MY THOUGHTS.....Wisconsin

 

The Ohio State Buckeyes dominated on both sides of the ball in their thorough domination of the Wisconsin Badgers, 52-21. Wisconsin’s Braylon Allen was held well in check and the only reason he managed over 100 yards was a long run near the end of the game against second and third teamers when Coach Ryan Day emptied the bench. The defensive front seven dominated Wisconsin’s offensive line from the start and was in Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz’s face continually, forcing bad throws and sacks. The defensive tone was set when Mertz threw his first pass that landed in the hands of Tanner McCalister that set up Ohio State’s second touchdown. The secondary had quite a day considering McCalister and Jakailin Johnson were making their first starts replacing the injured Denzel Burke and Cameron Brown. Tommy Eichenberg led the way once again with 14 tackles and two tackles for loss. Josh Proctor and Steele Chambers saw extensive playing time and came away with six tackles a piece.

                On offense, the Buckeyes steamrolled a decent Wisconsin defense, scoring the first five times they had the ball (four touchdowns and a field goal). In doing so, they produced two 100-yard rushers in the game. TreVeyon Henderson was back to his old self as he led the way with 121 yards, while Miyan Williams found the end zone twice in racking up 101 yards. Time after time, the Ohio State offensive line opened up big holes as Ohio State racked up 256 yards on the ground. Heisman favorite C.J. Stroud tossed five touchdown passes and had excellent protection. Emeka Egbuka led the way with six receptions for 118 yards and two scores and Cade Stover hauled in his first scoring tosses of his career.

                Ohio State has put further distance between themselves and the rest of the B1G, as Michigan was lucky to defeat Maryland and Michigan State was crushed by Minnesota. Penn State, as of now, seems to be only conference team with a decent chance against this Ohio State team. Next week, the Buckeyes conclude their five game homestand against Rutgers as they hope to get younger players more game experience before heading to their first road game at Michigan State in two weeks.