Before every game, we provide a preview of Ohio State football’s opponent for the upcoming week. It’s a twelve game slate to the regular season, so there’s plenty to talk about, and plenty of opponents to get up to speed on.
Of course, some you’ll know better than others.
So, if you want to impress your friends while watching the game, we’ve got your cheat code right here. We do the research, you drop nuggets. You win on Saturdays. It’s as simple as that.
Ohio State’s eighth game of the year is against a Badger outfit that is reeling after a rather unexpected loss to Illinois last week. Wisconsin can still control it’s own destiny towards a West Division crown and Big Ten title, but it absolutely has to win Saturday in the ‘Shoe.
Next … Northwestern all-time vitals
Wisconsin Record
(6-1); Last Week: lost to Illinois 24-24. Doh!
All-Time Record vs. Ohio State
18-59-5 (.250)
All-Time Vitals
Record: 711-496-53 , No. 34 All-Time
National Championships: None
Conference Championships: 14, No. 41 All-Time
Bowl Games: 30, No. 36 All-Time
Bowl Record: 16-14, No. 32 All-Time
Consensus All-Americans: 29, No. 25 All-Time
Heisman Winners: 2, No. All-Time
NFL Draft Picks: 282, No. 19 All-Time
Best All-Time Season
2017 – Well, it wasn’t that long ago actually. Since Wisconsin has never won a national championship, we cant pick and choose there and work backwards. But what we can do is point to an team that went undefeated in the regular season and lost just one game overall. Truth be known, in other years doing that type of work in a season could have resulted in a playoff berth, but instead Ohio State beat the Badgers in the Big Ten Championship game and more or less knocked them out of contention.
Wisconsin was relegated to a New Years’ Six Bowl, taking care of business against Miami to finish the season 13-1 and a final ranking of No. 6 in the Coaches and No. 7 in the AP Poll. The ranking probably should have been higher.
Best Player Of All-Time
Ron Dayne, RB, 1996-1999 – Ron Dayne wasn’t your typical running back. He was a big bruising guy with thick legs that was awfully tough to bring down. He possessed uncanny speed and agility for a frame of 5-10, 245 lbs. and was about as durable as they come.
If you add up all the yards Dayne gained in college with the inclusion of bowl games, he would be the leading rusher of all-time. As it stands, he’s still No. 2. He won so many awards in 1999 we couldn’t list them all without taking up a whole paragraph. But of course you know he won the Heisman and also took home the Maxwell, Walter Camp, and Doak Walker Awards just to name a few.
Next … Head coach, offensive and defensive styles
Current Head Coach
Paul Chryst – 67-31 overall, 48-13 at Wisconsin
Offensive Style
Simply put, Wisconsin is a dinosaur on offense. They are so old school in the age of the spread offense that teams aren’t equipped to deal with the personnel and playing style in a lot of cases. It’s a pro-set, run-heavy offense that’ll use big bodies to move the chains. There will be jumbo sets, a fullback from time-to-time and a surprise play-action after running it down your throat over and over. It’s a bruising, clock-eating affair and you’ve got to bring your lunch pail on defense and hope the Badgers don’t take it.
Defensive Style
The linebackers are the key in the 3-4 scheme that Wisconsin runs. Just like the offense, it’s a physical defensive style as well with blitz packages and a downhill, attacking style that has linebackers filling gaps, stopping the run, and pulling back in coverage when needed. Defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard will put a premium on stopping the opposing running game and make them move the ball through the air with pressure packages on the quarterback.
Next … Player to watch and the Wildcat’s chances
Wisconsin player to watch
Jonathan Taylor, RB — Can it be anyone else than the dynamic running back for Wisconsin. A Heisman candidate, Taylor possesses a rare blend of power, speed, and vision. All he needs is a crease and he can get into the second level and break off a big one. Other times he doesn’t need much room at all and takes a few defenders to bring him down — arm tackles won’t stand a chance. He leads the Big Ten in rushing and is third in the entire country for a reason.
Wisconsin Can Win The Game If …
…it doesn’t make the same mistakes it made against Illinois.
The Badgers had it in the bag in Champaign. It wasn’t the dominating performance we’ve come to expect this year, but the game was still there to salt away despite a lackluster performance. Instead, Wisconsin had three turnovers, two in the last couple of drives of the game to set things up for a memorable finish for Illinois.
The reality here is that Wisconsin is more than talented enough to beat Ohio State. All things being even, Ohio State is probably the more talented and complete team, but it’s close. Take care of the ball, limit the big play and this one’s a tight-affair in Columbus.
