MICHIGAN WISCONSIN

College football fans can squabble about the strength of this year’s Wisconsin team all they want, but that won’t change the fact that Michigan just earned perhaps the most impressive win of the Jim Harbaugh era.

Michigan football survived its first four games without much of a passing attack, but that plan will have to change if the Wolverines hope to move the ball against Wisconsin.

9 Wisconsin on Tuesday night, Michigan became the first team in college basketball history to stack such a dominant trio of ranked blowouts. 19 Northwestern, which came into the matchup after victories against Michigan State, Indiana and Ohio State and a close road loss to Iowa. 4 Iowa and beaten Michigan State and Ohio State by a combined 42 points. 9 team in the country and a proven contender atop the Big Ten, came in sporting victories over Michigan State, Minnesota and Iowa. Saturday will bring a different kind of test, as Michigan hits the road against a ranked team for the first time this season.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Michigan football is looking to get back on track after a difficult couple of weeks, but nobody really knows know what to expect from this Wisconsin team. Graham Mertz #5 of the Wisconsin Badgers calls out instructions in the fourth quarter against the Central Michigan Chippewas at Camp Randall Stadium on September 07, 2019 in Madison, Wisconsin. After Mertz’s positive test was announced, more than a dozen other Wisconsin players tested positive and were forced to sit out. It’s unclear which players are still ineligible for the Michigan game. If the COVID-19 outbreak is still affecting Wisconsin, Michigan could have a chance.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – It’s unclear whether Wisconsin will be without star QB Graham Mertz -- and possibly its top three quarterbacks -- when it travels to Ann Arbor in three weeks to play Michigan. Over the weekend, reports emerged that Mertz had tested positive for COVID-19. That first positive test came from an antigen test, and on Tuesday, CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd reported that Mertz tested positive for a second time -- presumably through a polymerase chain reaction test. That would be exactly 21 days from Mertz’s positive test, and according to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, he would be allowed to return to action that day. Unfortunately, Wolf has also reportedly tested positive for COVID-19, though he hasn’t had a second positive test confirmed.