BadgerBlitz.com's weekly feature, "The 3 Cs," returns for the 2024 season. The staff takes a look at one thing we're curious, confident and concerned about heading into Wisconsin's Week 6 showdown with Purdue.

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

ROHRER: I'm curious to see if Wisconsin changes its approach to 4th-and-short.

Call me sick in the head, but I'm dying to see how the Badgers line up when they're inevitably faced with a critical short yardage situation on fourth down.

Through four games, Wisconsin has repeatedly lined up in the gun on short yardage situations, and repeatedly failed to move the chains. It's become a major talking point around the program, and has drawn the ire of plenty of notable football alumni. The 4th-and-1 debate may seem trivial, but it's at the core of the Badgers' identity crisis.

"I have to win every time on 4th-and-1. Especially how I play my game, I'm a powerful back," Tawee Walker said this week. "But we've got seven to block nine. So maybe in a different situation, Braedyn (Locke) pulls the ball. But it's not his fault. I should've got it."

When asked further, Walker reasonably wouldn't reveal if he had a preference in terms of taking a handoff in the pistol or shotgun.

Head coach Luke Fickell stands by his assertion that whatever the play-call may be, the biggest factor in moving the chains in those situations is execution. But Walker brings up a valid point in that teams have simply been able to use numbers advantages to prey on Wisconsin's tendencies. Opponents' edge defenders are confident that when they crash hard on 4th-and-1, there's no threat the quarterback will pull the ball and try to get the edge.

Something needs to change, as the 4th-and-1 dilemma epitomizes the Badgers' struggles on offense right now. Does play-caller Phil Longo change his ways with the help of some pressure from important figures in the Badger football diaspora?

SLUSHER: I’m most curious to see how aggressive the Badgers are in the passing game.

Based on the state of Purdue’s run defense, Wisconsin could probably run the ball on every single play and still win. Running won’t be a problem for them. At least it shouldn’t.

What I’m intrigued to see is how they handle the passing game, and more specifically, how much they allow Locke to do.

When they played two methodical offenses to begin the season, the Badgers were equally as conservative when they had the ball. It seemed as if they were afraid of making a mistake and giving extra chances to an inferior opponent.

They could implement that same philosophy this week. It’s probably wiser to not give safety Dillon Thienemen, who’s likely Purdue’s best player, any extra opportunities to make this a game.

But they have a quarterback who needs to develop some confidence. If they can take control of the game and develop a lead, they should keep their foot on the gas pedal and see if Locke has any more bombs in him, the way we saw in the first half against USC last week.

ROHRER: I’m confident that Wisconsin will be able to run the football all over the Boilermakers.

The Badgers' rushing attack hasn't exactly been dynamic this season. In fact, it's been far from it. Wisconsin's longest run remains a 29-yard dash from Cade Yacamelli in Week 2 against South Dakota. Chez Mellusi averaged 4.1 yards-per-carry before he stepped away from the team while Walker averages 3.9.

Still, Purdue has one of the softest run defenses in the nation. The Boilermakers allow 242 yards-per-game on the ground, which checks in at 130th nationally. Purdue has been particularly gashed on the outside, where its rush defenders haven't been able to edge with any degree of consistency. On the flip side, the Badgers have had some success on outside runs, notably against Alabama with Mellusi and Yacamelli.

Wisconsin's offense came out of the gates more pass-happy against the Trojans, and at least in the first half, that led to a good offensive showing. Still, Purdue has an extremely glaring weakness that would be irresponsible not to try to exploit, even with a rushing attack that's left a lot to be desired.

SLUSHER: I’m confident that Saturday will be the best game yet for Wisconsin’s edge rushers.

There have been quite a few position groups who haven’t lived up to expectations early, and the most befuddling case may be with the outside linebackers.

John Pius and Leon Lowery were brought in via the transfer portal to help out Darryl Peterson, creating a nucleus of long, experienced athletes to fix their depth issue from last season.

The additions made sense on paper. But they’ve yet to make any impact on paper.

In four games, Peterson has logged 10 pressures, per Pro Football Focus, but Pius and Lowery have produced just seven combined. The lack of production has been palpable, as Alabama’s Jalen Milroe and USC’s Miller Moss did whatever they wanted from the pocket these last two games.

Purdue’s offense isn’t nearly as pass-reliant as Alabama or USC, but if the Badgers can build a lead, they might have to be.

This would create more time for Wisconsin’s edge rushers to try and beat Purdue’s unimpressive tackle duo of Marcus Mbow and Corey Stewart, who’ve allowed a total of 12 pressures this season.

After the bye week, defensive coordinator Mike Tressel talked about “turning it loose” and using a more aggressive game plan. This could be a worthwhile week to test that strategy out.

ROHRER: I'm concerned by the mystery that Purdue's offense presents.

Out is coordinator Graham Harrell. In is Justin Simmons, a little-known offensive analyst who's never called plays at the collegiate level.

"We don't know what's going on. I try not to speculate," Fickell said. "Obviously, we gotta prepare to play them, so there's some things you're trying to figure out, but who knows if it hasn't been like that for the last three weeks. There's a lot of things you have no idea of. It's just another one of those things, it's another obstacle in the way, things you have to assume and things you have to prepare for."

Given the firing of their offensive coordinator, the Boilermakers obviously haven't been good on that side of the ball. They enter Week 6 with the 110th-best total offense in the nation. Quarterback Hudson Card has a distinct lack of talented eligibles to throw to, and he's playing like it.

Still, Simmons and Purdue are playing with house money. This is a kitchen sink kind of game for the Boilermakers. Feasibly, they could try anything. Why wouldn't they? They're on the road against a team they haven't beaten since George W. Bush was president. It would be very reasonable to pull out all the stops, counter the tendencies you've put on tape previously and try to catch Wisconsin completely off-guard.

SLUSHER: I’m concerned that the Badgers will take this game too lightly.

There’s no tangible way to measure a team’s attitude toward a given opponent, but viewers can always feel it when watching the games.

The Badgers are coming off of playing perhaps their two toughest opponents of the season, and both games were trainwrecks in their own unique way.

They’ll now host a 1-3 Purdue team that’s, frankly, the worst team on their conference schedule. There’s a high chance the players are treating this like a deep breath game, that they won’t have to exert as much energy in order to win. But if they enter with this attitude, that makes them incredibly vulnerable.

I can recall last season when the Northwestern game was seen as a “get-right” game at home against a perceived lesser opponent, after a string of tough losses. In case you need your memory jogged, the Wildcats jumped out to a 24-3 first half lead in what was perhaps the most stunning Badger loss in years

We’ve seen plenty of instances in which the team simply shuts down or plays with a minimum level of effort.

The first two games of the season were both sluggish efforts until the fourth quarter, when they realized they might lose. The entire Alabama game was a mess, while the USC performance featured a great first half followed by a complete collapse.

This is all to say, we haven’t seen much inspired football from the Badgers this year. If they treat this game with any sense of ease, we could see a repeat of the Northwestern game.

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