Wisconsin Football: 3 keys to victory vs. Ohio State in Week 9

1. Wisconsin must play near-perfect while OSU doesn’t

We know the “Horseshoe” will be packed and rocking Saturday afternoon. Ohio Stadium is one of the more difficult places to play in the country. That in itself makes this a difficult ask for the Badgers.

On the balance, Ohio State is the better team than the Badgers. No shade to Wisconsin, but they don’t have the speed or the athletes to keep up with the Buckeyes for four quarters. Besides, we are talking about an upset.

Upsets are rarely the better team being outplayed — well maybe if you’re Tennessee playing Georgia State. As good as Wisconsin is, their ‘A’ game won’t beat Ohio State’s ‘A’ game.

There are some wonky things that happen in upsets. Wisconsin has a chance against Ohio State’s ‘B’ game. What does a ‘B’ game entail? We’re talking Ohio State with 100 yards in penalties. Not just any type of penalties. We’re talking holding penalties on third-and-2 to make it third-and-12. A pass interference penalty when they have Wisconsin behind the chains. You need Justin Fields missing on some throws he normally makes.

Those are the sorts of things that have to happen to Ohio State. For Wisconsin, Jack Coan needs to connect on four or five 20-plus yard throws and forces Ohio State’s safeties back.