Ohio State vs. Wisconsin: Early point spread released on Buckeyes, Badgers

Ohio State picked up another top-10 victory on Saturday against Penn State in Columbus, and the Buckeyes will look to keep that momentum going into Week 9. They head to Madison to take on Wisconsin and old friend Luke Fickell, who’s preparing to face his alma mater for the first time since 2019.

Ohio State is a 14-point favorite over Wisconsin in that game, according to FanDuel, with an over-under of 47.5. The Buckeyes are tied with Michigan atop the Big Ten East standings, and they’ll have an opportunity to continue their quest for a conference championship appearance on Oct. 28.

Ohio State’s defense was the key to victory over Penn State in Week 8. Led by J.T. Tuimoloau, the Buckeyes held the Nittany Lions to just 49 rushing yards and 12 points — six of which came on a garbage time touchdown pass from Drew Allar to Kaden Saunders with 29 seconds left — to get the 20-12 victory in Columbus.

Allar was sacked four times in the game and he saw six passes broken up. Tommy Eichenberg anchored the Ohio State defense with eight tackles and a quarterback hit while Steele Chambers added six tackles.

On offense, Ohio State was up-and-down with some missed opportunities. Still, Kyle McCord threw for 286 yards and a touchdown on 22 of 35 passing while continuing his special connection with Marvin Harrison Jr. The sure-fire top-10 NFL Draft pick had 11 receptions for 162 yards and a touchdown to help seal the victory.

As for Wisconsin, the Badgers had to battle against Illinois in Week 8. In the third quarter, the Fighting Illini had a commanding 21-7 led before UW battled back to make it a 21-18 game thanks to a touchdown and two-point conversion with 7:21 to play in the fourth quarter.

Then, with less than a minute to go, Braedyn Locke found offensive lineman Nolan Rucci for a big-man touchdown with 27 seconds to play to go out in front 25-21. The Wisconsin defense stood tall on the ensuing drive, securing the victory and moving the Badgers into sole possession of first place in the Big Ten West.

Why Ohio State vs. Wisconsin is extra special for Luke Fickell

For Fickell, Week 9 presents a matchup against a program he knows well. He played at Ohio State from 1993-96 and got his coaching start in 1999 as a graduate assistant under Jim Tressel. After a brief stint as the defensive line coach at Akron, Fickell returned to Columbus under Tressel in 2002 and served as the Buckeyes’ co-defensive coordinator from 2005-10.

In 2011, Fickell became Ohio State’s interim head coach after an NCAA investigation led to Tressel’s suspension and ultimate resignation. The program hired Urban Meyer as Tressel’s full-time replacement in 2012, but Fickell stayed on staff in his old role until 2017 when he left to become the head coach at Cincinnati.

At Big Ten Media Days, when asked about facing Ohio State again, Fickell wanted to keep the focus on the matchup.

“I’ll tell you what, the most important thing is I want to make sure it’s not about anything about me. … If that can take the focus off of, hopefully the emphasis of how important and how big the game is, then so be it, but it’s still going to be about the guys on the field,” Fickell said. “That’s to me, what I want. We’ve talked about, and we do things on rivalries, and I’m not trying to create a new rivalry.

“We all know you have to beat the best to be the best, and at some point in time you’re going to get those opportunities to play Ohio State, or play Michigan, who’s won it the last two years, and that’s when you have to be at your best as well.”