Keys to the Game: Michigan football vs. Wisconsin 

“Roll out the Barrel” … Wisconsin is coming to Michigan this weekend, and we’re hoping the Badgers bring their outstanding band, too. They used to spend the night and practice here in our backyard on the Dexter football field just west of Ann Arbor, playing the aforementioned favorite along with the Budweiser jingle back in the ‘80s (probably frowned upon these days) and other fun ones. 

RELATED: Staff Predictions, Michigan vs. Wisconsin

Frankly, it was all they had back then, the football team regularly getting trounced. They still had fun with it, having reached the acceptance stage of football grief. Now, though, they’ve gone from denial quickly to anger, booing their team in the first quarter of a loss to Maryland two weeks ago and chanting “Fire (Coach Luke) Fickell!” at halftime. 

There doesn’t seem to be any end in sight, either, given the brutal schedule the Badgers were dealt. They probably won’t be favored in another game this year, and could very well finish with three or fewer wins. 

“I would be honest with you … on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, you practice, you feel like, ‘hey, we’re getting better,” Fickell said. “We’re doing the things. We’ve got the attitude. The performance that we’ve had on Saturday the last couple of weeks has just not been that.

“Getting and taking that transition from what we’ve done all week and what they’ve done all week and what they prepared to do and then being able to do it on Saturday is the kind of hurdle right now that we’re at.”

It won’t get any easier on Saturday, most likely. Here are Michigan’s keys to make sure it doesn’t.

Michigan Key No. 1 — Don’t be stubborn or panic and play to Wisconsin’s strength 

No, we don’t believe Wisconsin has the top run defense in the country, even if it’s rated there. The Badgers have faced four teams in the bottom fifth of the country in rushing offense, and a few of them have had success in the passing game. 

Still, they do have Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore’s attention. 

“They’re number one in the country [run defense],” he said. “They’re big and stout up front. They’ve got guys that have played a lot of football, and they’ve got hard edges. They’ve got a transfer from Louisville, No. 22, who’s a really good pass rusher, and another edge guy who we actually recruited, Sebastian Cheeks, No. 15, who transferred from UNC, who was a linebacker that now is on the edge. 

“They’ve got two guys in the middle that are about 6-4, 235, stout run guys, and the safeties and corners all hit.”

But they are vulnerable in the secondary. This isn’t the kind of game for the Oklahoma game plan (which we assume Moore had a heavy hand in) in which you’re trying to shorten the game, or go into a shell offensively if it isn’t clicking early. They need to take advantage of a weak pass defense, which means …

Key No. 2 — Make the most of the opportunities in the pass game

In short, catch the damn ball when it’s thrown to you. Protection matters too, of course. This is going to be the biggest test for the Michigan offensive line since the game in Norman, and we still don’t know how good this team is in pass protection … or if it can move bigger, stronger defensive lines in the run game. 

What we do know is that freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood will have some opportunities in the pass game, and the receivers need to start catching the ball consistently. 

“It’s not something special,” Moore said. “There’s no magic potion for it. And the worst coaching point you can tell a kid is, ‘Catch the ball.’ Yeah, he knows he’s supposed to catch the ball. ‘Catch the ball … catch the ball.’ It irks me when I hear that … well, duh. You think he wants to drop the ball? No, he doesn’t.

“So, you’ve got to tell him how to catch it, and there are different ways to do that. Whether that’s above your chest, thumb to thumb, below your navel, pinky to pinky, see the ball all the way to the tuck … those guys have done a really good job this week.”

We’ve heard there were fewer drops in the last several practices. Here’s hoping it translates.

Michigan Key No. 3 — Jump on the Badgers early to eliminate hope, and play a clean game

That’s the key against any overmatched team. Give them hope, and they hang around and hope to steal one. Or … give them short fields with turnovers or with poor kicks (an issue for Michigan at times this year), get them on the board, and it shortens the game.

This is not a good offensive football team. The quarterback is poor, the offensive line worse. Michigan’s defense should dominate, and the U-M offense continues to improve behind Underwood. Play with energy and precision, and this should be an easy win.

Michigan vs. Wisconsin — The Breakdown 

This is not your father’s Wisconsin team in that there is no big, bruising offensive line and punishing running game to worry about (along with that one receiver that always seemed to cause trouble). No, these guys are struggling to find an identity, and quarterback play is an issue with Maryland transfer Billy Edwards Jr. still recovering from injury. 

Still, the Wolverines aren’t going to take the Badgers lightly. We love the Michigan defense’s matchup against the Wisconsin offense, but that defense is well-coached and has some beef up front. 

“It’s a typical Mike Tressel defense — it plays physical, plays downhill,” Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore said. “On normal downs, it’s going to be open cover four, quarters, go to cover three, play cover one on third down, and give you a whole bunch of different looks.

“We’ve got to be sound, and we’ve got to be able to go execute our game plan the way I think we can.”

Other teams have, including Maryland. Young quarterback Malik Washington threw for 265 yards and two scores against this defense, and the Terrapins simply looked like the better team in Madison. That’s scary for a program that used to take winning at home for granted.

Simply put, this is a game Michigan should win handily at home heading into a showdown at USC next week.