Ohio State survived Wisconsin with 2 comebacks and a gutsy OT call
Whatever its billing, Buckeyes-Badgers lived up to the hype.
No. 2 Ohio State stayed unbeaten with an overtime win at No. 8 Wisconsin Saturday night in Madison. The Buckeyes came back from 10-point halftime and three-point fourth-quarter deficits to eventually force overtime, and a Noah Brown touchdown catch in the first OT stood up as the game-winner.
The winning TD came on a gutsy third-and-2 call from Wisconsin’s 7-yard line. Brown found space in the right corner of Wisconsin’s end zone and corralled a well-thrown pass from quarterback J.T. Barrett. Wisconsin couldn’t answer on its own possession, and the final score was 30-23, Buckeyes. The last play was an Ohio State sack.
The game leading up to overtime was a lot of fun, too. With 55 seconds left in the fourth quarter and the score still 23-23, Ohio State’s Gareon Conley appeared to intercept Wisconsin’s Alex Hornibrook with a brilliant, leaping effort. That was overturned on replay, but the Buckeyes forced a punt on the next play, though, bringing about overtime.
Wisconsin made it clear early that this wouldn’t be the kind of game Ohio State has gotten used to playing. The Buckeyes hadn’t been meaningfully challenged in their first five games, with an average margin of victory of 42 points. Nobody had gotten closer than three touchdowns from matching them, but the Badgers were inspired. They scored the game’s first 10 points and got the kind of dashes of luck you need when you’re playing a team this good.
By halftime, Wisconsin led 16-6 and had a 313-172 edge in total yardage. Ohio State was summarily outplayed, which hadn’t happened for more than a few minutes at a time, if that, in the entire season leading up to Saturday. The Buckeyes were not going to boat-race the Badgers, and that was surprisingly obvious from the jump.
The tide turned hard to start the second half. Two J.T. Barrett touchdown runs put the Buckeyes ahead 20-16, but the Badgers responded with an 11-play, 81-yard touchdown drive to go back ahead by a field goal, 23-20, with eight minutes still on the clock. A Buckeye field goal made it 23-all with four minutes remaining, and then we came to the thrilling end.
In other noteworthy business from Camp Randall, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer accidentally drew a 15-yard penalty for getting himself whacked in the face by a referee. And it was definitely the correct call.
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