COLUMBUS, Ohio — In its 31-24 loss at Ohio State Saturday night, the Wisconsin football team learned its near untouchable running game, that was averaging 8.8 yards-per-carry in the first four games of the season, was stoppable. However, the Badgers were not without offensive mobility as the passing game emerged to be a successful alternative.

Heading into the game, no one expected redshirt sophomore Joel Stave to throw for nearly triple the amount of running yards accumulated by standout running backs redshirt sophomore Melvin Gordon and senior James White — but that is exactly what happened.

Stave completed 20 of 24 passes for a total of 295 yards, while the Badger rushers ran for just 104 yards on the night, the first time this season University of Wisconsin has not surpassed the 200 rushing yards mark.

While Stave showed he could execute accurate passes, what was most impressive was who was on the other end of the play receiving them. Of UW’s nearly 300 passing yards, 207 of them were on connections from Stave to redshirt senior wide receiver Jared Abbrederis.

“[Abbrederis] is tough to cover in man cover and is tough to deal with in zone coverage,” head coach Gary Andersen said. “He is a terrific player, makes big plays for us and I expect that to continue as we move through this season.”

For Wisconsin, the standout performance of Abbrederis and proof that the passing game can lead the offense if opponents are successful at stopping the UW rushers are shining lights in a disappointing loss to its Leaders Division foe.

“I think we did a lot of good things offensively but there is a lot to build on and a lot to learn from,” Stave said. “But it’s a loss. …It’s not who we are, and we can’t accept that.”

After two quick three-and-out offensive drives to start the game for Wisconsin that amounted to negative two yards of offense, a stunning display of the Badger pass game took over the field, as Stave found his go-to receiver in the end zone for a perfectly executed 36-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 7-7.

The duo continued to dominate the Wisconsin offense in the first half, as Abbrederis responded to a second OSU touchdown with a 64-yard catch to close out the first quarter of play and two drives later connected with Stave deep in Ohio State territory for a 33-yard pick up.

While Abbrederis will remain Stave’s go-to receiver week-in and week-out, the quarterback was not without other options in the game. Following an Abbrederis catch in the second quarter to put UW on the OSU 11-yard line, Stave found junior receiver Sam Arneson in the middle of the end zone to bring Wisconsin within three of the Buckeyes.

If the first half was a shock for all Badgers fans who had been waiting for their favorite No. 4 ‘Abracadabra’ receiver to finally get the opportunity to make key plays, the third quarter reverted back to its usual ways. Wisconsin tallied zero passing yards in it and attempted just two throws, one of which was an interception.

Two unanswered OSU touchdowns left Wisconsin down 31-14 entering the fourth quarter. Though the Badgers came back to put 10 points on the board in the final quarter — off a James White run and 42-yard field goal — it wasn’t enough to overcome the Ohio State lead and resulted in the first conference loss of the season for Wisconsin.

Though an unprecedented performance by Abbrederis — whose previous career-high was 147 receiving yards against UTEP last season — the lead receiver was less than satisfied.

“I am all about the team, the individual doesn’t really matter,” Abbrederis said. “If I would have had that many [receiving yards] and won the game that would have been great. But there are some I left out there.

“It doesn’t matter how good you play, you’ve got to be able to win the game.”

Penalties punish Badgers

The Badgers committed eight penalties in their loss against Ohio State, leaving fans and players alike to question whether a few less flags would have made the difference in a game that came down to a one-score difference.

The Badger offense was called for five false starts during the game, but it was a punt that will linger as a what-if for Wisconsin. After punting on fourth down, Wisconsin’s special teams recovered a fumble on the catch, but an illegal formation by the Badgers took back what would have been a Badger first down on the OSU 31-yard-line.

“Apparently we weren’t up close enough on the line of scrimmage,” Andersen said. “It was a huge play in the football game and is inexcusable.”

Penalties have been a problem for UW so far this season. In the first two home games against Massachusetts and Tennessee Tech, the Badgers tallied five penalties in each game. On the road in the controversial loss at Arizona State, the Badgers didn’t help themselves out with six penalties for 76 yards. Though last weekend the Badgers incurred just one penalty, Saturday’s eight flags show this is not a reversing trend at UW, and is going to hurt the team down the road.

“It is those little things that set us back that we can’t have. Pre-snap penalties, things like that, we can’t have that,” Stave said. “That’s on everyone that’s the entire offense, we’ve got to make sure we tighten things up.”