Fresh off a 34-16 win over Illinois, Ohio State is on the road again this week. The Buckeyes will travel to Madison to take on Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin Badgers.
Saturday’s contest will be the final game in October for Ryan Day’s team, as they’ll have next week off before hosting Penn State on the first day of November.
Despite playing a ranked team last week, the Buckeyes weren’t really tested by Illinois, jumping out to a 20-0 lead in the first half over the Fighting Illini. About the only negative
to come out of the victory was Ohio State allowed their opponent to reach double figures in scoring for the first time this season.
Even though the Buckeyes gave up a red zone touchdown for the first time this season, the defense still hasn’t allowed any of their first six opponents this season to score a touchdown in the first half.
History against the Badgers
Before they are able to relax next week on their second bye week of the season, Ohio State will look to add to Wisconsin’s woes. The Buckeyes have largely dominated the all-time series with the Badgers, posting a 63-18-5 record against Wisconsin, winning the last 10 meetings in the series.
The last time the programs met was in 2023 when Ohio State defeated Wisconsin 24-10 in Madison. Included in the 10-game winning streak over the Badgers are victories in the Big Ten Championship Game in 2014, 2017, and 2019.
The last time Wisconsin defeated the Buckeyes came back in 2010 when top-ranked Ohio State fell 31-18 in Madison.
Ohio State’s offense will look to put the pedal to the metal
Last week the Ohio State offense felt like it was stuck in a low gear. Despite the underwhelming performance, the offense still finished with 34 points in the victory. Julian Sayin finished with 166 yards and a touchdown on 19 completions.
Even though his completion percentage on the season dipped below 80 percent, Sayin is still the most accurate passer in the country, completing 78.6 percent of his passes. Along with his accuracy, Sayin has done a great job at limiting mistakes, throwing only three interceptions through the first six games of the year.
Another week, another Jeremiah Smith touchdown. The sophomore wide receiver hauled in a touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter, pushing his career total to 22 receiving touchdowns in the first 22 games as a Buckeye.
Smith is fourth among active wide receivers when it comes to touchdown receptions, and is the only sophomore in the top 25. For the season, Smith has 40 catches for 505 yards and seven touchdowns.
Following his career-best performance against Minnesota, Carnell Tate was a little quieter last week since Ohio State didn’t open up their offense quite as much as they did against the Golden Gophers, Tate continued his streak of catching at least one pass in every game he has appeared in during college, finishing the win over Illinois with four catches for 41 yards.
Tight end Max Klare also had four catches last week, and now has nine catches over the last two games.
The Ohio State running backs didn’t tear up the stat sheet last week, but they did a lot of important work for the Buckeye offense. C.J. Donaldson finished with 44 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries. Donaldson now has six rushing touchdowns on the season, and 36 career rushing touchdowns, putting him just two touchdowns behind Penn State’s Nick Singleton for the most active career rushing scores in college football.
Bo Jackson added a team-high 47 yards rushing against the Fighting Illini.
Where Brian Hartline and Ryan Day need to do a better job is with mixing up when they run the football more. Last week the Buckeyes became a little too predictable with when they were running, which kept down their rushing totals. Still, the running backs ran hard and didn’t turn the football over. Keeping Jackson fresh for the stretch drive will also be crucial, since this is his first year of college football and he has taken some hits recently.
Luckily for Jackson and Donaldson, they are running behind one of the top offensive lines in college football. Along with working to clear holes for the running backs, the unit has kept Julian Sayin clean so far this season.
The Ohio State offensive line is currently first in the country when it comes to allowing tackles for loss, giving up just 14 TFLs through the first half of the regular season, and the two sacks they have allowed ranks second.
The Silver Bullets continue to stymie opponents
Last week was quite a showcase for Ohio State’s linebackers. Both Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese recorded career-highs in tackles, while Payton Pierce picked off a Luke Altmyer pass in the first half.
Styles’ 10 tackles led the Buckeyes, with Reese adding nine stops. Along with his tackle total, Reese also was credited with 1.5 sacks against the Fighting Illini, bringing his season total to 4.5 sacks. Pierce and Pettijohn have had positive moments on the field this season, providing important depth behind Styles and Reese at linebacker.
Caden Curry and Kayden McDonald continued their strong play on the Ohio State defensive line last week. Complementing Curry and McDonald was Kenyatta Jackson Jr., who had a tackle and a half for loss against Illinois. Jackson had been dealing with an injury heading into the game, so it was great to see him have such a big impact on the game after there were questions on if he would be able to suit up against the Fighting Illini.
While Jackson was able to play, nickelback Lorenzo Styles Jr. was held out of the game, leaving Jermaine Mathews Jr. to shift over to Styles’ position, and true freshman Devin Sanchez to start at cornerback. Sanchez held his own as he saw the most action of his young college career. Mathews played a huge part in the interception by Pierce, getting a hand on the football before the linebacker was able to pull it in.
Two other members of the secondary had their best games of the season so far. Caleb Downs was credited with a season-high nine tackles, bringing his season total to 28 tackles, ranking fourth on the Ohio State defense. Davison Igbinosun had a banner day in Champaign, recording three pass breakups last week.
After a bit of a slower start to the season, Downs and Igbinosun have been getting stronger each week for a pass defense that is seventh in the country, only allowing 145 yards per game to opponents through the air.
Wounded Wisconsin
Wisconsin enters this game in a world of hurt. The Badgers have lost four straight games, scoring 14 points or less in all of those contests. So far this season there has only been one game where Wisconsin has scored more than 17 points.
The struggles for the Badgers have led to questions about the future of former Ohio State player and coach Luke Fickell, who is now in his third year as the head coach in Madison.
Legendary Buckeye in charge in Madison
Fickell played defensive tackle at Ohio State from 1993 to 1996, starting 50 consecutive games after redshirting in his first season in Columbus.
In 2001, Fickell returned to the program as an assistant coach, spending the season as interim head coach in 2011 following the dismissal of Jim Tressel before returning as an assistant on Urban Meyer’s staff until taking the Cincinnati job following the 2016 season.
This marks Fickell’s third game as head coach against his alma mater, with the former Buckeye losing the first two of those contests.
Fickell isn’t the only former Buckeye currently at Wisconsin. Linebacker Tuf Borland is now the assistant linebackers coach in Madison. Chris Worley is Wisconsin’s director of player development, Kenny Guiton is the quarterbacks coach, and wide receiver Jayden Ballard joined the Badgers from the transfer portal following last season.
A messy operation
Wisconsin’s season was thrown for a loop in the opener when quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. was injured against Miami (Ohio). Fickell reached into the transfer portal to bring Edwards in from Maryland, but Edwards was only able to attempt 13 passes before he was injured against the RedHawks. Edwards returned briefly against Maryland to attempt three passes.
Danny O’Neil started the season as Edwards’ backup before being forced into action early in the season. O’Neil has already played in four games this season, so it will be interesting to see how the Wisconsin staff handles the rest of the season for O’Neil when it comes to possibly redshirting.
Last week against Iowa, Hunter Simmons started, completing just eight passes for 82 yards against the Hawkeyes, tossing two interceptions.
When Fickell was hired, the Wisconsin offense shifted their plan of attack, going from a running team to more of a passing team. The change in philosophy hasn’t worked so far. When the Badgers do pass, the most trusted target is Vinny Anthony II, who has 24 catches for 274 yards this season.
Lance Mason and Jayden Ballard share the team lead with two touchdown receptions. Mason and Trech Kekahuna are the only Wisconsin receivers aside from Anthony with at least 10 catches through the team’s first six games this year.
The likes of Ron Dayne, Melvin Gordon, and Jonathan Taylor would be disgusted with what they are seeing from the Wisconsin rushing attack, which is averaging 3.1 yards per carry this season. Dilin Jones leads the team with 286 yards and two touchdowns on 68 carries, while Darrion Dupree has 169 yards rushing.
While some of the woes on the ground can be blamed on the injury to Edwards making the offense predictable, the running game in Madison has been trending downward over the last few seasons.
Another massive issue for the Wisconsin offense has been their lack of continuity on the offensive line this season. Through the first six games, the Badgers have had a different starting combination on the line in each game, which certainly doesn’t help an offense that is lacking confidence.
Three of the starters on the offensive line this season have been redshirt freshmen, marking the first time since 2015 Wisconsin has been forced to start three redshirt freshmen in a season. The only lineman who has started all six games at the same position this year has been left guard Joe Brunner.
Wisconsin’s defense is losing steam
The Wisconsin pass rush hasn’t exactly been feared this year, only generating 11 sacks through their first six games. The four main defensive linemen that will rotate in are Ben Barten, Jay’viar Suggs, Parker Petersen, and Brandon Lane Jr. Suggs spent last year at LSU, while Barten has played in every Wisconsin game since the beginning of 2023.
The strongest group of the Badgers defense is the linebackers. Christian Alliegro leads the team with 38 tackles, and is tied for the team lead with two sacks. Tackett Curtis is now in his second year with the program after transferring from USC following his freshman season. Curtis has 28 tackles this season.
Akron native Darryl Peterson finished ninth in the Big Ten last season with 10 tackles for loss.
The secondary is led by cornerback Ricardo Hallman, who now ranks in the top-10 in school history with nine interceptions, seven of which came in 2023. The unit took a hit last week when D’Yoni Hill could play because of injury. Hill had started the first five games of the year at cornerback for the Badgers. With Hill sidelined, Omillio Agard started against the Hawkeyes.
Lining up at safety for Wisconsin will be Austin Brown and Matt Jung, with each having at least 20 tackles this season. Brown recorded a career-high 11 tackles in the loss to Alabama last month. Preston Zachman will also see time on the field. Zachman opened up the season with two interceptions against Miami (OH).
Prediction
There’s no reason this game should be close. Wisconsin is a mess right now. Luke Fickell doesn’t know how long he’ll be coaching in Madison. If Penn State can fire James Franklin after three straight losses, the Badgers could move on from Fickell by the end of the season.
Ohio State should be motivated on Saturday afternoon since there likely was some disappointment among their ranks with their performance last week. Even though they beat Illinois handily, the Buckeyes weren’t exactly crisp. This week is a great spot to handle their business in Madison and go into their second bye week on a positive note.
If Iowa can go into Camp Randall and rack up 37 points, Ohio State should be able to score at least 40 on Saturday. The defense should be able to set the offense up with some short fields since Caden Curry, Kayden McDonald, and Kenyatta Jackson Jr. can create a bunch of pressure against the revolving door that is the offensive line for the Badgers.
