Ohio State-Wisconsin: Statistical head-to-head preview

Ohio State is 10-0 with two tangles with Wisconsin and Michigan respectively standing between them and perfection. The journey of a million miles begins with a single step, and that step is unfortunately shadowed by a shirtless and possibly inebriated Bret Bielema. We've talked about this, Bret. Please stick to the jump suits, at least in public.

The Badgers have had a rough year relative to their recent BCS bowl qualifying glory, but with Montee Ball and a stout defense, can never be overlooked.

In order to break down how these two teams head-to-head, we've done the leg work and compiled a fairly comprehensive collection of the most pertinent stats to help compare things a bit more objectively (we said "a bit"). A few quick observations from what the statistics seem to indicate:

• The conventional wisdom that this is going to be a clash of a great offense and a great defense seem to be spot on; Ohio State dominates the offensive statistics while the Badgers have a monopoly on the defensive front (though some, specifically those not related to pass defense, aren't too terribly separated).
• In terms of sacks allowed, the Ohio State offensive line continues to be a wonder. Perhaps some of it have to do with how the offense moves Braxton Miller outside of the pocket? This line definitely doesn't feel as frustrating as even many of the Bollman coached groups did.
• Ben Buchanan is bested again. This is my not surprised face.
• In match ups this even historically (e.g. unstoppable force versus immovable object), the tie tends to go to the defense. Let's hope that's not the case in this occurrence.

Advantage	Conf	National	Actual	Category	Actual	National	Conf
	Rank	Rank				Rank	Rank
	2nd	8th	256.10	Rushing Offense	218.80	17th	4th
	7th	101st	189.2	Passing Offense	166.8	112th	11th
	2nd	35th	445.3	Total Offense	385.6	78th	7th
	1st	11th	39.9	Scoring Offense	29.5	58th	6th
	2nd	16th	107.9	Rushing Defense	103.4	13th	1st
	7th	28th	116.35	Pass Efficiency Defense	116.14	27th	6th
	11th	99th	259.7	Pass Defense	206.2	33rd	7th
	7th	40th	367.6	Total Defense	309.6	15th	3rd
	7th	40th	23.9	Scoring Defense	17.2	12th	2nd
	2nd	43rd	22	Sacks	20	52nd	6th
	11th	103rd	48	Tackles for Loss	54	73rd	7th
	6th	60th	0	Turnover Margin	+3	48th	3rd
	5th	55th	9.05	Punt Returns	10.20	37th	3rd
	6th	76th	20.68	Kickoff Returns	19.60	90th	7th
	8th	104th	39.04	Punting	40.65	75th	5th
	11th	83rd	22	Sacks Allowed	20	68th	8th
	3rd	32nd	45.11%	3rd Down Conversions	34.81%	101st	11th