Consider the dial turned up as Ohio State turned the clipboard around, dominated the line of scrimmage and outscored the Badgers 27-0 in the second half to win the Big Ten title 34-21.
Justin Fields threw for 299 yards and three touchdowns, two of those to K.J. Hill, to earn the player of the game, while J.K. Dobbins staked a claim to the award with 172 yards rushing and a score.
The victory was the third Big Ten Championship in a row for Ohio State, but the sluggish first half would cost the Buckeyes the top playoff seed and gives them a far tougher semi-final against third seed and defending champion Clemson.
Had Ohio State hung onto the top seed overall, their opponent would have been fourth seed Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl.
The Ohio State-Clemson clash will be in the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix on Saturday, December 28th.
Olentangy Offerings
1) I'm writing this late after a non-work Saturday that saw the day filled with boxing (recap tomorrow) and football, so after the game, I went to bed and slept for a stunning almost twelve hours!
As I worked on this, Fred Landucci called and asked if I was ever worried about the result.
I wasn't happy through much of the first half, but not worried until close to the half.
Ohio State had scored their only touchdown with under a minute to go and with Wisconsin happy to run the clock out, Ohio State allowed a big run to Jonathan Taylor and a long pass play to quickly fall behind 21-7.
At the half, I was worried until the end of the first drive of the second half.
2) In the first half, it really wasn't a bad Buckeye half as much as it was a really good Wisconsin half.
Other than the Justin Fields fumble inside the Wisconsin five, Ohio State didn't turn the football over and although they were behind, they didn't have a bunch of glaring mistakes.
It was simply a very good half of football by a top ten level opponent.
3) However, that second half...
27-0 and other than a garbage-time drive, Wisconsin was corralled for most of the half.
Jonathan Taylor finished with 142 yards rushing on the game, but (without stats to prove) Taylor might not have hit the twenty-five-yard mark in the second half.
4) The adjustment that Ohio State made was this- Wisconsin didn't run their first-half offense through Jonathan Taylor, they ran it through quarterback Jack Coan with runs (two rushing scores) and passes downfield mainly to Quintez Cephus with that success allowing Taylor to rip off his large rushes with an off-balance Ohio State defense not knowing whom to key on.
Once the Buckeyes took Cephus away, which coincided with Jeffrey Okudah returning to the game, Coan's effectiveness dipped dramatically and so did the Badgers upset chances.
5) K.J. Hill passed David Boston in the win to become the all-time leader in receptions at Ohio State.
Hill has never been the featured receiver in Columbus, but he has been the reliable receiver that can be counted as the Buckeyes own "Wes Welker'.
Hill may not be a big-play threat, but he reminds me a lot of Emmanuel Sanders and Sanders has had an excellent NFL career.
6) A very nice call, down 14-0, for Ryan Day to dial up a fake punt.
Drue Christman's pass to Luke Farrell gave the Buckeyes a first down and allowed the offense more time to get back on track.
That was the drive that Justin Fields fumbled, so the Buckeyes would not score any points from the call, but calling that play woke Ohio State and the fans up a bit.
7) Justin Fields struggled a little in the first half, missed some open receivers and with the brace on a knee for an MCL injury, seemed a less reluctant to run as often.
In the second half, Fields was much sharper and his passes were on the money except for one pass to an open Luke Farrell that would have extended a drive.
It'll be interesting to see Fields mobility against the excellent Clemson defensive line.
8) Speaking of the offensive line, they will have to improve against Clemson in protecting Justin Fields.
Fields was sacked five times against the Badgers, who sacked him ten times in the two games between the teams.
Clemson's defensive line is arguably the best in the nation and if Ohio State cannot improve their protection of Fields over their attempts versus Wisconsin, it could be a long night in Arizona.
9) J.K. Dobbins might have been behind Jonathan Taylor early in yards, but he was ahead at the end and for my money, Dobbins is the best back in the nation.
Taylor may have rushed for more yardage, but Dobbins rarely played a full game and when the stage was biggest, Dobbins didn't disappear.
10) Ohio State defeated every team by double-digits, but on the games, final play after a Hail Mary catch by Wisconsin that would have been replayed forever had it decided a game, Wisconsin had one play from the five with five seconds to go.
The stat was meaningless and the game wasn't on the line, but I still understood Wisconsin throwing the football here.
What I didn't understand was why they didn't sit Jack Coan in the pocket and just get the ball out quickly to avoid a hit.
Instead, Coan rolled out to his right and then took off for the end zone, but at the two-yard line, Josh Proctor plastered Coan and although there the camera left quickly, it looked like Coan was knocked cold.
It seemed like a needless risk to me.
11) The play of the game was the one-handed touchdown catch by tight end Jeremy Ruckert for a touchdown.
Ruckert was a highly touted recruit that was sold on being used more in the Buckeye offense and it rarely seemed to work out that way under Urban Meyer, although tight ends have been used a little more since Ryan Day's arrival.
Ruckert has the type of hands that would be a terrific option to the offense next season.
12) Finally, should the Buckeyes have kept their top seed?
Maybe, but I can understand why they weren't.
The first half issues were the likely reason along with LSU's whomping a higher rated team (Georgia's fourth-ranking to Wisconsin's eighth), but a case could have been made for the second half.
I know the road through Clemson has to be harder than Oklahoma and top seeding is important, but
I hate rooting for a certain bracket because that often backfires.
Clemson could be very good and there has been only one game where they were truly challenged (by a 6-6 North Carolina team) in an awful ACC.
Clemson's best wins were at home against a 7-5 Texas A&M and the win over 9-4 Virginia in the ACC championship game, but other than the 24-10 win over the Aggies that saw the Aggies score their only touchdown on the last offensive play of the game and the one-point win over North Carolina, they, much like Ohio State, have not had to play under pressure.
My point is that Clemson is just unknown because they have not played anyone nearly as talented as them.
That doesn't mean that they couldn't be the best team in the country, it's that the ACC is so terrible that we just don't know.
We'll know after the Fiesta Bowl just how good Clemson could be and just how far the ACC has to go before Clemson has a remote challenger from anyone in their conference.
13) No matter the results against Clemson, this has been a successful season.
Undefeated, eighth straight win over Michigan, and for the first time, three consecutive Big Ten championships with a first-year head coach.
Those are excellent results and unless the Fiesta Bowl ends in a similar steamrolling as the last time that Ohio State played the Tigers (Clemson has won all three meetings with the Buckeyes), I would rate this as a very successful season.
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