What more even needs to be said?
Wisconsin senior John Moffitt echoed the sentiment Thursday, peeking his head in as media waited for head coach Bret Bielema to speak, asking what questions there are even left to ask.
Indeed.
It was a date circled on calendars as soon as the schedule came out. Any date with Ohio State is a big game, but when you’re a team pegged by the media to contend for a Big Ten title, it becomes even more important.
Add in the fact ESPN’s College GameDay will be in Madison for the first time since 2004 and you’ve got yourself some buzz. Throw in the fact the Buckeyes are the No. 1 team in the nation and it’s a night game? It could be Bedlam on Breese come Saturday.
“I feel like it sets the stage for a lot of amazing things; to be on a home crowd, in front of our whole team,” senior captain Culmer St. Jean said. “I know our student section’s going to bring it, so that’s nothing to worry about. Our band’s going to be fantastic; the last time they came, the band wasn’t able to be here, so we’re going to have everything set in place, and we’re practicing and preparing to win.”
But even if the stage is set, No. 18 Wisconsin will want to do more than make a cameo appearance in another Ohio State win. The Buckeyes own a three-game winning streak over the Badgers that dates back to the beginning of Bret Bielema’s tenure as UW head coach.
However, OSU head coach Jim Tressel, in spite of all his Big Ten dominance since taking over the Buckeyes in 2001, is just 4-3 against Wisconsin. The series score since the sweater vest became synonymous with the scarlet and gray is just 148-118 in favor of OSU. Tressel’s teams have never scored more than 20 points in Camp Randall.
Former UW head coach Barry Alvarez had a 3-1 mark against Tressel before stepping down after the 2005 season. Bielema said Alvarez was going to speak to the players for the first time this season, following Thursday’s practice. Bielema speaks with his predecessor often, but rarely about coaching topics.
“You know coach [Alvarez], I think when he first started the new role he is at, he was very cognizant about staying away from the coaching aspect,” Bielema said. “We have talked a lot about things related, but very few times about X’s and O’s. I think he is enjoying that a lot now though.”
But for every player on the team now, the only memories of games against the Buckeyes are memories of defeat. The Badgers would love to change that.
“I think that’d be a great thing to our senior legacy, all the 14 seniors that we have,” St. Jean said. “We came close to beating Ohio State every time, and close is just not good enough.”
UW certainly came close. In 2008, under the lights of Camp Randall, the Badgers lost on a run by OSU quarterback Terrelle Pryor with just 1:08 left in the game. A defensive breakdown allowed Pryor to scamper in for the score, putting the Buckeyes up 20-17, which held up as the final score.
Senior safety Jay Valai remembers just one thing from that game.
“I remember we lost on that final drive. We had some plays, we left them out there… got (Brian) Hartline stripped, and Dre almost got it, a couple different plays,” he said. “We lost, we didn’t finish, we didn’t execute. That’s one thing we’ve got to learn how to do.”
Despite outgaining OSU 368-184 in offensive yardage last season, a kickoff return and two interceptions returned for touchdowns killed UW in a 31-13 loss in Columbus.
And while Pryor is a Heisman contender as a dual-threat quarterback, he has just 231 yards passing with a touchdown and two interceptions in two games against UW. Aside from that touchdown run in 2008, he hasn’t hurt the Badgers with his legs much either, with just 55 rushing yards against.
Still, the junior has 1,349 passing yards, a 68 percent completion rate and 15 touchdowns against three interceptions this season. He’s second on the team in rushing with 354 yards and three touchdowns.
Pryor’s passing numbers have been helped by his two skilled receivers, DeVier Posey and Dane Sanzenbacher. Sanzenbacher leads the team in receiving, averaging 68 yards per game and he has seven touchdown grabs on the year.
While Ohio State has a proud history of running backs – Beanie Wells more recently and former Heisman winners like Eddie George and Archie Griffin – this Buckeyes team takes to the air more often than previous editions, so much that they might even be a pass-first team now.
“They’re Pryor-first; run or pass,” Valai said.
Containing Pryor is concern No. 1 for the Badgers, who as history indicates have done a good job of that. But the quarterback was just a freshman in his first trip to Camp Randall and still led his team to victory. Now, Pryor has two years of experience, and the Buckeyes have distinction of being the top team in the country.
But as Alabama found out last weekend, going on the road as the No. 1 squad, against a tough conference opponent can be a tall task. The Crimson Tide fell to the No. 19 Gamecocks, 35-21 in Columbia, with College GameDay in town.
“It just goes to show you that No. 1 doesn’t mean you’re invincible or you can’t be beaten,” defensive end J.J. Watt said. “It’s Wisconsin versus Ohio State, it’s nothing crazy. They’re not a bunch of Green Bay Packers or Supermans over there, it’s a college football team and we’re going to come in here prepared.”
