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 Nebraska.

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

Rohrer: I'm curious as to how Nebraska's quarterback situation unfolds Saturday night in Madison.

If the Huskers had a legit signal caller, there's a chance that the Big Ten West title could be theirs to loose right now with two weeks remaining. With the stingy defense that Nebraska deploys, any semblance of competence under center may very well have them in position to make some noise in the conference. Alas, the Huskers' quarterback situation is one of the murkiest in the country.

It's an incredibly long story, so I'll try to summarize it concisely. Georgia Tech transfer Jeff Simms has been a turnover machine. He accounted for a staggering eight turnovers in Nebraska's first two games and has 41 total in his career. Zack Carpenter, our colleague over at Nebraska's Rivals affiliate, called him "unplayable."

Then there's Heinrich Haarberg, who's a mobile, physical runner. Each of the Huskers' five wins have come with him getting the start. However, he suffered an ankle injury in Nebraska's loss to Maryland last week and isn't considered likely to play.

Finally, there's Chubba Purdy. Before you ask, yes, he is in fact the younger brother of ex-Iowa State and former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy. He's expected to get the start, but he's only played in two series all season long.

Nebraska is dealing with a truly fascinating conundrum at quarterback in the season's final stretch. How Matt Rhule and his staff navigate his quarterback room's injury and turnover issues will be critical to the outcome of the game Saturday night.

Slusher: I’m most curious to see if the Badger defense bounces back.

Last week’s performance against Northwestern was concerning for a variety of reasons, but the most puzzling was how quickly the defense seemed to disappear.

They had a rough start to the year, but have essentially carried the Badgers since the bye week, slowly improving while the offense slowly falls off a cliff. They gave up an average of 375 yards per game through the first four weeks prior to the bye, and 304.5 per game since.

The defense also gave the offense plenty of chances to win in some of their recent losses. Wisconsin lost to Iowa, 15-6, despite their defense holding the Hawkeyes to just 37 passing yards and 237 total yards. They limited a talented Ohio State offense that averages 33.3 points per game to just 24. And despite making mistakes against Indiana, especially in the first half, the Hoosiers scored just three points in the second half of a one-score game.

Simply put — these losses aren’t on them.

Last week, however, was a different story.

They allowed quarterback Ben Bryant, who hadn’t played in over a month, to slice them up in the first half, leading the Wildcats to a 24-3 first-half lead. They improved in the second half, but were also responsible for the game becoming out of reach to begin with.

Nebraska doesn’t have the most talented or productive offense, but neither did Northwestern.

Rohrer: I'm confident that the Badgers' defense will get back on the board in the turnover department.

Wisconsin hasn't forced a turnover the past two weeks despite playing the lackluster offenses of Indiana and Northwestern. Inexplicably, the last turnovers it created were against the mighty Ohio State Buckeyes.

That should change against Nebraska. It "leads" the country in turnovers with 27, as well as turnover margin of -14. That's close to three turnovers committed by the Huskers each game. It's now of never for Wisconsin. If the Badgers can't lurk a pass or pounce on a loose football Saturday night against the most turnover-prone team in the nation, it'll hurt their chances severely.

Slusher: I’m confident that Tanner Mordecai is the Badgers’ only chance to win.

Despite how rough last week was for the offense, I didn’t feel that Mordecai looked rusty or that he was still recovering from his injury. There were a few ugly over-throws and small mistakes, but I’m confident that the offense would’ve had more success if they gave Mordecai greater control.

The issue for Mordecai last week was that the run game completely disappeared. They thought Braelon Allen was healthy enough to play — he wasn’t — but still game-planned to emphasize the run. Mordecai instead had only Jackson Acker and Cade Yacamelli to lean on. Both are unproven against any quality run defense.

The Badgers should get a much healthier Allen this week. But Nebraska’s run defense is so elite that it’ll be a challenge regardless.

If Wisconsin truly wants to succeed on offense, Phil Longo needs to emphasize less on the run and instead give Mordecai the keys to the car. He averages 32 pass attempts per game, and has only thrown over 31 attempts in a game twice — against Washington State and Northwestern — when he threw 40 and 45 passes, respectively. But he only threw that many passes because the game fell out of reach and he had to. They should prepare to lean on the passing game from the start, even if it conflicts with Longo’s tendencies.

It’s unlikely and somewhat unreasonable for an offensive coordinator to shift his philosophy at all, but he may have to if he wants to make a bowl game.

Rohrer: Once again, I have no shortage of concerns this week. Here's one: I'm concerned that Wisconsin is nowhere near prepared to face a defense of Nebraska's caliber.

The Badgers have faced some elite defenses this season, namely Ohio State and Iowa. They managed 16 points in both games combined. With the way the defense has played, they'll need to score more than one offensive touchdown to have a chance Saturday night.

Nebraska's strength is its running defense, which checks in at third nationally. Running the ball also happens to be one of Wisconsin's many weaknesses. Even if Braelon Allen returns, I don't expect this Badgers' ground game to make much of an impact.

I don't need to remind you how lethargic Wisconsin's offense has been. Now, it must play a team that prides itself on locking down defensively.

Slusher: I’m most concerned that the team has simply quit.

The gist of Hunter Wohler’s post-Northwestern rant was that the Badgers simply weren’t trying hard enough. Minutes before that, Mordecai criticized and questioned many players’ “give a sh*t” factor.

If two of the biggest leaders on the team voice concerns regarding the Badgers’ collective effort, I’m going to do the same.

Given how ugly last week’s loss was, and Wohler’s rant, this week in practice should’ve been the most intense of the season. Luke Fickell opened the post-game press conference by calling the loss “embarrassing.” Players generally echoed that sentiment on Tuesday, yet they also expressed optimism over the team’s collective effort in practice.

I have a feeling that we’ll know early whether or not the Badgers are really in it. They simply can’t afford to start another game slowly.

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