Gaglianone sidelined for the season

Wisconsin will be far and away the best defense MI has gone against so far this season.

“This is a big team”, MI coach Jim Harbaugh said of the No. 8-ranked Badgers.

U-M: NT Bryan Mone (knee), DE Lawrence Marshall (undisclosed) probable; CB Jeremy Clark (knee), RB Kareem Walker (academics), out.

Wisconsin kicker Rafael Gaglianone is out for the season after undergoing surgery for a back injury. The senior scored his first points as a Badger.

The video features highlights from the 49-10 shellacking of Penn State, a game in which the Wolverines rushed for 326 yards and six touchdowns while converting 11 of 16 third downs. They run blitz. They pass blitz. This could be his game.

Then there’s Wisconsin, the only team to date that qualifies as both.

A battle of Top 10 college football teams takes place Saturday afternoon when the No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers travel to take on the No. 4 Michigan Wolverines. MI wins and it shouldn’t be that close. And add to that his impact and added dimension in the return game. This week, Bryan Mone may bring more depth to the middle.

Plus, Wisconsin passed the first part of this tough test by running over Michigan St.

Later, the conversation turned to Jabrill Peppers, as it usually does these days with MI. But some of that may be a smokescreen. He ranks second on the team in total tackles with 33, 9.5 of which have been for loss.

Just don’t ask the Badgers if this defense is better than last year’s. But could the Big Ten as a whole be the best conference in the country?

MI opponents are only 6 of 50 on third down this season.

This is the first matchup between MI and Wisconsin with both teams in the top 10. If they punt to Peppers, it could get ugly. On the other side of the ball, Wisconsin doesn’t have a single member of its secondary taller than 5-foot-11-inches. They’re scoring in bunches right now, averaging 52 points per game. Coach Paul Chryst needs him to handle at least 20 more carries Saturday. They’re more than happy to just run the ball down than throw it all game. But much of that is based on the first three games of the year. Wisconsin’s upset at Michigan State sets up the Badgers in a very negative 26-88 ATS road underdog letdown situation while Michigan applies to a 172-83-3 ATS momentum situation. By this time, I should know better than to pick against Wisconsin, but I’m going to do it anyway. “I’m wondering if the field is going to be wide enough”.

When U-M has the ball: Just like every week, MI will try to establish the run. Devers has already forced three fumbles this season.

An offensive line that contained several question marks throughout the offseason – mainly productivity and depth – and had yet to adequately answer them as recently as one week ago is now morphing into a strength.

If there’s one thing that stands out about this defense, it is how fast it plays. I’m gonna bank on the loss to the Badgers last week being the start of a few losses this season for the Spartans, while maybe Wake Forest isn’t as bad as they have been in the past few years. Finding someone to cover U-M’s Jake Butt is usually the mismatch that tips to MI.

Wisconsin: QB Alex Hornibrook made the first start of his career last weekend and played fine.

All-time series: MI leads, 47-14-1. However, he hasn’t tossed an interception since the opener and averages 12.2 yards per completion. Opportunities against Wisconsin’s defense (80.5 rush yards allowed per game) have been limited so far in 2016.