Ohio State survives shot from Wisconsin

COLUMBUS, Ohio - How's this for a new twist? The Buckeyes' offense bailed out the defense for a change.

That's right. The offense stepped up and turned a potential upset into a runaway 38-17 victory over Wisconsin.

Leading 10-3 coming into the second half, top-ranked Ohio State promptly allowed two touchdown drives and suddenly found itself on the wrong end of a 17-10 score against Wisconsin.

And these weren't fluke scores. The Badgers drove 92 yards on six plays for the first one and 62 yards on eight plays on the second. Quarterback Tyler Donovan, with two TD passes and 143 yards in the air, did more in six and a half minutes than he had in the entire first half (and the rest of the game for that matter).

Suffice to say, the Buckeyes defense hadn't bent quite like this at any point this season.

Said star offensive lineman Kirk Barton, "Our season was on the line.

"We've got to win them all if we want to be remembered around here as a special team."

That's when the offense got tough and took control of the game. And tough is definitely the right word for it.

Two plays into the next drive, wideout Brian Hartline took a brutal hit on a 9-yard catch that set up a first down. Two plays later, there he was lowering his head into a couple defenders to pick up a few extra yards on a 9-yard reverse. Of course, Hartline is one of the guys out there fielding punts and regularly going over the middle, so toughness isn't really a question.

Then there's QB Todd Boeckman, already saddled with the tasks of following a Heisman winner and living up to heightened expectations in Columbus. He picked up some tough rushing yards of his own as the Buckeyes rallied back He'll never be confused with a running quarterback, but given some room in the middle he lumbered ahead for first downs on runs of eight and seven yards.

And face it, when you run like Boeckman, you're going to get hit at the end of it. Still, he popped up both times and helped the Buckeyes score two TDs and pull ahead 24-17.

Said coach Jim Tressel, "Sometimes they're going to drop so many people they've got them covered, so if you step up and go, that really disappoints the defense."

Which brings us to the toughest guy of all ... Chris "Beanie" Wells.

Tressel didn't call his number much early; Wells carried just six times for 29 yards in the first half.

But on these two game-changing drives, Beanie was a workhorse. Six of the 10 plays on the first drive were runs by Wells, totaling 54 yards and capped by a 31-yard romp into the end zone.

The next drive ended much the same, with Wells running 30 yards untouched for a score.

All this after spending the night and morning before the game throwing up repeatedly.

Tressel agreed those scoring drives were key.

"When we began to be able to run a little more, we seized control of the game," said Tressel.

Suddenly, the Buckeyes went from potential upset to rolling along, with Boeckman finding Brian Robiskie for another TD early in the fourth quarter to push the lead to 31-17.

And naturally, the defense clamped down after the monetary lapse. In fact, aside from those two drives, the Buckeyes were downright dominant. They racked up 10 sacks, four by Vernon Gholston.

Said Tressel, "(He was) all over the place."

They even helped pad the score at the end, forcing a Donovan fumble (and recovering it) to set up a TD by, who else, Beanie Wells, on the very next play.

Wells finished the day with 21 carries for 169 yards.

Still, the Badgers can take some good away from the loss. With starting tailback P.J. Hill out with an injury, they turned to freshman Zach Brown and still gave the No. 1 team in the country a test.

Brown started strong, but wore down late and finished with 20 carries for 63 yards.

Donovan made some exciting plays, but once the Badgers were forced to play catch-up, the Buckeyes were able to focus on stopping the pass and shut him down.

And there was a fake punt on 4th-and-12 (!) on Wisconsin's opening drive (!) that saw the punter throw a 31-yard bomb to the backup punter (!). Still, that trickery only netted the Badgers a field goal and a second fake punt attempt later in the game ended with punter Ken DeBauche getting creamed on a sneak.

So what do we take away from this one? That Buckeyes' defense can be had, if only for a little while. It can also get up off the canvas after taking some big shots.

And that offense is tougher than it looks.

Tressel summed it up, "I don't know that it was our best performance, but it was winning, and we got a chance to fight another round."

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