Big Ten Championship Preview: #1 Ohio State vs #8 Wisconsin

#1 Ohio State Continues National Championship Run Against #8 Wisconsin

Get ready for a nostalgic night in Indianapolis at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time! The Big Ten Championship features two high powered, balanced teams with college football playoffs on the line for one of these teams. The #1 Ohio State Buckeyes and #8 Wisconsin Badgers clashed two times previously in the Big Ten Conference Championship which has started in 2014. Ohio State defeated Wisconsin 59-0 in 2014 and 27-21 in 2017 which prevented the 12-1 Wisconsin Badgers from making the playoffs as a 12-0 team.

Flash forward to 2019. This is the third time these teams will face each other. Wisconsin probably won’t be able to convince the committee that a two loss team should make the #4 spot in the playoffs. This is more about a trip to the Rose Bowl for the Badgers as they would likely face the Oregon Ducks. Wisconsin will obviously treat this with the same degree of seriousness as if they had a realistic chance to claim the final seed from either Georgia or LSU. Perhaps against all odds, the committee would gladly welcome a two loss Wisconsin team as they would possibly be deemed good enough to be a significant challenger. The committee can come up with shocking scenarios that the everyone else dismisses as fantasy scenarios.

However, in order to create that sense of “maybe”, the Badgers have to overcome the pass rush lead by Chase Young. Wisconsin may need to get off to a hot start by making Jonathan Taylor (1,761 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns) run fearlessly through the Buckeyes elite defensive line and secondary. The Buckeyes will likely slow down or shut down the Wisconsin passing attack which will make Taylor the obvious impact player. The Buckeyes have the best overall defense in the NCAA.

Heisman front runners Justin Fields and J.K. Dobbins   (1,657 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns) will test the elite Wisconsin defense. Fields isn’t passing the ball for many yards but he threw 37 touchdowns which is third in the NCAA. Wisconsin is currently the seventh best overall defense. Fields transferred from Georgia to Ohio State prior to the 2019 season.

Prediction: This will be a closer game than the previous meeting during the 2019 season which the Buckeyes won 38-7.

Final Score: Ohio State 35 Wisconsin 17