Ohio State Buckeyes: Conference play coming, ready or not

Ohio State coach Ryan Day was happy with his team’s 77-21 win over Toledo on Saturday night, but he also wasn’t ready to anoint his team ready to reclaim its status as top dog in the conference, a title it ceded to Michigan last season.

“We wanted to execute at a higher level this week going in, taking pride in their execution,” Day said. “Because we know that we can do that on offense. We can run the football. We’ve shown that we can do that. Now, that doesn’t mean anything next week. All that matters is what we do next week, but we’ve shown that we can do that.”

The running game was a key offseason question for Ohio State after enduring inconsistencies there last season.

Even with top backs TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams having limited carries Saturday night, the Buckeyes ran for 281 yards against a Rockets team projected to have one of the better defenses in college football this season.

That also helped open up the play-action pass.

Quarterback C.J. Stroud spread the ball around, including three passes to tight end Cade Stover early that displayed what could be a new weapon for him and the Buckeyes.

The passing game has been a strength of Ohio State since Day’s arrival along with offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson in 2017, but this season they have continued to enhance the attack.

“We’ve shown that we could throw the football, and I think today we showed some play action where you put guys in run conflict and open up some tight end throws down the field,” Day said. “A couple of times we did that, which was good. So anytime you can run, play-action pass, drop-back pass, that’s the sign of the good offense, and we need to keep building on that.”

The quality of the Badgers also remains to be seen.

They opened the season 18th in the preseason Associated Press poll but dropped out after losing 17-14 in Week 2 at home to Washington State, an expected also-ran in the Pac-12.

Wisconsin has led the Big Ten in total defense the past two seasons (and five of the past eight) but faced a major rebuilding job in the offseason.

“Big Ten play is different,” Wilson said. “It’s more challenging. It’s more physical up front. No disrespect — I had a lot of respect for Toledo’s defensive line coming in. The Notre Dame front that we played was very, very deep and talented, but when you get into Big Ten play, it’s a line of scrimmage league. Tough league. It wears on you week after week after week.

“We’re starting with a big challenge with a great line of scrimmage team on both sides coming up next week, so it’s as good as the offense might look, the offense is not good until the end of the year and you can see how tough and how consistent it is.

“We got enough skill. Coach Day will do a great job as we put the game plan together to get guys the opportunity to make plays, but the great teams are tough. They’re consistent. They play week after week, and they find ways to get W’s. We’ll see if this is a this team is ready to be a Big Ten team as we as we start with a great challenge and we play week after week because it’s a bear in this league.”

The Badgers offense was a major question mark the past two seasons, and the first three weeks of 2022 haven’t offered much indication how good that unit might be as they struggled against the Cougars and lit up overmatched Illinois State and New Mexico State.

Quarterback Graham Mertz is completing 71 percent of his passes while sophomore running back Braelon Allen looks like another star in the making at that position for the Badgers, but they are still sorting out the offensive line and receivers rooms.

They’ll go up against an Ohio State defense that suffocated Notre Dame and Arkansas State to start the season but sprung some leaks against Toledo.

The Rockets, particularly dual-threat quarterback Dequan Finn, gave Ohio State some trouble, but the unit was also operating without a handful of starters who were held out or limited in snaps to avoid injuries.

“I wouldn’t say we’ve reached our full potential yet or even come close to it,” Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer said. “We got so much left with certain guys. We can play so much better, so much sharper, even though we still are playing pretty well. Our full potential, it’s gonna blow people away and we’re gonna put it all together.”

SATURDAY’S GAME

Wisconsin at Ohio State, 7:30 p.m., ABC, 1410