BadgerBlitz.com's weekly feature, "The 3 Cs," returns for the 2023 season. The staff takes a look at one thing we're curious, confident and concerned about as Wisconsin prepares to face Minnesota.

Staff writers Seamus Rohrer and Donnie Slusher each give their thoughts on the aforementioned topics for this week.

Rohrer: I'm probably most curious to see how Gophers' quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis performs in his second Axe Game.

In his first, he had a career game, throwing for 319 yards and two touchdowns while completing 65.5 percent of his passes. Wisconsin had no answer for the quick-hitting RPOs and timing routes with which he carved up the Badgers' secondary.

That performance, however, was largely an outlier. Kaliakmanis hasn't thrown for 300 yards at all since that game, and hasn't completed passes at that efficient a clip in a conference game since. On the season, he's thrown for 13 touchdowns to eight interceptions while completing just 52.6 percent of his passes.

Wisconsin's defense has looked extremely problematic, especially in the early portions of games, against quarterbacks with any form of mobility and moxie throwing the football downfield. Kaliakmanis has both — the Badgers will need to be dialed in defensively.

Slusher: I’m most curious to see if the Badgers still have an issue performing when the lights are brightest.

In the few truly important games they’ve played this season, the results haven’t been very promising at all.

Their first big matchup came in the second week when they traveled to Pullman to face Washington State. The Badgers played their toughest non-conference opponent, who they lost to last season, on national television, and were beaten, 31-22.

It never even felt close after the Cougars took a 24-6 lead in the first half.

A little over a month later, Luke Fickell’s new-look Badgers played their first real rivalry game against Iowa. It was one of the ugliest games in recent history for Wisconsin, which lost 15-6. The Hawkeyes have one of the best defenses in the entire Big Ten, but the Badgers still looked inexcusably lifeless on offense.

Just two weeks after that, the Badgers faced their toughest opponent of the season in the Ohio State Buckeyes. Even though they lost 24-10, Wisconsin’s performance was ultimately quite impressive, given the circumstances. They stayed within one possession against one of the more talented teams in the country for much of the game, despite starting a backup quarterback and losing Braelon Allen halfway through the game. Yet they still lost and couldn’t do much of anything on offense.

This matchup was a sign of progress for Wisconsin’s ability to get up for big games, but they’ve to show they can actually win.

Rohrer: I'm confident that this game will be decided in the trenches.

As Donnie mentions below, the Gophers' run defense has been shredded in recent weeks. Ohio State's offensive line and TreVeyon Henderson will do that to most teams, but Purdue won't. Run defense is a legit concern in Minneapolis, and undoubtably an area offensive coordinator Phil Longo has circled in his game plan.

Allen isn't fully healthy, but it'd be a shock if he doesn't get significant carries come Saturday. This game is personal, and the tailback mentioned this week that there's extra motivation for him as he's currently 0-2 against the Gophers in his time in Madison.

On the flip side, Minnesota leans on its running game, which is spearheaded by sophomore tailback Jordan Nubin. Nubin is the backup to freshman phenom Darius Taylor, but he's no slouch at the halfback position. He's been very serviceable in the backfield for the Gophers, and they'll allow him to take over a game when necessary — on Oct. 28, he racked up 204 rushing yards on 40 carries.

Neither of these two teams' passing offenses are anything to write home about. This will be an old-school, physical battle in the trenches. I wouldn't be shocked if both teams ran the ball 40 times.

Slusher: I’m confident that Wisconsin’s run game will bounce back.

The Badgers struggled on the ground in the three weeks in which Allen missed time, averaging 93.6 rushing yards per game in that span, compared to 177.1 for the other eight games.

He came back last week against Nebraska, which happens to have one of the best run defenses in the country. Allen made some important, game-altering plays, but ultimately wasn’t very productive, finishing with just 62 yards and two touchdowns.

Now they’ll face a Minnesota run defense that’s been gutted in back-to-back weeks.

Two weeks ago, they let Purdue rush for 353 yards on 8.0 yards per carry, along with four touchdowns, on their way to a 49-30 win. They followed that up by allowing Ohio State to finish with 215 rushing yards, led by Henderson’s 146 yards and two touchdowns.

This is the perfect week for Wisconsin’s best player to finally perform against their biggest rival. Allen rushed 17 times for just 47 yards against the Gophers as a freshman, then missed last year’s game with a leg injury. They’ve never beaten Minnesota in Allen’s time as a Badger.

If they break the losing streak, Allen will be a major reason why.

Rohrer: I'm concerned that another receiving threat will need to step up besides Will Pauling in order for Wisconsin to win this game.

The dynamic slot receiver has gotten double digit targets in six of the Badgers' last seven games. That makes plenty of sense — he's easily Wisconsin's most dangerous pass-catcher. Expect the Gophers to be highly aware of this and focus their defensive attention on Pauling. That will force another receiver to step up and make some big-time catches.

It's one thing to say that Minnesota will attempt to slow down Pauling, as every team that's watched film understands that's a paramount part of game-planning for the Badgers. But the Gophers have the manpower to make good on that. Defensive backs Tyler Nubin, Jack Henderson and Darius Green are all key defensive pieces that can hold up in coverage. Not only that, each has accounted for at least 50 total tackles this season. Minnesota's talented secondary will undoubtably key off Pauling, meaning another Badgers' pass-catcher will need to make plays. In recent weeks, that hasn't been the case.

Slusher: I’m most concerned that Wisconsin’s defense will let Minnesota build a big lead early.

The Badgers have struggled with slow starts all season, and have only suffered worse in recent weeks.

Against Indiana, they allowed the Hoosiers to take an early 10-0 lead and could never catch up.

Their first half against Northwestern was one of the worst halves played by any Wisconsin defense in years. The Wildcats scored on their first four drives of the game, creating a 24-3 lead that proved to be insurmountable. The Badgers looked absolutely lifeless on both sides of the ball and suffered their worst loss in years.

The Nebraska game initially looked like a repeat of the previous week, as Wisconsin let the Cornhuskers score a 50+ yard touchdown on each of their first two drives of the game. The Badger offense was eventually able to overcome the 14-0 first quarter deficit, but it took them until overtime.

Recent history leads me to expect another early deficit for Wisconsin. Whether or not they can crawl out of it is the real mystery.

_________________________________________________

*Chat about this article in The Badgers' Den

*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel

*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)

*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @TheBadgerNation, @RaulV45, @seamus_rohrer, @DonnieSlusher_

*Like us on Facebook