Being the Buckeye beat’s black sheep blog, we here at Land-Grant Holy Land like to pat ourselves on the back. So, throughout the season, members of our staff will be making predictions about that day’s
game. They will go on the record with what they think the final score will be, who the game’s MVP will be, and what the major storyline will be coming out of the day.
Today, at 3:30 p.m. ET, the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes will face a familiar, and familial, face as they visit the Wisconsin Badgers. This will be OSU’s final game before their second off week of the season, and very well might be the final game of Luke Fickell’s head coaching tenure in Madison.
Check out what our staff members think and then let us know your thoughts on the game in the comments below. As we move forward with the season, you will be able to keep up with just how well our prognosticators do on a weekly basis HERE.
Alex Frank
Score Prediction: Ohio State 38, Wisconsin 3
Game MVP: Kayden McDonald will have two sacks, three tackles for loss, and a forced fumble on Saturday.
Major Storyline: I mean, is there anything we didn’t know coming into this game? With the easy schedule leading into The Game, this is what we expected against a sputtering Wisconsin team.
Joey Gertz
Score Prediction: Ohio State 38, Wisconsin 6
Game MVP: Jeremiah Smith will be the game MVP. The OSU wide receiver will finish the game with 8 catches, 148 yards, and 2 touchdowns.
Major Storyline: The Ohio State machine continues. Another week goes by when the Buckeyes seem to be operating at 60/70% speed and still dominating.
Justin Golba
Score Prediction: Ohio State 38, Wisconsin 0
Game MVP: The defense as a whole for a shutout, but I am predicting Davidson Igbinosun will have a pick-six.
Major Storyline: Even though the Buckeyes win 38-0, I don’t think this is the game that they open up the playbook. Julian Sayin’s stats will be good but modest as the defense does the heavy lifting.
Connor Lemons
Score Prediction: Ohio State 49, Wisconsin 6
Game MVP: Caleb Downs will return an interception for his first touchdown of the season, before the game becomes a blowout.
Major Storyline: Will Luke Fickell be hired as the next defensive coordinator at Ohio State once Wisconsin fires him, and Matt Patricia inevitably takes an NFL job after the season?
Brett Ludwiczak
Score Prediction: Ohio State 41, Wisconsin 7
Game MVP: True freshman running back Bo Jackson has a big day against a demoralized Wisconsin defense, scoring twice.
Major Storyline: Ohio State avoids a trap game ahead of its bye week, asserting its dominance in the Big Ten with an easy win over Wisconsin, adding to Luke Fickell’s woes.
Matt Tamanini
Score Prediction: Ohio State 45, Wisconsin 0
Game MVP: Julian Sayin will have his best game yet. Wisconsin is No. 110 in passing yards allowed per attempt, and the OSU QB will take advantage by completing over 75% of his passes and completing four passes of 40+ yards.
Major Storyline: I completely understand and support Ryan Day’s philosophy of eschewing style points in favor of working on areas of his team’s game that still need improvement. But I think two things come into play today; first is that Wisconsin is a tremendously bad football team, which very well might not win another game this season (seriously, check out their remaining schedule). The other is that I think this Buckeye team has a lot of pride, and they didn’t like the way that they finished last week’s contest with Illinois, or how some in the national media are questioning whether or not the Buckeyes are really as good as they have been led to believe.
Well, I think that the OSU defense and especially the offense will be on a mission to prove that they are worthy of their No. 1 ranking. So, I think this will be a near-perfect performance on both sides of the ball.
Ryan Weckstein
Score Prediction: Ohio State 47, Wisconsin 3
Game MVP: Carnell Tate will continue his monster campaign with 6 catches, 83 yards, and 2 touchdowns.
Major Storyline: Ohio State continues its Midwest tour and easily defeats the Badgers. The Buckeye backups will be in the game by the end of the third quarter.
