Urban Meyer hasn't lost much since becoming the head coach at Ohio State. This you already know.
Only one team—Michigan State—owns more than one victory against Meyer in what is now his fifth season. Meyer is 55-4 as head coach of the Buckeyes.
However, aside from one outlier that led to a berth in the College Football Playoff, the University of Wisconsin went toe-to-toe with Meyer's Buckeyes in two other contests. Meyer is 3-0 against the Badgers in his career, facing them in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Saturday's primetime matchup between the No. 2 Buckeyes and No. 8 Badgers is the first-ever meeting between Meyer and Wisconsin second-year head coach Paul Chryst. Meyer never faced Wisconsin as the head coach at Bowling Green, Utah or Florida.
The Badgers enter at 4-1 and allowing just 90.4 yards per game on the ground, seventh-best in the country. Ohio State is third nationally with an absurd 323.6 rushing yards per game average. Something has to give, which is normally the case against two of the Big Ten's annually best programs.
"Typical Wisconsin," Meyer said on Monday. "Average size is 6'6" or 6'8" on the offensive line, 315 pounds. I think that's what it was two years ago, and it's just consistent. They have an excellent running back, very efficient pass game. And then on defense, they're outstanding. They're what they've been."
Let's take a look back at the last three times the Buckeyes and Badgers met, starting with the most recent.
2014 Big Ten Championship Game; No. 5 Ohio State 59, No. 13 Wisconsin 0
Dec. 6, 2014 — Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis
This scourging helped get Ohio State into the first-ever College Football Playoff, while at the same time handing Meyer his first and to date only Big Ten Championship. Everything went right for the Buckeyes that night in Indianapolis, as Cardale Jones set the world on fire.
Jones threw for 257 yards and three long touchdown passes—of 39, 44 and 42 yards all to Devin Smith—in his first career start. Ezekiel Elliott truly arrived this night as well, notching a career-high 220 rushing yards and a pair of scores, one on an 81-yard streak up the middle. His performance paired with Jones set the table for Ohio State's next two victories, against No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Oregon, to win the College Football Playoff.
We'll dive more into this game on Saturday morning before the 2016 version of Ohio State-Wisconsin but here are a few more notes from the Big Ten Championship Game:
- Ohio State held Heisman Trophy runner-up and Badger running back Melvin Gordon to just 76 yards on 26 carries, his second-lowest output of the season;
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Ohio State's 558 total yards more than doubled what the Badgers entered the game allowing (260.3);
- The Buckeyes forced four turnovers—Doran Grant picked off two passes, Vonn Bell grabbed an interception and Joey Bosa picked up a Gordon fumble and returned it 4 yards for a touchdown;
- Donning the late Kosta Karageorge's No. 53, defensive tackle Michael Bennett honored his teammate with two forced fumbles, five tackles, four tackles for loss and two sacks;
- The victory served as enough of a statement to convince the College Football Playoff committee to move Ohio State from No. 5 to No. 4 in the rankings roughly 12 hours following the game.
2013 Week 5; No. 4 Ohio State 31, No. 23 Wisconsin 24
Sept. 29, 2013 — Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
Braxton Miller returned to the lineup for the first time in three games after missing wins over California and Florida A&M with a sprained knee to throw four touchdown passes and lead Ohio State to its 17th straight victory, at the time the nation's longest winning streak. Miller finished with 281 total yards and his 40-yard strike to Philly Brown on 4th down with 1 second left in the first half put the Buckeyes ahead 24-14 at intermission.
The Buckeyes never trailed, but never successfully checked wide receiver Jared Abbrederis either. He roasted Bradley Roby on more than one occasion as the two faced off 1-on-1 and finished with a game-high 207 receiving yards. Abbrederis also had a 36-yard touchdown catch and run where he beat Roby and left the star corner lying on the turf in his wake as he scored. Roby did have an interception later in the game, however.
Meyer's team entered the fourth quarter with a 31-14 lead and had to stop the Badgers late after punting with 90 seconds remaining and ahead by a touchdown.
- Meyer beat then-first-year Wisconsin coach Gary Andersen, who worked for him at Utah;
- Miller's 83 yards on the ground put him atop the school's all-time list for rushing yards by a quarterback with 2,151. He passed Cornelius Greene, who finished his career with 2,080;
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Philly Brown's two touchdown catches helped him become the 15th Buckeye ever to record at least 100 career receptions;
- The Badgers ran for 104 yards, despite entering the game ranked third in the country in that category with 349.8 yards per game;
- Joel Stave threw for 295 yards, at the time a career-high, but could not move the sticks on Wisconsin's final drive of the game.
2012 Week 12; No. 6 Ohio State 21, Wisconsin 14 (OT)
Nov. 17, 2012 — Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, Wisconsin
With no postseason to play for, Ohio State entered Camp Randall unbeaten and trying to stay that way with only this primetime matchup and the annual bout against Michigan left on its schedule. Wisconsin entered 7-3 but still with a chance to win the Leaders Division crown outright had it won out and gotten some help.
The Buckeyes instead secured that title with the thrilling overtime victory over Bret Bielema, though because of their postseason ban Wisconsin eventually played for—and won—the 2012 Big Ten Championship. Penn State dealt with NCAA sanctions that season too, another reason Bielema's gang went to Indianapolis to face Nebraska despite only winning half of its eight conference games. The Badgers destroyed Taylor Martinez and Bo Pelini's Nebraska Cornhuskers, 70-31, by rushing for 539 yards to win the championship.
Two weeks earlier in Madison, however, Carlos Hyde's 2-yard touchdown run in overtime and Ryan Shazier's forced fumble of Montee Ball on 4th down from the 1 with 2:46 left in regulation led to Ohio State's win.
- Ball's fumble happened on what would have been a record-setting touchdown run. He tied Travis Prentice with his 78th career touchdown in the second quarter but Shazier's punch forced Ball to set the new mark a week later at Penn State;
- Both teams struggled to move the ball consistently but particularly Ohio State. The Buckeyes finished with just 236 total yards (97 passing) and were an anemic 3-of-12 on 3rd down;
- Philly Brown's 68-yard punt return opened the scoring with 1:58 left in the first quarter;
- Hyde scored from 15 yards out early in the second to put Ohio State ahead 14-0 but the Buckeyes did not score again until overtime;
- Miller's 145 total yards of offense put him above 3,000 for the season at 3,064, the third Buckeye to do that (Bobby Hoying in 1995, Joe Germaine in 1998);
- John Simon recorded four sacks of Curt Phillips in the win; it ended up being the final game of Simon's Ohio State career as a knee injury kept him out against Michigan the following week.
When Ohio State and Wisconsin meet Saturday night, it is set to be the 10th meeting of top-10 opponents at Camp Randall. Wisconsin is 7-2 in those games and riding a six-game winning streak.
Ohio State leads the all-time series with Wisconsin 57-18-5, including a 9-4 mark since 2000. The Buckeyes are 25-11-2 all-time in Madison.
