The 59-0 dismantling of Wisconsin was the most complete, dominating performance from an Ohio State team over a ranked opponent that I’ve probably ever seen. In fact, it is really difficult to find anything wrong on either side of the ball. I don't think too many people inside or outside of the program had Cardale Jones completing 12/17 for 257 yards and three touchdowns while leading the Buckeye offense to 52 points in his first collegiate start. On a night in which his highlights were plentiful, his best throw came on Ohio State's first drive as he found Devin Smith for a 39-yard scoring strike giving Ohio State a 7-0 lead. Coming into the game, only one running back was being talked about and his name wasn't Ezekiel Elliott. After the game, it was crystal clear which team's running back had the finer performance. Supplementing Cardale Jones’ big night, Elliott rushed for a career high 220 yards and two touchdowns on just 11 carries.After going the first eight games of the season without a rush over 28 yards, Elliott discovered his big play ability over the last five games registering runs of 47, 44 and 65 yards in recent weeks. Of course, none of those can match his 81-yard jaunt last night. Coming into the game as one of the top defenses in the country, the Wisconsin defense had to know by the time the first quarter was done that they were going to be in for a long game. They amassed 558 yards and abused the Wisconsin defense every which way, not only with Elliott, but also with senior WR Devin Smith, who scored three times on four catches.
Defensively, the Buckeyes were even more dominant in dominating Heisman hopeful Melvin Gordon, limiting him to a mere 76 yards and only 2.9 yards per carry. Even when Gordon managed to bounce it outside, he more often than not had two or three red shirts in his face. Not only did the Buckeyes shut down Gordon but they also hit him hard and caused a fumble when Michael Bennett punched the ball from him late in the half and Joey Bosa scooped it up for a touchdown to make it 38-zip. Not only did the Ohio State defense shut down Gordon, they also suffocated quarterback Joel Stave holding him to 17/43 through the air for 187 yards with three interceptions. The secondary was solid to be sure as Doran Grant recorded two picks and Vonn Bell one in addition to the Buckeyes breaking up six passes and I also noticed the suffocating d-line who gave Stave little time to throw. Overall, the Badgers totaled only 258 yards, had four turnovers and averaged just 1.9 yards per carry. Excluding their two meaningless possessions at the end of each half, Wisconsin went 3-and-out on seven of 13 possessions with turnovers on four others. Michael Bennett, sporting Kosta Karageorge’s #53, was sensational with four TFL to go with two forced fumbles. Darron Lee was also outstanding with seven stops and a forced fumble, and Bell added seven tackles to go along with his pick to tie Lee for the team lead. Special mention goes to Rashad Frazier who played behind Steve Miller and sometime Tyquan Lewis this year. The 5th-year senior applied pressure and filled gaps all night long. About the only “low light” (if you can call it that) was a couple of plays on special teams. Kyle Clinton continued his puzzling trend of booting a kickoff out of bounds and one of the very few sloppy plays by Ohio State was a botched field goal try that was blocked.
No offense to Minnesota and Jerry Kill, who is an outstanding coach, but it’s a joke Urban Meyer wasn’t named the B1G Coach of the Year. Ohio State comes into this game a week after losing their Heisman candidate quarterback who just happened to replace a Heisman candidate 12 days before the season started and all of this gives him and his staff a week to prepare a third-string kid who had thrown 17 passes on the season and they have to get him ready to face the nation's 2nd-ranked total defense. They have to do it during the same week in which the squad is mourning the sudden death of a teammate. They were also down Dontre Wilson and Jalin Marshall was a bit hobbled. Corey Smith was ejected early on a horrible “targeting” call. We also noted a sometimes leaky rush defense was facing the best back in the land. Despite all this, they win 59-0 in the most dominating football performance I've ever seen from Ohio State in a "big game", posting what I believe, is the first shutout in the history of FBS conference championship games?! Yes, player's make plays but they take their cues from their head coach and in a week when Ohio State had multiple valid reasons to come out flat and lose, they came out and stepped on the neck of the country's best running back and unleashed fire and brimstone via a wide-open playbook directed by a guy who hadn't even seen the field in three of the previous four games and hadn't attempted more than nine passes in any one game.
At least justice was done by the playoff committee as they finally woke up and got it right, moving Ohio State into the number four slot. Thus, the next stop for the Buckeyes is the first ever “big school” college football playoff.
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