Wisconsin Badgers vs. Ohio State Buckeyes Complete Game Preview

Here we are, Badgers fans: Wisconsin Badgers vs. Ohio State Buckeyes, playing for the Big Ten title.  While the Buckeyes have won the past three against the Badgers and six of seven, these last few games have been incredibly competitive between the two squads.

Last season's matchup saw the Badgers walk into Columbus and lose 31-24; however, Jared Abbrederis had easily the best game of his career, torching Buckeyes corner Bradley Roby to the tune of 10 catches for 207 yards and a touchdown.

Both Roby and Abbrederis are gone, along with almost every other key contributor from that game for both teams including Braxton Miller, Philly Brown and Carlos Hyde for the Buckeyes offense and the Badgers' entire front seven.

For the Big Ten Championship, let's take a look at the keys to success for both teams, the players to watch, what the coaches and players are saying and a prediction for this matchup with potential playoff implications for the Buckeyes.

Wisconsin's Keys to Success

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Joel Stave and the Badgers have started slowly in almost every game but will need to put points up quickly against the Buckeyes.

Start Quickly

In the Badgers' final two home games, against Nebraska and Minnesota, they staked their opponent a 17-3 lead.  While they eventually went on to win both of those games, and no one is questioning the team's resiliency, they absolutely cannot give the Buckeyes a 14-point lead thanks to a slow start.

Turnovers have been the problem in the early going, with the Badgers fumbling four times in the first 20 minutes, losing three of those, against Nebraska.  Against Minnesota, after a quick three-and-out, which could have seen the Badgers get good field position, Kenzel Doe coughed the ball up, which led to a Gophers score.

The Badgers have started slowly all season, but if there were ever a time to buck the trend, it would be here.  A score, field goal or touchdown, on the opening drive, coupled with a quick stop, would do wonders for the team's confidence and would put the Buckeyes on their heels as opposed to having to claw back from a deficit.

Pressure the Quarterback

Cardale Jones is starting his first game of his career, and he couldn't have picked a better team to go up against.  We'll get to more on Jones in a bit, but defensive coordinator Dave Aranda must be dreaming up schemes to make the young and inexperienced quarterback as uncomfortable as possible.

The Badgers have 35 sacks on the season but only three in the past two games and only one last week against the Gophers.  The Badgers are going to need to ratchet up the pressure against the young quarterback while also maintaining their lanes so as to guard against the threat of his running.

If the Badgers can get two or three sacks and hit him a couple more times, then they will be in great shape in this game.  If they can't get any pressure on the inexperienced signal-caller and let him get in a rhythm, they'll be in trouble.

Ohio State's Keys to Success

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Cardale Jones is athletic and has a rocket arm but doesn't have much in the way of experience.

Get Cardale Jones Comfortable Quickly

Cardale Jones came into the season as the third-string quarterback.  Last season, he sat behind Braxton Miller and Kenny Guiton, both of whom saw their numbers called and were up to the task of performing at a high level when called upon.

Jones started this season behind Miller and J.T. Barrett, but Miller went down before the season started, and Barrett established himself as "the guy" quickly.  But Barrett dislocated and broke his ankle toward the end of their game against Michigan and will be out for the rest of the year.

It will be on the shoulders of co-offensive coordinator Tom Herman to draw up a game plan that gets Jones comfortable throwing the ball accurately and effectively.  He has a cannon for an arm, but his accuracy needs a lot of polish.

With that being said, the Badgers' downfield pass coverage can be shaky at times, and with an arm like Jones', the Buckeyes would be remiss if they didn't take a number of shots down the field and hope for the best as the Badgers like to play a lot of man coverage.

Contain Melvin Gordon

Stopping Melvin Gordon is a Sisyphean task, as you can stop him for 10 plays in a row, but then on number 11, he'll run for 50 yards.  While the Gophers did an excellent job of bottling him up and not letting him break containment—his longest run was only 24 yards—he still ended with 151 rushing yards and a score.

The Buckeyes will try to do what the Gophers did—not let him outside the tackles and make all of his yards come on the gritty, inside runs.  The Buckeyes don't have the greatest run defense in the world, but they have plenty of playmakers.  If they can hold Gordon to fewer than 150 yards on the ground on more than 25 carries, they will have done their job.

Wisconsin Players to Watch

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Corey Clement gave Badgers fans a glimpse of the future with his gutsy performance.

Corey Clement, Running Back

While Gordon will get all of the accolades, Clement turned in one of the gutsiest performances of the year with his seven carries for 89 yards and one reception for six yards.  Clement didn't come in until the third quarter but instantly made his presence felt, taking the ball 28 yards for a score.

Clement is still recovering from a shoulder injury suffered against Nebraska and wasn't really in the game plan against the Gophers; however, he put the pain behind him and fought for 89 hard-earned yards that saw him bounce off would-be tackler after would-be tackler.

Clement will be important for spelling Gordon, who should still see upward of 20 carries.  Even when the Badgers try to strike a balance between running and passing, they still run the ball 30-40 times per game, and Clement will be a big part of that, getting five to 10 carries on Saturday.

Derek Landisch, Inside Linebacker

While not playing the position Chris Borland played for the past few years, Landisch was seen as the heir apparent to Borland at inside linebacker.  Landisch has excelled with the extra snaps, as he's third on the team in tackles with 70 and second in tackles for loss with 14.5 and leads the team in sacks with eight.

Landisch will need to be great against the Buckeyes and their physical front.  If he can get to Jones and stop Ezekiel Elliott at or near the line of scrimmage, then the Badgers will be in great shape.

Ohio State Players to Watch

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Joey Bosa has been sensational this season for the Buckeyes.

Cardale Jones, Quarterback

Jones is 10-of-17 for 118 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions on the season.  If there's ever been as big a question mark at quarterback in as big a game, I couldn't tell you when.  Jones was a consensus 3-star player out of high school according to 247 Sports.

Jones will probably see a lot of pressure from a lot of different places as Coach Aranda for the Badgers likes to disguise his blitzes and bring plenty of them, which is a lot for even experienced quarterbacks to handle but especially for someone making his first career start.

Jones will want to push the ball down the field, though his accuracy is suspect at best.  His best asset in this game will probably be his legs as his escapability in the pocket can turn sacks into first downs.  If he can complete a long pass or two early on, he'll be more comfortable and have more time to throw moving forward.

Joey Bosa, Defensive End

Joey Bosa is a world-class defensive end.  He's a player who can make plays in the backfield even when he's being double-teamed.  He can track down the quickest running backs and the most elusive quarterbacks with a motor unlike that of any player in the country this season.

Bosa has racked up 43 tackles on the season, 20 of which have come for loss while chipping in an outstanding 13.5 sacks and forcing a team-high four forced fumbles.  If those stats don't make an offensive coordinator shudder, I don't know what will.

Bosa will need to be a force in both the run and pass games.  Bosa's ability to get to the quarterback is legendary, and a sack is almost expected in this game.  It is his work in the run game where he will earn his proverbial paycheck.  If he can help contain Gordon, that is far more important than whether or not he can bring down Stave.

What They're Saying

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Head coach Gary Andersen talked about adversity in his postgame press conference.

Wisconsin

This week's theme is coming back from adversity for both teams, with Ohio State's being unquestionably more traumatic.  The Badgers have dealt mostly with on-field adversity, something that head coach Gary Andersen addressed in his postgame press conference after beating Minnesota.

"

I think you practice it, first of all. We try to compete every day. There's winners and there's losers. I think that's so important in the off season. I think it's important in spring practice. It's important in fall practice. And it's important as you go into the season. You need to keep competing every single day. And the kids need to know when they won and when they lost. 

Now, as far as handling and dealing with adversity, it's hard to make that up. You know, you can't just in practice, all of a sudden say, okay, defense, this is your situation. It's a little bit harder to do that but we do talk about it. We don't hide from it. We know it's going to come our way. We ask ourselves how we're going to handle it when it does come our way. We do communicate as far as you got to stay Steady Eddie. You got to believe in each other. You got to look each other in the eye and keep on battling when things don't go your way.

"

Ohio State

Head coach of the Buckeyes Urban Meyer had plenty of adversity to deal with this season.  From losing their Heisman candidate quarterback Braxton Miller at the beginning of the year to losing Heisman candidate quarterback J.T. Barrett last week to the death of defensive end Kosta Karageorge, the Buckeyes have been through a lot this season.

"

There is not good fortune, the ball didn't bounce your way. We don't believe in that. We believe in an extremely close team, an extremely close team that leans on each other in tough times, and someone usually steps up and makes a tremendous play or says something, or Mike Bennett has really grown up as a leader.

So that team, every red flag is up, every excuse is out there to not play well, to not win a game, to lose a game. You have some really good built in excuses. To overcome the incredible tragedy that happened last night, this is a real challenge. We're going to watch it very closely. I can tell you this: Extremely close team that does a lot of things together and cares about each other.

"

Prediction

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The Badgers will look to hoist another trophy in Indianapolis.

Trying to predict this game is no easy task.  Ohio State with Barrett would have come in as at least a touchdown favorite, if not considerably more.  With Jones as the quarterback, it's the Badgers that walk into Lucas Oil Stadium as the favorite in Vegas.

The Badgers will start the game fired up and on the right foot, marching down the field; however, on 3rd-and-4 at the Buckeyes 12, Stave misfires to Alex Erickson on a crossing route, but Rafael Gaglianone drills a field goal to give the Badgers a rare first-possession score and a 3-0 lead.

But even with Jones as the quarterback, the Buckeyes are still an extremely talented team.  His rocket arm proves to be the catalyst for their first scoring drive of the day, set up by a poor punt by Drew Meyer.  Starting in plus territory, Jones launches the ball 40-plus yards down the field to Devin Smith.

While Smith doesn't haul the ball in, the stress of the throw forces Sojourn Shelton into committing pass interference.  Three plays later, Ezekiel Elliott pounds it in from seven yards out to give the Buckeyes a 7-3 lead as the first quarter winds to a close.

As Stave heats up, a hole opens for Melvin Gordon, who, on his eighth carry of the day, breaks his first run for more than 20 yards, bringing the Badgers back into the red zone.  From the edge of the red zone, on first down, Stave throws a play-action pass to a wide-open Arneson in the end zone to give the Badgers a 10-7 lead.

Before halftime, both teams trade field goals, including a well-run two-minute drill by Stave to make it 13-10 at the break with the Buckeyes getting the ball to start the second frame.

The second half will be a wild ride, with points coming at a premium as Gordon sees stacked front after stacked front while Jones can't find the accuracy required to beat the Badgers over the top while Elliott sees no room to run thanks to the Chevy Bad Boys.

This game will come down to the final five minutes, but I'll take Stave's experience over Jones' inaccuracy in a nail-biter for both teams.  I think the Badgers will win this one but fail to cover the four-point spread (per Odds Shark).

Wisconsin 23, Ohio State 20