MADISON, Wis. — A quick look at the college football rankings shows an evolution toward speed and ingenuity. No. 2 Oregon is best known for its blur of tempo, No. 3 Boise State for its mischievous creativity and No. 4 Texas Christian for its defensive versatility.
But in an era of zone reads, pistol formations and hybrid defenders, No. 19 Wisconsin issued a reminder Saturday night of the value of smash-mouth football played between the tackles.
The No. 18 Badgers bullied No. 1 Ohio State from the opening kickoff, and their 31-18 upset offered a referendum of the value of physical, conservative play calling and quintessentially old-school football.
On a campus where the popular watering hole Wando’s gives out free bacon on Tuesday nights and its most famous eatery is State Street Brats, there is still a premium placed on fat content. And that showed Saturday as the Badgers’ offensive line, which averages 318 pounds, threw its weight around. Ohio State’s no-show will weigh heavily on the national title race; the Buckeyes would need a flurry of improbable results to re-enter. They joined Nebraska in essentially bowing out of the national title race Saturday, as the No. 5 Cornhuskers put forth a wire-to-wire clunker in a 20-13 home loss to unranked Texas.
Ohio State’s loss leaves the door open for Oregon to become No. 1 for the first time in the Associated Press poll and perhaps the top team when the Bowl Championship Series rankings are released Sunday.
The loss also continues to open the door for non-traditional powers like No. 3 Boise State and No. 4 T.C.U. Every loss by a major program appears to increase their long odds at securing a spot in the B.C.S. title game.
The outcome will leave the conservative Ohio State coach Jim Tressel open for second guessing the rest of the season. He shied away from taking risks to keep the Buckeyes in the game. Tressel went for a field goal on the Wisconsin 4-yard line when trailing, 21-0, and later punted when trailing by 10 points with less than seven minutes remaining.
Wisconsin clinched the game when quarterback Scott Tolzien hit tight end Jacob Pedersen for a 33-yard gain on first down. That play call flipped field position and led to Wisconsin’s 41-yard field goal by Philip Welch.
Ohio State entered Saturday night’s game as the country’s top-ranked team but with a hollow résumé. Their biggest victory came at home against a then-No. 12 Miami team that is no longer ranked.
Ohio State gave the skeptics plenty of fodder by allowing Wisconsin’s David Gilreath to return the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. That began a night of revelry among the sold-out crowd at Camp Randall Stadium, where the press box trembles during moments of euphoria.
While Wisconsin’s first touchdown came on an explosive play, the rest of its first-half domination came from its age-old playbook. Wisconsin’s Clay, a tailback straight out of the bruising mold of the former Badgers Ron Dayne and P. J. Hill, scored the Badgers’ two other touchdowns in the first half.
The first came on a 14-yard run that capped a six-play drive, five of which were runs by Clay. That drive showcased just how dominant Wisconsin’s line could be, as Clay ran through holes which looked like they had been forged by glaciers.
Wisconsin’s next scoring drive could be put in a time capsule to epitomize this era of Badgers football. Wisconsin scored on a 19-play, 89-yard drive that gobbled up 10 minutes 4 seconds. Somewhere, the former Badgers coach Barry Alvarez smiled.
So did Clay, who bowled in from 1 yard out and showed why he carved the numbers of his starting offensive linemen in his hair. But after that touchdown put Wisconsin up, 21-0, it became a white-knuckle night for the Badgers and their red-clad fans.
Ohio State clawed back into the game thanks to some inventive offensive schemes and a riveting third quarter by quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who was just 4 for 11 in the first half. But Pryor threw an interception with 1:13 left in the game and never found consistency. He completed 14 of 28 passes for 156 yards and ran for only 56 yards. The game’s defining touchdown ultimately put the game away for the Badgers after Pryor had helped Ohio State cut the lead to 21-18. Wisconsin answered immediately with its final bruising drive of the night. James White capped with a shifty 12-yard run, dancing into the end zone
That set off the final round of press-box-shaking celebrations in Madison as the fans stormed the field and reminded America of the value of smash-mouth football.
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