s defensive line never posed much of a threat, and Rutgers lost their best edge rusher, Aaron Lewis, early in the first quarter.

Northwestern’s front is far more capable of wreaking havoc. Edge rushers Anto Saka and Aidan Hubbard have registered 18 and 14 pressures, respectively, per PFF, and the Wildcats’ 15 sacks as a team are tied for sixth in the conference.

The offensive line will obviously need to protect Locke so he can continue to take deep shots and keep the defense honest, but I foresee an ugly, gritty, defensive battle. One where they’ll need to create space for Walker, Darrion Dupree and Cade Yacamelli.

If the front doesn’t keep their momentum, the Badgers are at risk of being physically dominated, just like last year’s matchup.

Last year’s loss to Northwestern was arguably the worst loss in recent program history.

It wasn’t just that the Badgers lost. They looked like they completely quit.

Northwestern’s first four drives went: touchdown - touchdown - touchdown - field goal. The score was 24-3 at halftime, and you could feel the despondence in the Camp Randall crowd.

That day was arguably the low point of the Fickell era so far.

When speaking to Fickell on Monday, it was clear that the loss still agitated him.

“I thought last year they controlled the line of scrimmage, and particularly better than any other game that we played last year. And when I say they controlled the line of scrimmage, that's probably me not wanting to say that they dominated us up front on both sides of the ball, but in a lot of ways, they dominated us up front on both sides of the ball and in a lot of other areas,” Fickell said.

Starting next week against Penn State, the Badgers end their season with an absolute gauntlet, which also features Iowa, Oregon and Nebraska.

It’s easy for fans to brush this game off as the calm before the storm, but the players and coaches likely disagree.

The Wildcats will enter with confidence, and for good reason. They absolutely manhandled the Badgers last year. It was so convincing and dominant that coach Ryan Braun lost his interim tag just days after the win.

But Wisconsin has had this rematch in the back of their minds since it happened, and will perhaps treat it like one of the most important games on their schedule..

The true key to victory against Rutgers, what really took the wind out of their sails, was the disappearance of star running back Kyle Monangai. He’s the heart and soul of their offense, entering last week with an average of 133.4 rushing yards per game and sat at or near the top of virtually every Big Ten rushing leaderboard.

Monangai mustered just 72 rushing yards on 3.7 per carry and a touchdown, with 33 of those yards coming on their lone touchdown drive in the second half, when the Badger defense was mostly just trying to prevent big plays.

Fickell attributed their success against the run to the outside linebackers.

“I thought that going into the game, the key defensively, and even offensively, was that we had to control the edges. We had to win the C gap. And I thought we did a really good job of that. And that's where it started,” Fickell said Monday.

Northwestern’s running game has struggled this season, especially since starting running back Cam Porter suffered a lower body injury during the week three matchup against Eastern Illinois.

In the last three games since his injury, the Wildcats have averaged just 77.3 rushing yards per game, compared to 167.7 over their first three.

Their greatest threat on the ground is likely quarterback Jack Lausch, who’s shown some decent mobility and a willingness to run. He’s rushed at least seven times in all four of his starts and is second on the team in yards with 141.

What makes this matchup more concerning is how the Badgers have fared against mobile quarterbacks this season.

Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe did whatever he wanted to against Wisconsin’s defense, finishing with 75 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Purdue quarterback Hudson Card didn’t rush for much, but his mobility allowed him to run around in the pocket and keep plays alive.

Last week against Maryland, Lausch also showed a willingness to throw the ball deep. He completed three passes of 40+ yards against Maryland and averaged 20.3 yards per completion.

The edge rushers must both contain Lausch in the pocket and get to him before he’s able to complete any deep passes.

Saturday’s game will be played in a stadium that’s literally a stone’s throw away from Lake Michigan. There’s a solid chance the wind will come into play.

It could restrict the passing game, but will likely have the most impact on kicking.

In Northwestern home games this season, kickers are collectively 12-for-18 on field goals, with misses from 50, 45, 42, 36, 33 and 29 yards.

Even starting Wildcat kicker Jack Olsen could never really figure it out, going seven-for-10 on field goals prior to his lower body injury before last week’s matchup.

The Wildcats turned to starting punter Luke Akers, son of former All-Pro kicker David Akers. They couldn’t have asked for better fill-in work, as he succeeded punting, place kicking and on kickoff.

Akers went 4-for-4 on extra points and 3-for-3 on field goals, connecting from 38 yards twice and once from 43. He also averaged 49.2 yards per punt and pinned Maryland inside the 20 twice.

But he did that in College Park, Maryland, which isn’t directly next to a great lake. And if he sustains that kind of workload, it’ll be especially tough to stay sharp against the wind.

On the other side, Wisconsin kicker Nathaniel Vakos hasn’t looked particularly worthy of confidence, regardless of condition.

He’s made just six-of-nine field goal attempts this year, and hasn’t done much in recent weeks. In the past three games since the Alabama loss, Vakos has attempted just two field goals, making a 26-yarder against Purdue and missing last week from 35.

Against the best defense they’ve played in weeks, it’s probably gonna get ugly. It wouldn’t be surprising if this game is decided by a few points, or a few kicks.

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