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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 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 the 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, or 144 kilograms, 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. 4 Cornhuskers put forth a wire-to-wire clunker in a 20-13 home loss to unranked Texas.
Ohio State's loss left 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 were released Sunday.
The loss also continues to open the door for nontraditional 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 Bowl Championship Series title game.
Ohio State entered the game Saturday night as the country's top-ranked team but with a hollow r?sum?. Its 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.
While Wisconsin's first touchdown came on an explosive play, the rest of its first-half domination came from its age-old playbook.
John Clay, a Wisconsin 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.
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 had carved the numbers of his starting offensive linemen in his hair. But after that touchdown put Wisconsin up, 21-0, it became a nervous 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.
The game's defining touchdown 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
