The Wisconsin Badgers had yet another rough start, which was expected against the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday.
Starting with the ball, the Badgers went three-and-out, falling one yard short of
a first down on third down. Ohio State quickly responded with a touchdown, and things went poorly from there.
Looking to respond, Wisconsin’s momentum was quickly shut down, as Cade Yacamelli dropped a checkdown that Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles intercepted off the deflection.
The Buckeyes would proceed to score a field goal and then added a touchdown on the following drive to extend their lead to 17-0.
Wisconsin had four three-and-outs in six drives offensively, running the ball once on 3rd & 4 and electing not to be aggressive at the end of the first half with two timeouts and 1:07 left in the game.
The Badgers did force one punt and got a break with a missed field goal, but the halftime score ended up 17-0 with the Buckeyes getting the ball to start the second half.
Ohio State had 271 yards of offense in the first half, with Julian Sayin completing 23 of 26 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns. On the flip side, Hunter Simmons was 5 of 8 for 49 yards, while the Badgers ran the ball inefficiently once again, going for 20 yards on 16 attempts.
At the moment, there isn’t anything positive for the Badgers heading to the second half. We’ll see whether they can cover the 26.5-point spread.
