COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Buckeyes opened a can of lese majeste on the team their coach called the “king of the Big Ten,” beating Wisconsin 31-24 in their conference opener Saturday night.
Braxton Miller and Carlos Hyde set the pace for an offense that seemed more than ready for the Big Ten season and the Buckeyes’ defense plugged its leaks in time to stifle a stubborn Badger offense in front of the third largest crowd in Ohio Stadium history.
Miller finished with 83 yards rushing, eclipsing Cornelius Green as the most prolific running quarterback in school history with 47 seconds left in the second quarter. He added 198 yards and four touchdowns on 11-25 passing. Hyde led all rushers with 85 yards.
The win extends college football’s longest active winning streak to 17 games and could make believers out of some skeptical pollsters who werenunimpressed withnthe Buckeyes’ first four opponents.
At the end of the first half, the Buckeyes (5-0, 1-0) had outrun the ground-pounding Badgers while Wisconsin (3-2, 1-1) relied on the arm of Joel Stave and some missed coverages by the OSU defense to amass over 200 of his 295 passing yards.
The Buckeyes took a 17-7 lead on Miller touchdown passes to Evan Spencer and Devin Smith and a Drew Basil field goal, but Stave and his receivers began to scorch the Ohio State secondary for big gains. Stave connected with Sam Arneson with 1:30 left in the first half keep the margin close at 17-14.
Miller fired a 40-yard strike to Corey “Philly” Brown with one second remaining in the second quarter to give the Buckeyes a 24-14 lead after a first half that saw them outgained by the Badgers through the air 210 yards to 162.
After holding the Badgers near their own goal line following a near-perfect Cameron Johnston punt, the Buckeye defense scored a takeaway when Bradley Roby picked of a Stave pass and returned it 15 yards, setting up a 1-yard Miller-to-Brown touchdown, their second connection of the night.
Trailing 31-14, the Badgers proved they would not go gently: James White capped a 75-yard drive with a 17-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 10 points with 13:47 left in the game. Kyle French’s 42-yard field goal, coming after a promising Wisconsin drive fizzled, provided the game’s final points.
Ohio State travels to Northwestern next Saturday night.