COLUMBUS, OHIO -- The No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers hope to rebound after last week's loss with an upset of their own against No. 3 Ohio State in Ohio Stadium on Saturday.
BadgerBlitz.com breaks down its three keys to the game before head coach Paul Chryst and his team take the field against Ryan Day's squad.
FIRST READ: THE RUN GAME HAS TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE
By all means, Chryst's offense needs to be hitting on all cylinders -- especially a passing game that showed it could move the ball last week. With a Heisman-caliber player in the backfield, however, Wisconsin has to get the run game going on Saturday after being contained by Illinois in Champaign. The Badgers ran for just 156 yards on 3.6 hards per carry against the Illini.
Ohio State is a top 10 team in the nation in stopping the run, allowing just under 93 yards per game entering this weekend's match-up. The Buckeyes also already have tallied 66 tackles for loss, led by defense end Chase Young's 10.5, so the task of re-establishing the ground game for the Badgers will be a tough challenge.
SECOND READ: UNLEASH HAVOC, FORCE TAKEWAYS IN THE OHIO STATE BACKFIELD
As much as the offense needs to contain Young on Saturday -- an obvious key to the game -- I feel Wisconsin's defense will need to create some opportunities in the Horseshoe to stay in this contest. By all means defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard and his unit will have to contain quarterback Justin Fields (70.1 completion percentage, 1,492 yards, 22 touchdowns, one interception; 291 rushing yards, 4.6 yards per carry, eight rushing touchdowns) and running back J.K. Dobbins (947 yards, 7.1 yards per carry, seven touchdowns).
Yet to try to pull an upset, UW will have to take advantage of any opportunities presented to make big splash plays defensively against an OSU offense that has only coughed up the ball six times. That's not saying trying to do more than a player's individual "1/11th" on each play, which can lead to trouble and more errors for the Ohio State offense to capitalize upon. Through seven games, Wisconsin comes into the game with 27 sacks and 51 tackles for loss.
If it can bottle up the two aforementioned dynamic players, that will greatly help the cause, but the defense needs to flash that takeaway ability as seen earlier this season. Otherwise, it might be a tough afternoon in Columbus facing an offense that leads the nation in third down conversions (56.1), ranks third in the FBS in points per game (49.7) and averages over 500 yards per contest.
THIRD READ: USE THE RAINY CONDITIONS AS AN ADVANTAGE WHEN POSSIBLE AND PROTECT THE BALL
Checking the weather.com forecast as of 7 a.m. ET on Saturday morning, there is a 100 percent chance of rain in Columbus. It could very well be a water-logged setting in the Horseshoe.
Piggybacking off of the first two reads, Wisconsin will have to hold on to the ball and avoid turnovers with a potentially slick ball on offense. In a road environment like this, turnovers could spell huge trouble and momentum shifts for an elite team like Ohio State. Can the Badgers get its running game going and win the game "in the trenches" with what the elements provide them?
Wisconsin could have more opportunities to make some plays on the defensive side of the ball, but Chris Orr, Zack Baun and the other Badgers' defenders will also need to wrap up and avoid allowing Dobbins, Fields and other Buckeyes from escaping and creating explosive plays.
