Wisconsin Badgers head coach Paul Chryst is up against it. He is in a situation where Chryst has never been in while at Wisconsin. Not sure if he dealt with something like this during his short time at Pittsburgh either. Chryst is down three quarterbacks. Yes, three quarterbacks. Per a report, Graham Mertz and Chase Wolf both have COVID-19. If that’s the case, Wisconsin faces an uphill battle for the remainder of the season. With Jack Coan already down with a foot injury, it means that Danny Vanden Boom will get the ball for Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon. Wisconsin has won without a great quarterback and they’ll have to do it again.

There are countless examples throughout the years of Barry Alvarez, Bret Bielema, Paul Chryst (Let’s just forget Gary) where Badgers have won without a great quarterback. They haven’t needed one in the past. But this year is a little different. Wisconsin does not have a standout running back that can save them. There is no Jonathan Taylor, Ron Dayne, hell even Michael Bennett, who can be productive for the Badgers. Wisconsin has three running backs yet not one has taken the mantle to be a top-tier talent. This makes things so much tougher for Wisconsin.

The good news is that Vanden Boom gets a full week of practice with the 1’s. This news coming out on Sunday is huge for that. This could lead to him surprising a little bit on Saturday. Nebraska doesn’t have a scouting report on him. Whether you take this seriously or not, Vanden Boom is a winner in his high school career. He played for Kimberly and did nothing but winning. The biggest worry for him this week is making sure that he wasn’t in contact with Wolf or Mertz in the days that they picked up COVID-19. If he did and also pops positive, Wisconsin’s hands might be tied.

We’ll see how they navigate throughout these few weeks. If you want a perfect Wisconsin story, it is Vanden Boom winning all three games then Wisconsin dropping their road game against Northwestern.

Charlie.