Wisconsin just throttled Michigan at Camp Randall. They’re good and probably the best team in the Big Ten West, but can they hang with Ohio State?
It’s still incredibly early in the 2019 NCAA season, but we’re starting to see teams separate. In the first big game of the Saturday slate in Week 4, the No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers obliterated the No. 11 Michigan Wolverines to the tune of 35-14.
Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson and the Wolverines offense looked anemic, while Heisman hopeful running back Jonathan Taylor scampered for over 200 yards and two trips to pay dirt in this rout of their Big Ten foe.
No, this does not look to be Michigan’s year. Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh will take a ton of flak for this lackluster effort in Madison and rightfully so.
The Wolverines still have the Iowa Hawkeyes, the Penn State Nittany Lions, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the Michigan State Spartans and the Ohio State Buckeyes left on the schedule. Anything better than 9-3 at this point for Michigan would be remarkable.
As for Wisconsin, the Badgers certainly have a more navigable schedule than Michigan. However, they still have to play Michigan State, at Ohio State and Iowa.
Michigan State has been as disappointing offensively as Michigan, so we have to believe that the Badgers will be the favorite at home versus the Spartans on Oct. 12. Iowa is better offensively than the Spartans and Wolverines, but lack the home-run threat of Taylor on that side of the ball. That rivalry game between the Badgers and Hawkeyes will be in Madison. So edge Wisconsin.
But what about the Ohio State game in Columbus on Oct. 26? Will the Badgers have what it takes to hang with Justin Fields and the Buckeyes when they meet in the Horseshoe next month?
Ohio State has been the team to beat in the Big Ten for much of the College Football Playoff era. The Buckeyes have made the Playoff twice and have been in the Playoff conversation pretty much every year since its inception.
Wisconsin has been the best team in the Big Ten West since realignment under head coach Paul Chryst. That being said, East Division champion has won the title bout every year since 2014’s divisional realignment The question remains, can the Badgers beat the Buckeyes to make the Playoff?
Well, they’re almost certainly going to have to. That Oct. 12 meeting looms large and probably isn’t a game that Wisconsin should expect to win. Ohio State is a buzz saw in the Big Ten East. Unless one of their rivals has something to say about it, expect the Buckeyes to represent the East in Indianapolis in early December for the conference championship.
The same thing applies to Wisconsin. A West Division rival will need to challenge them, but probably will not. It’s still a tad early, but Ohio State and Wisconsin seem to be on a collision course for Indianapolis in a few months, regardless of what happens in Columbus in a few weeks.
Should these two Playoff contenders meet at Lucas Oil Stadium in early December, that would be the ideal opportunity for Wisconsin to get the best of the Buckeyes. Wisconsin will have to play great defense, dominate time of position and have their Heisman hopeful Taylor outperform Ohio State’s in Fields.
With this being the first year of the Ryan Day era in Columbus and Fields in his first season as a starter after transferring from the Georgia Bulldogs after last season, perhaps Chryst and Taylor’s continuity will lead on Wisconsin in the biggest game for the program in years?
Truthfully, Ohio State is the better team at this point over Wisconsin, but things can change in the next month and most certainly will if they were to meet for all the marbles in a rematch in Indianapolis. A neutral-site affair gives the Badgers a fighting chance. In that hypothetical second meeting of the season, Wisconsin will have its chance to hang with Ohio State, just not in October.