Featured in this week's Varsity Magazine, this article is part of a feature series celebrating Wisconsin's history playing Ohio State.
BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — On the surface, it looks like a statistical black hole for the Wisconsin football team. Second-ranked Ohio State has the only defense in the country among 128 Football Bowl Subdivision programs that hasn't allowed a rushing touchdown this season.
That helps explain why the Buckeyes stand second nationally in scoring defense and fourth in total defense while holding down a share of first place in the Big Ten Conference.
Eighth-rated UW, meanwhile, has dropped its last nine games when held without a rushing TD, a streak that goes back to 2008 and includes a 14-7 loss to Michigan on Oct. 1.
Moreover, Wisconsin has been held under 150 yards rushing three times in five games this season, a trend that typically yields results — 9-17 since 2007 — that are disappointing.
Those realities collide Saturday night at Camp Randall Stadium when the Buckeyes come to town for a rare primetime duel. But shards of light can be seen in the vicinity of that black hole.
This marks the 10th time since the Associated Press poll was introduced in 1936 that the Badgers have hosted a matchup of top-10 teams. They are 7-2 in those meetings, including victories in the last six.
The latest case was in 2011 when seventh-ranked UW walloped eighth-rated Nebraska 48-17 on the way to a Big Ten championship.
Paul Chryst has been a part of night games at Camp Randall as a player, assistant coach and now as head coach at his alma mater. He's 7-2 in a coaching capacity, including wins in the last five.
Chryst said during his weekly press conference Monday that the atmosphere tends to be "really electric" for home night games and thinks it will be the case again Saturday as long as his players cooperate.
"I think it's up to us to give the fans some energy," he said.
A good place for Wisconsin (4-1 overall, 1-1 in the Big Ten) to start that process is to get its running game untracked. "We've been really inconsistent," Chryst said.
The Badgers rank 78th in rushing offense, 97th in passing offense and are 106th in total offense among FBS teams heading into their third consecutive encounter with a top-10 opponent.
A closer look shows UW ranks 112th in plays from scrimmage that gain 20 yards or more with 19.
The Badgers also stand 112th in running plays from scrimmage of 20-plus yards with four.
"There've been a few instances where we've been trying to make the explosive runs instead of just taking what's there," Chryst said. "Explosive runs are byproducts of just doing your jobs well."
The bye week was spent showing the UW players on video how one failed assignment can compromise a play sequence and how patience is sometimes more valuable than aggressiveness.
Chryst was asked specifically about senior tailback Corey Clement, who has five TDs, but is averaging 3.9 yards per carry.
"It's the discipline of the little things — of being on your track and understanding when it's there and when it's not there — it was good for Corey to see that."
The lack of a consistent running game has several layers.
Wisconsin has faced three traditionally difficult defenses in LSU, Michigan State and Michigan, which currently ranks No. 1 nationally in scoring and total defense.
"You can never really make excuses about the defenses that you're playing," redshirt freshman quarterback Alex Hornibrook said. "Our offense wants to be better than all those defenses we're playing. It's really about us more than anything."
Due to injuries, the Badgers have yet to field their most effective offensive line. Redshirt freshman Jon Dietzen, a prime piece of that unit at left guard, remains questionable due to a leg issue.
Meanwhile, outside of junior left tackle
Ryan Ramczyk — a first-year starter — the two-deep depth chart for UW shows all sophomores.
"The guys that are in the game have to perform regardless of health issues or injuries or the lack of experience, whatever you want to add to that," senior tailback Dare Ogunbowale said.
The Wisconsin running game is tied to the effectiveness of its passing game. To that end, Hornibrook is learning on the fly having made his first career starts on the road at Michigan State and Michigan, both top-10 opponents at the time of the meeting.
Hornibrook played well at MSU during a 30-6 win, but struggled mightily to connect the dots during the loss to the Wolverines. He's completed 56 percent of his passes and thrown more interceptions (five) than TD passes (four).
"A good compliment to the run game would be the pass game and vice versa," he said.
Facing Ohio State (5-0, 2-0) means the degree of difficulty remains steep. There's not much difference between the defense employed by Michigan, which limited UW to 159 total yards, and the Buckeyes.
"Michigan's (defensive) line was a bit bigger, but nonetheless, they both have very good players," Ogunbowale said.
"They definitely have some athletes in their defensive backfield and their whole defense," Hornibrook said.
The Buckeyes lead the nation in takeaways and red zone stinginess and are second in passing efficiency and TDs allowed.
"A really good, sound scheme," Chryst said.
"They have players that understand their role in the defense. They understand their 1/11th of it and they've got really talented players."
The week began with Michigan, Ohio State and UW ranked first, fourth and 11th in total defense.
"No doubt we've faced some really good defenses and we're going to face one this week," Chryst said.
The goal is simple.
"All that matters is that we get better and become more consistent," Chryst said.
