Five Burning Questions: Big Ten Championship Game

BadgerBlitz.com's "Five Burning Questions" returns this week, just in time for the beginning of Big Ten Championship week. West division winner Wisconsin (10-2, 7-2 Big Ten) challenges the king of the East, Ohio State (12-0, 9-0), for the right to be conference champ.

Here are a handful of questions as the teams prepare for their rumble in Indy.

Against the Buckeyes on Oct. 26, Wisconsin gained just 191 yards and seven points in what became a lopsided loss. The offense only moved the chains on three of 14 third-down opportunities and the run game gained 83 yards on 2.4 yards per attempt.

"I would say we didn't take control of the line of scrimmage like we wanted to that game," center Tyler Biadasz said when asked about the offensive line's play. "Weather conditions didn't help, but no excuses. We just got to play better. It's kind of broad, but it's true. We've got to play better across the board.

"We had some false starts. We had some MAs (missed assignments) that game, some snap infractions on me. Whatever the situation is, we just got to play better and we got to be ready for those situations."

In the last four games after its second open weekend, Wisconsin has gained at least 453 yards in those contests -- running for 300 or more yards three times while passing for at least 200 twice. With offensive wrinkles flowing in November, can those be used to Wisconsin's advantage on Saturday?

On that note, the future Top 5 NFL Draft pick dominated Wisconsin's pass protection in the Horseshoe to the tune of four sacks and five tackles for loss on the day. Young hit the UW offense from different areas on the field, and it will have to account for him once again.

Through 10 regular season games, Young has accumulated 16.5 sacks. Over half of his tackles (19.5 of 38) have resulted in a loss for the opposing offense. How will Wisconsin account for the most dominant defensive player in college football who should be invited to New York as a Heisman finalist?

For about 35 minutes of game time, Wisconsin's defense contained the Ohio State offense featuring running back J.K. Dobbins and quarterback Justin Fields to 10 points and limited big plays.

Then the Buckeyes unleashed an offensive onslaught that led to 28 straight points and a blowout win.

Overall, OSU gained 264 yards on the ground on 5.3 yard per touch -- with Dobbins going for 163 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns. Fields did not necessarily thrash UW as much through the air with the weather conditions not necessarily ripe for throwing (167 yards on 12 of 22 passing with one score), but his ability to run allowed the Buckeyes' attack to flourish in the second half.

Through Isaiahh Loudermilk's eyes, the Buckeyes exposed holes in the UW defense.

"They were hitting open gaps," Loudermilk said on Monday. "We just got to play disciplined ball. Someone would be out of a gap here, and they hit it. Zone reads and stuff like that, we just really got to get our eyes right. We just got to stay disciplined which is what we did the first half, but they started exposing it the second half.

"We’re lucky to have the opportunity to play them again. We’ll try to fix up our eyes and just come out playing.”

Outside linebacker Zack Baun mentioned that it is not like the Badgers have not had the chance to physically feel the size and the speed of Ohio State. Now, will the defense execute better this weekend?

Wisconsin experienced some dreary conditions inside Ohio Stadium over a month ago. Now, the teams will collectively experience no effects of the weather to hamper particular attacks.

Who does that favor -- an Ohio State team whose passing attack was perhaps dampened on Oct. 26, or could it benefit a Wisconsin offense that can assert itself better in the run game with better conditions and the ability to utilize some plays off the edge? Both programs will have an ability to showcase its respective speed inside Lucas Oil Stadium..

Coming up on Tuesday evening, the College Football Playoff committee will release its penultimate rankings for the 2019 season. Ohio State ranks No. 1 at the moment, while Wisconsin sits at No. 12.

UW's place should bump up due to the win over then-No. 8 Minnesota, but just how much remains to be seen and dictated by the committee members. Penn State currently stands at No. 10 but only scored 13 points through three quarters in a 27-6 win over Rutgers on Saturday. Will that change any thoughts on the Nittany Lions' place?

Back to the championship game and what could be shown on the field, if Ohio State blows Wisconsin out of the water, does that kick them out of the CFP rankings? If the Badgers play the Buckeyes tighter, will the committee not drop them as much? If Paul Chryst's squad pulls off an upset of the ages against the most complete team in college football, how does that shake up the top four, and would it knock OSU out of the playoff?

Maybe the question I'm really getting at is this: Will Wisconsin smell roses and head to Pasadena for winning the West, or will playing an extra game potentially hurt UW and allow Penn State to head out to the Pacific Coast for bowl season?