BadgerBlitz.com's weekly feature, "The 3Cs," returns for the 2020 season. The staff takes a look at one thing we're curious, confident and concerned about heading into Wisconsin's cross-divisional showdown against Michigan.

Senior writers Benjamin Worgull and Jake Kocorowski, along with staff writer Raul Vazquez each give their thoughts on the aforementioned topics for this week's contest.

Benjamin Worgull: The depth. When asked about his team’s depth entering Saturday, head coach Paul Chryst said there will be players who will likely play against Michigan who weren’t in position to play three weeks ago when the season began. And since Wisconsin won’t release the names of those infected with coronavirus and unable to play against the Wolverines, our guess is as good as yours of who is going to be out there.

Could this be the game we see talented freshman wide receiver Chimere Dike, who was lauded by his teammates and the quarterbacks throughout fall camp? Will safety Titus Toler (who had an interception in the opener) get more work with Michigan a bigger threat to pass than run? Will freshman Jalen Berger get some carries after UW’s running game lacked a punch against Illinois? Might we see some young offensive linemen - like Michigan-native Logan Brown - get some work? Again, we won’t really know until Saturday night.

Raul Vasquez: I'm curious about the script the coaches draw up. With the Badgers having played their most recent game three weeks ago, how will they approach this contest offensively? Will they try to ease Graham Mertz or Danny Vanden Boom and the offense back into a game flow and be conservative? Or will they look to keep up their high-powered offensive attack that shined against the Fighting Illini against a porous Michigan secondary? The Wolverines' 104th best passing defense that gives up 287 yards per game through the air may leave Mertz and his pass catchers salivating over the matchup. But how will Chryst and offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph approach it?

Jake Kocorowski: Digging deeper into Ben’s point, I am curious as to who starts at quarterback for Wisconsin on Saturday, and how he (and the offense) performs. Reports from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin State Journal have stated that both Mertz and Wolf received positive COVID-19 tests, but as mentioned previously, the school has not officially confirmed that.

However, on Monday, Chryst discussed Mertz and his potential availability to play.

“Graham, the way that his is timing out, he's starting to kind of process of coming back,” Chryst said. “His tests are all done, and I think he'll be able to have some practice and we'll see if it's enough practice time. You don't know that, and each guy's a little bit different. How do they handle all of it? So we'll kind of see on him and a couple other guys that were kind of in that early group of it.”

If he cannot go, is Wolf available and ready, and for that matter, will Danny Vanden Boom find time on the field?

Worgull: Michigan’s invincibility is gone for Wisconsin. Before 2007, UW had beaten Michigan by at least 14 points only twice. Showing how much things have changed, the Badgers’ last five wins have been by 16, 21, 20, 14 and 21. UW hasn’t won in Ann Arbor since 2010, but this Michigan team won’t scare the visitors because while the Badgers were dealing with off-the-field turmoil, Michigan was succumbing to on-field disasters.

Once thought by some (me included) to be the toughest game on UW’s schedule in 2020, the Wolverines have looked sloppy in a home loss to an average Michigan State team and on the road to a top-10 Indiana team (man, that feels weird to say). As a result, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh finds himself on the hot seat as restless fans are calling for his job.

What the first three weeks of the season have told us about Michigan is that the Wolverines are playing a lot of youth and are dealing with a ton of injuries. They were missing their starting tackles last week against Indiana and rushed for a whopping 13 yards. Now, Michigan has to replace defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson, one of the team’s top defenders who fractured his leg last week and is out four months. That’s concerning for a defense that doesn’t have a sack in the past two weeks.

Vasquez: Depth. Much like Ben and Jake, I am curious to see which players find the field and benefit from a banged up roster, but there is depth across Wisconsin’s roster. The lone spots that lack major depth are at tight end, wide receiver and linebacker. Reading between the lines here, but with wide outs Kendric Pryor and Danny Davis, tight end Jake Ferguson and linebacker Jack Sanborn being made available to the media this week, one can assume that they’ll be ready to go for Saturday. [Ed. note: Wisconsin made available Pryor and Sanborn in the end on Tuesday, though they at first stated Davis and swapped him out for Ferguson before Pryor's appearance was finalized.] The Badgers were hit hard by a COVID outbreak and will have new faces on both sides of the ball, but their depth will show up this weekend.

Kocorowski: Still confident in Wisconsin’s run defense, thanks to its defensive line. Position coach Inoke Breckterfield boasted in early October how he felt confident with his two-deep of players, and their veteran presence should make it a compelling matchup in Ann Arbor this weekend.

Michigan comes in averaging 140 yards on the ground per game and 5.7 yards per attempt in its trio of conference clashes, though Indiana clamped down to allow under a yard per carry on Saturday. The Wolverines’ passing attack should be a formidable challenge for UW’s secondary with Joe Milton completing over 60% of his throws and averaging 289.7 yards per game through the air. However, take away the rushing attack, and the Badgers can hone in on containing the intriguing signal caller and his receiving targets -- something I think will happen.

Worgull: The play of Michigan quarterback Joe Milton. Michigan’s offense attacks teams in multiple ways on the ground, mixing in some option with a power running game. But the fact that its offensive line is young and banged up has put even more pressure on Milton, whose strong arm and confidence has reinvigorated the Wolverines passing game.

Through three games, Milton is completing 60.7 percent of his passes and averaging 289.7 yards per game. He doesn’t lock in on one target (three Michigan players have at least eight catches) and is a threat to run (he averages 4.1 yards per carry). Against Indiana, Milton threw for 344 yards – his second straight week of throwing for 300+ - and three touchdowns.

However, Milton threw two fourth-quarter interceptions against the Hoosiers that proved problematic for Michigan to register the comeback win. UW did a nice job of shutting down Illinois’ passing game, but Milton is more talented than the Illini’s quarterbacks with a lot of better weapons around him. UW’s defense will need to be sharp following a long layoff.

Vasquez: Breakout sensation Graham Mertz managed to meet and exceed the lofty expectations placed on him in his first career start. It’s tough to label the quarterback position as something to be concerned about after Mertz's first performance, but who knows how he’ll look with three weeks off? In perfect Chryst fashion, he was non-committal in regards to starting Mertz with limited practice time. But if he does start, it’ll be tough for him to come close to his near-perfect performance against Illinois, even against a struggling Wolverine defense.

Kocorowski: I’ll look on the offensive side of the ball and the run game. “Concerned” is a strong word here, but I do believe Wisconsin’s rushing attack will need to show improvements from its Week 1 output where it gained a mere 3.4 yards per carry. That’s especially true depending upon who plays at quarterback and who is held out due to positive COVID-19 cases and the Big Ten’s 21-day protocol.

In the two most recent losses to Michigan in Ann Arbor during the 2016 and 2018 seasons, Wisconsin gained 71 and 183 rushing yards, respectively (on 2.5 and 6.3 yards per carry, respectively). Though the Wolverines are down Hutchinson (injury) and cornerback Ambry Thomas (opt-out), there still is talent in Don Brown’s unit. Asserting themselves at the line of scrimmage early and often would definitely be advantageous for the Badgers with who may or may not be available.