INDIANAPOLIS -- What is there to really say after Ohio State's 59-0 annihilation of Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game Saturday night?
Well, plenty. Unfortunately, none of it is positive as it pertains to the Badgers. And below in this week's report card, you'll see exactly how bad things were.
Some numbers to chew on first: The game marked the first time Wisconsin had been shut out since 1997 and represented the worst program loss since a 59-0 defeat against Ohio State back on Oct. 20, 1979. Wisconsin also became the first team to play in a power-five conference championship game and be shut out -- a span of 55 games.
Ohio State completely dominated Wisconsin in every phase and showed that the Buckeyes really are the class of the Big Ten. Any talk of the Badgers inching closer in that regard has been completely wiped away.
"Right now, we're chasing Ohio State," Badgers coach Gary Andersen said. "And that's pretty obvious."
This is a game that surely will sting for a long time to come among Badgers faithful. And the grades reflect the poor performance. Read on, if you can stomach the results:
Badgers quarterback Joel Stave produced one of the worst games of his career Saturday night, completing only 17 of 43 passes for 187 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions. His first interception came with Wisconsin trailing 14-0 when he attempted to throw across his body for receiver Kenzel Doe but was picked off by safety Vonn Bell. That errant pass led to a Buckeyes field goal.
Stave's second and third interceptions really didn't matter because the Badgers already trailed 45-0. Though Stave will take the brunt of the criticism, many share in the passing game's failure. Stave also was sacked three times and hurried three more times.
Badgers center Dan Voltz, who injured his left ankle in the regular season finale, went down to the field and limped off with 9:08 left in the first quarter on Wisconsin's second series and fourth offensive play. Ray Ball took over at left guard, while Dallas Lewallen shifted over to center. Even though Wisconsin had prepared for this exact scenario, it was still an adjustment that came at the wrong time against a fantastic Ohio State defense. In one instance, Lewallen snapped the ball while Stave was still making checks in the shotgun on third down during the third quarter, and the play went for an incompletion.
"When you get down like that, you have to start throwing the ball to make up ground," Badgers left tackle Tyler Marz said. "Obviously that wasn't going well for us either. Protection needs to get better. Joel was under pressure all night, so we've got to put that on us. As a whole, we've just got to get better."
Added Stave: "We have a good play here and there and then a negative play. Negative plays kill drives. We've got to stay ahead of the chains. We can't be putting ourselves in tough situations. It was tough to get anything going."
Melvin Gordon would have had to rush for about 700 yards and score six touchdowns to give him any type of chance to win the Heisman Trophy -- and even that would have been met with some pushback by voters given all Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota has accomplished. So you can put the pipedream of Gordon winning that award to bed.
Gordon carried 26 times for 76 yards and was completely snuffed out by Ohio State's defense. It marked the first time since Week 2 against Western Illinois in which Gordon failed to reach 100 yards rushing. But at least the passing offense came alive against Western Illinois. There was simply nowhere to turn on Saturday night.
The lowest moment came just before halftime, when Gordon tried to fight for yardage around the left side of the field and defensive tackle Michael Bennett forced a fumble. Buckeyes defensive end Joey Bosa picked up the ball and walked in for a four-yard touchdown to give Ohio State a 38-0 lead.
Gordon said the holes were smaller and the opponent faster, but he accepted responsibility for not doing more.
"We struggled," he said. "I could've done better, too. Maybe I shouldn't have stopped my feet. I play a part in everything."
For the game, Wisconsin's rushing offense tallied 37 carries for 71 yards -- an average of just 1.9 yards per carry. All this from a team that had ranked second nationally in rushing yards per game.
The tone for this game was set early, when Badgers cornerback Sojourn Shelton -- who has had a tough sophomore season -- was beaten in the end zone by Ohio State receiver Devin Smith for a 39-yard touchdown on the sixth play from scrimmage. In the span of 1 minute, 59 seconds, the Buckeyes grabbed a 7-0 lead.
Much was made in the lead-up to the game about Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones making his first career start for the Buckeyes. But Jones looked like he could have very well been the league's best quarterback if he had started every game this year. Jones completed 12 of 17 passes for 257 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He set a new Big Ten title game record with a career-long 44-yard touchdown to Smith in the second quarter. He tied the conference championship game record with three touchdown passes, and his 255.8 QB Rating was a new mark for the game.
"I thought our pass defense was in position," Badgers safety Michael Caputo said. "Definitely had the opportunity to make some plays. Just Ohio State came down with the ball. We needed to tackle better in the secondary. Ohio State is a good team. They were going to make those big plays. That didn't surprise me."
Ezekiel Elliott ran untouched 81 yards up the middle for a touchdown to give Ohio State a 14-0 lead with 4:06 left in the first quarter. Yet not even that moment served as a big enough kick in the pants to fix Wisconsin's defense, which was terrible all night.
Elliott set a new career high with 220 rushing yards and established a new Big Ten title game record. Elliott and Curtis Samuel became the second pair of teammates to each rush for two touchdowns in the game, joining Badgers tailbacks Montee Ball and James White, who did it for Wisconsin in 2012 during that famous 70-31 blowout of Nebraska. Elliott scored on runs of 81 and 14 yards, while Samuel scored on runs of 12 and 1 yard.
Ohio State carried the ball 38 times for 301 yards with four touchdowns and averaged 7.9 yards per rushing attempt. Remember that Wisconsin's defense entered the game allowing only 103.8 yards rushing per game and 3.0 yards per attempt.
There wasn't much "special" going on for Wisconsin, but at least this facet of the game helped prevent the Badgers from failing across the board.
Badgers punter Drew Meyer overcame some shaky punts early to produce a pretty solid game. He boomed a 57-yard punt on his second attempt that was downed at the Ohio State 7. Of course, the Buckeyes scored two plays later on Elliott's 81-yard touchdown run. In total, Meyer punted eight times and averaged 41.1 yards per punt. The eight punts marked a new Big Ten championship game record, as did the 329 punt yards.
Kenzel Doe, meanwhile, tallied a season-high 114 yards on six kick returns, although those numbers are entirely a product of Ohio State trouncing Wisconsin and kicking the ball off so many times.
In other words, the only reason Meyer and Doe's numbers were so plentiful was because Wisconsin was so terrible everywhere else.
There simply is no other grade to give Wisconsin in quite possibly the worst performance anybody born after 1979 has ever seen from the Badgers. The passing offense was erratic, Melvin Gordon was snuffed in the running game, and even the team's top-five defense looked like a junior varsity team facing some varsity city league champion.
The good news, if you're a Wisconsin fan, is that the Badgers still have a bowl game to play. Then again, based on Saturday's game, maybe fans would prefer the season end now to avoid further embarrassment.
Follow Jesse Temple on Twitter
