It has been a disappointing season all around so far for the Ohio State Buckeyes, playing below their expectations on both sides of the football. A weak offense has had the Buckeyes narrowly escaping losses to inferior teams and finally culminated with a shocking loss last weekend to Northwestern, in Evanston.

Although nobody expected Ohio State to blow the roof off the Horseshoe with its offense the way Purdue has thus far, the defense for Ohio State was supposed to be one of the stingiest in the nation, touting maybe the best set of linebackers in the country, and accompanied by an extremely talented, if inexperienced, defensive line, and a very solid secondary.

Thus far, Ohio State has been solid, but not spectacular, on defense, a trend it is looking to reverse starting this weekend against Wisconsin.

Regardless of how successful the Buckeyes are as a team at stopping Anthony Davis and the UW offense, one can rest assured that junior linebacker A.J. Hawk will make his presence known to everybody who crosses his path.

Hawk, quite possibly the top linebacker in the country, is the conference’s leading tackler, having amassed eleven tackles per game from the weak-side linebacker position. A candidate for the Butkus and Lombardi awards (which go to the nation’s top linebacker and lineman — offensive or defensive), Hawk has earned a reputation as one of the most complete college linebackers in recent history.

While he is known as a punishing tackler and an imposing force against the run (notching a team-high 106 tackles last year), Hawk is also superb in coverage, registering two interceptions and five passes defended last year.

Hawk was also the defensive MVP of last years Fiesta Bowl against Kansas State, collecting ten tackles, including 1.5 for a loss against the Wildcats.

Hawk is a firm believer that his defense is still one of the best in the country and simply hasn’t played to the level it is capable of yet.

“I know right now that we have a lot of freshmen and you can’t replace the players we lost to the [NFL], but I’m confident we can get the job done. As far as the secondary, I feel that they are some of the best [defensive backs] in the country. They are playing really well right now,” Hawk said, when asked to evaluate the defense. “As a defense we have a lot of talent. If we live up to our potential, we could have something really special here.”

For his part, Hawk is more than ready to up his play against Wisconsin and start amending the inequities the season has brought for the Buckeyes thus far.

“We are coming off a loss to Northwestern and Wisconsin is a great team, so this is a big game for us and our program. I think we are all excited to get out there and get rid of that taste in our mouths from last week,” Hawk said.

To accomplish that goal, Hawk and the Buckeyes said that the first order of business will be to try and limit, if not shut down A.D., and the Badger rushing attack.

“That is always our first goal on defense: to stop the run. We try to make teams one dimensional,” Hawk said. “Wisconsin has a great offense, great offensive line and obviously great backs, so it is going to be a big challenge for us.”

Hawk and the Buckeye ‘D’ will also try to help out the struggling OSU offense by forcing turnovers — something teams have not been able to do effectively against the Badgers so far in 2004.

“We always work on stripping the ball in practice and catching it,” Hawk said. “I think we always have emphasized turnovers here and this year we haven’t been getting as many, so we need to fix that.”

Not only his team’s most dangerous playmaker on defense, Hawk is also the spark plug for an Ohio State unit that is used to dominate. In what promises to be a hard fought, old-school Big Ten defensive showdown on paper, the Buckeyes are relying on the potential of the defense to shine and give them the edge they need to be the first the blemish on the Badgers’ record.

The tradition of strong defensive teams is on the minds of the players and, thanks to Northwestern, the players are sure to be even more fired up than usual. Hawk is aiming to restore the swagger that was lost somewhere between giving up 21 points to Marshall and surrendering 33 to Northwestern.

“Ever since I’ve been at Ohio State, we have had a lot of talent, especially at the linebacker position. It has impressed me a lot. When I first got here, I knew the tradition that we had and I just tried to make whatever impact I could, whether it be special teams or whatever. Then I got to start a game, and get into a few others, and I really started to want to go out there and make a name for yourself. There have been so many great players that came here before me, we are just trying as a defense to keep up that tradition.”

Hopefully for the Badger-faithful, the Ohio State tradition will take at least one more week off.