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ESPN College Gameday picks for No. 13 Wisconsin vs. Michigan

Tonight’s matchup between the No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers and the 1-2 Michigan Wolverines is college football’s premier contest of the weekend. During a normal year, the game would host ESPN College Gameday and we would see a Lee Corso headgear pick. …

They did still pick the game, though, and here is who the crew picked to win:

Desmond Howard: Wisconsin

Lee Corso: Wisconsin

Jack Nicklaus: Wisconsin

No big surprises here, as the Badgers are favored to win the game. Desmond is a Michigan alumn, though, and rarely picks against his Wolverines.

Michigan and Wisconsin will kick off at 6:30 p.m. central in front of an empty Big House in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

We won’t know until then who will take the field at quarterback for the Badgers, who the team is missing and how Chryst’s squad looks after three idle weeks.

Gameday work:

What Michigan is saying about Wisconsin football this week

The No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers are set to take the field tonight against the 1-2 Michigan Wolverines in what will be their first game…

The No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers are set to take the field tonight against the 1-2 Michigan Wolverines in what will be their first game in 22 days.

This week we’ve gone through the matchup, analyzed the Wolverine team, and gave you keys to the game, what to watch for and why Wisconsin will come away with a victory.

That’s all from a Wisconsin perspective

Now we’re looking at what Head Coach Jim Harbaugh has been saying about the Badgers this week.

First, regarding the fact the Badgers have only played one game this season, Harbaugh said his team will “use film against Illinois and film from last year” to prepare for the contest.

I don’t think anybody knows what Wisconsin team we’ll see tonight, especially given the fact there will likely be players out and the team hasn’t played in more than three weeks.

Despite this being the marquee matchup of the weekend in college football, a lot of the talk in Michigan is around their 1-2 start and what direction the program is heading.

When asked about how the team will prepare for the rest of the season with the Big Ten off the table, Harbaugh said the focus is to win the next game on the schedule and said he and his team aren’t concerned with the outside noise about their bad start.

There wasn’t much else said in his game week press conference against the Badgers and the matchup between the two teams, as many of the questions addressed why Michigan has started slow and what direction the team and the program are heading.

Who are the 2020 Michigan Wolverines?

Unlike the No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers, who have only played one game thus far, Jim Harbaugh and the 1-2 Michigan Wolverines have been in action each weekend to start the season. Long story short: it hasn’t been that pretty. Since the Harbaugh era …

Since the Harbaugh era began in Ann Arbor you could use a few words to define his teams: sub-par quarterback play, an average yet consistent offense and an uber-talented and dominant defense.

This year, though, it seems like most of that has been turned on its head.

There are still a lot of question marks surrounding the matchup including who will be able to suit up for the Badgers and whether Graham Mertz will start at quarterback.

That all can be put aside for a second as we go in-depth into 2020 Michigan Wolverines.

Related:

Five keys to a Wisconsin victory over Michigan on Saturday

Head Coach Paul Chryst and the No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers will be back in action Saturday against Jim Harbaugh and the 1-2 Michigan…

Head Coach Paul Chryst and the No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers will be back in action Saturday against Jim Harbaugh and the 1-2 Michigan Wolverines, a game date that will mark 22 days after their Week 1 contest against Illinois.

The last few weeks in Madison have not been easy, as the team opened the season with a dominant 45-7 victory Illinois, experienced a COVID-19 outbreak within the program, saw two of their games canceled and had to wait until just recently to return to the field for normal preparation.

It’s finally game week, though, and the Badgers’ upcoming battle against the Wolverines is a captivating one on many levels.

First, the Badgers:

The team will likely be without key contributors due to the Big Ten’s COVID-19 protocol. Those players, or how many there are, are not known. They did look utterly dominant in Week 1, though, but that could have been just what comes with playing Illinois.

Now, the Wolverines:

Harbaugh’s team sits at 1-2 on the season after disappointing losses against Michigan State and Indiana. They don’t have the talent to compete with Ohio State in the Big Ten East, but this year is shaping up to be yet another letdown for Michigan fans after Harbaugh came to the program with sky-high aspirations.

Then there’s the battle of young quarterbacks in Graham Mertz (hopefully) and Joe Milton, the Wolverines being the team that enters the game with a dominant rushing attack and Harbaugh’s squad losing arguably their best defensive player.

It is shaping up to be an interesting, interesting game.

So, without further ado, here are five keys to a Wisconsin victory on Saturday:

Related:

ESPN’s Allstate Playoff Predictor still likes the Badgers’ chances

After what will be three weeks of waiting, the Wisconsin Badgers are set to resume their season this weekend when they visit Jim Harbaugh…

After what will be three weeks of waiting, the Wisconsin Badgers are set to resume their season this weekend when they visit Jim Harbaugh and the 1-2 Michigan Wolverines.

Wisconsin started their season with a 45-7 statement victory against Lovie Smith and the Illinois Fighting Illini back on October 23. There was then a COVID-19 outbreak within the program and all football activities were put on hold.

Going into the season ESPN FPI, SP+ and other predicting metrics liked the Badgers’ chances to reach the College Football Playoff. Part of their preseason love due to the easy schedule in front of the team, but much was also due to arguably-improved defense and consistency on offense.

We saw both of those traits play out against Illinois and much, much more, as redshirt freshman quarterback Graham Mertz threw for 248 yards and 5 touchdowns, the defense shut out Illinois and the team as a whole looked unstoppable.

That obviously won’t be the case every week, but many questions were answered during that Week 1 game that began to validate the preseason love the team was getting.

Now, heading into Week 4 of the Big Ten season sitting at 1-0, ESPN’s Allstate Playoff Predictor continues to give Paul Chryst’s team the fourth-highest chance to reach the playoff behind only Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson.

According to the Allstate Playoff Predictor, Alabama and Ohio State are the only schools with at least a 50 percent chance to reach the Playoff this season.

Overall, there are still eight teams with at least a 15 percent chance to reach the Playoff.

(📍 @Allstate) pic.twitter.com/ypSdZGrsfq

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 9, 2020

Chryst and his team will need to play the remaining five games on their schedule in order to qualify for the conference championship, let alone the playoff.

But if the team is able to play and win every game and give Ohio State a run for their money in the Big Ten Championship, the Badgers-to-the-playoff argument will have a lot of steam.

Stay tuned to BadgersWire all week as we preview the upcoming contest against Michigan and evaluate what the team could look like when they take the field on Saturday.