When you watch any coverage breaking down Saturday’s game in Madison outside of the state of Wisconsin, I can all but guarantee the analysis will have one of these words/phrases in it.

“Jim Harbaugh,” “Shea Patterson,” “Michigan collapse,” “hot seat,” “offensive disaster” or “quarterback controversy.”

And look, I get it. It’s Michigan. It’s a national brand with a massive fanbase. There were a handful of Michigan-related topics trending on Twitter because few teams are targeted by the masses in a loss like Harbaugh’s program (some of that being his own doing and some of it not).

But goodness gracious. Can we just take a few minutes to appreciate what we just saw from Wisconsin on Saturday?

I’m going to because, well, I can. After watching that beatdown, that’s what I feel inclined to do.

(Don’t worry, Michigan fans. If you want a place to complain, we’ve got a number if Michigan-related articles with comment sections that give you the chance to voice your displeasure.)

So, where should we start with Wisconsin? How about how a team that wasn’t even an obvious pick to win the B1G West suddenly looks like a legitimate Playoff contender after just 3 games?

I’ll start there. You see, I had that feeling after the second game. Saturday, of course, was going to be a bit more impactful than games against USF and Western Kentucky. After all, this was Michigan. Big national brand or not, it was the team who was picked by many to win the B1G and make the Playoff.

It was the same Michigan team that beat Wisconsin 2 of the last 3 years, including last year’s rout in Ann Arbor.

Check that. This was not the same Michigan team. And clearly, it wasn’t the same Wisconsin team.

Last year, Jonathan Taylor had a respectable 101 rushing yards against Michigan’s top-ranked defense. This year, Taylor had 143 rushing yards … in the first quarter. That’s not a typo. That’s a real stat. Taylor actually doubled his rushing yardage total from last year’s game (203) despite the fact that he missed the second quarter with cramps.

How big of a blowout was this? By the middle of the second quarter, the Badgers looked like they didn’t even need Taylor for the rest of the day. Don’t get it twisted. Taylor was phenomenal and Wisconsin’s offense was absolutely built around the ground game.

But when Wisconsin ballooned the lead to 21-0 in the second quarter, it was all but over. There was zero doubt that a Badger defense who hadn’t allowed a point yet was going to suddenly break.

All we know was that when Michigan finally scored a touchdown with 2 minutes left in the third quarter, it ended the streak of 163 minutes of scoreless football against the Badgers to start the year. Zack Baun and Wisconsin’s top-ranked defense were suffocating. Who knows how long it would’ve taken Michigan to reach 21 points against the Badger defense.

It looked like a group that had 2 weeks to prepare. Michigan, despite the bye week it had coming off the Army game, didn’t look as such. You would’ve thought that the Wolverines were a team in the back end of a 4-game stretch against a slew of ranked opponents instead of a team desperately in need of bye week adjustments. And I’d say an 0-for-10 clip on third downs points to a lack of in-game adjustments, too.

BACK TO WISCONSIN, CONNOR.

Sorry, got distracted by the winged helmets and the Air Jordan logos. That was mean.

The average person should’ve watched that game and thought, “woah, Wisconsin is scary good.” It isn’t just Taylor running behind an offensive line that only returned one starter and is seemingly better than the one who graced the cover of Sports Illustrated last year. It’s Jack Coan, who looks far more comfortable and capable than Alex Hornibrook or any quarterback that Paul Chryst had since arriving in Madison.

And hey, how about that grey-sweatshirt wearing, unassuming head coach? He dunked all over Harbaugh on Saturday. We probably should’ve known from the first possession that it was going to be Chryst’s day.

In the most un-Wisconsin fashion possible, the Badgers went for it on 4th and 1 on their own 35-yard line on the first possession. That’s what you do when you have Taylor … and a pair of offensive linemen in the backfield with him to run the ball in the most Wisconsin fashion possible. Spoiler alert: It worked. Not surprisingly, that set up what proved to be the go-ahead score.

Chryst treated Michigan like a Group of 5 team. He had complete confidence that his offense would get the job done and if they didn’t? Well, Wisconsin’s defense on a short field ain’t a bad place to roll the dice, either.

The Badgers might be the safest bet of any B1G team right now. Yes, that includes Ohio State. Based on what we’ve seen so far, there is no more “wait and see” with the Badgers. They’re top-10 worthy and if they had started in the top 12-14, they’d be considered top-5 worthy.

As Wisconsin fans chanted “nah, nah, nah, nah, hey, hey …” at Michigan, FOX color analyst Joel Klatt had a telling summation of what we witnessed from the Badgers.

“What a team. I’ve gotta say,” Klatt said. “Paul Chryst, I’m more impressed. I thought they were a pretty good team watching them on film. I told you guys, ‘This Wisconsin team is a really good football team.’ They came out here and surpassed even my expectations of what they are and what they could be for the rest of this year.”

He’s not wrong. There shouldn’t be any more people sleeping on Wisconsin after Saturday’s statement win.

And if there is, well, then they’re just distracted from the truth.