Jonathan Taylor’s Heisman bid terminated by nasty Ohio State defense

After consecutive losses, the Wisconsin Badgers are out of the College Football Playoff conversation and so is Jonathan Taylor for the Heisman Trophy.

The Wisconsin Badgers were on top of the college football world entering last week. But after losing to the sub-.500 Illinois Fighting Illini on a last-second field goal in Champaign last week and getting crushed by the Ohio State Buckeyes in the rain in Columbus, the College Football Playoff dreams for Wisconsin are over. The same logic applies to Jonathan Taylor‘s Heisman Trophy quest.

Ohio State obliterated Wisconsin to the tune of 38-7 in The Horseshoe on Saturday afternoon. The Buckeyes improved 8-0 (5-0) on the season, while the Badgers crashed to a 6-2 (3-2) mark. Wisconsin had no answer for Buckeyes defensive end Chase Young or running back J.K. Dobbins. Ohio State had no problem shutting down Taylor, ending his Heisman campaign in the process.

Taylor had gone over 5,000 career rushing yards last week vs. Illinois, but was held to 52 rushing yards on 20 carries for the Badgers. This was Taylor’s lowest rushing total of the season and only the second time the talented Wisconsin tailback had been held under 100 yards rushing on the year. The other came in a 38-0 rout of the Michigan State Spartans two weeks ago.

Taylor is a terrific player, but playing on a two-loss team is too much to overcome for him even to think about earning a seat at the 2019 Heisman Trophy ceremony in New York in a matter of weeks. In fact, the team his Badgers lost to on Saturday in the rain might have three worthy candidates themselves in Young, Dobbins and sophomore quarterback Justin Fields.

Taylor is still in the race for the Doak Walker Award, which is handed out to the best running back in college football. Players like Dobbins, Clemson’s Travis Etienne, Georgia’s D’Andre Swift and Oklahoma State’s Chuba Hubbard will probably be in the mix for that award as well. However, Taylor won’t be joining Ron Dayne as a Wisconsin Heisman-winning running back this year.

We had a feeling that this high-profile game between Ohio State and Wisconsin could end up being a Heisman Trophy elimination game for either Fields or Taylor, depending on which team lost in Columbus. While Fields did play well, it was all about Young in the rain on this Saturday afternoon in The Horseshoe. Wisconsin lacked any sort of offensive firepower to stay in this game.

Of course, these two Big Ten powers can meet once again this year in Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship. Ohio State looks to be the front-runner to come out of the Big Ten East but still has to play Penn State. Wisconsin may have two losses but has big games remaining against Iowa and Minnesota left on the schedule. The Heisman is still up for grabs, but Taylor won’t be grabbing it.

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