Ohio State-Wisconsin: Buckeyes add to Luke Fickell angst with shutout, plus more takeaways
MADISON, Wis. — It took 90 seconds for Wisconsin fans to start the “Fire Fickell” chants at Camp Randall Stadium, and they continued throughout Saturday afternoon as No. 1 Ohio State cruised to a 34-0 win over the Badgers.
Ohio State put together another dominant defensive performance in holding the Badgers to just 144 total yards, and quarterback Julian Sayin shined by completing 36 of 42 passes for 394 yards and four touchdowns.
It was business as usual for the Buckeyes (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten), who began Saturday with a 99 percent chance to make the College Football Playoff, according to The Athletic’s projections. They’re off next week before hosting struggling Penn State on Nov. 1.
For Wisconsin (2-5, 0-4), it was a fifth consecutive loss in a nightmare season for fourth-year coach Luke Fickell, a former Ohio State player and assistant who dropped to 15-18 in Madison. The Badgers were shut out at home for the second straight game (after last week’s 37-0 loss to Iowa), making it the first time since 1980 that they have had two shutout losses in the same season.
Here are a few takeaways from a game that was never much of a contest:
Ohio State comes out of the gates aggressive
After last weekend’s win over Illinois, there was a concern that Ohio State might come out against an overmatched Wisconsin team and be conservative, knowing the defense could take over. That wasn’t the case.
Ohio State decided to test Wisconsin through the air and succeeded. The Buckeyes were efficient and dissected the Wisconsin defense up and down the field. The Badgers played a lot of deep coverage, like most teams do against Ohio State’s star-studded receiving corps. So Ohio State was content with Sayin completing 86 percent of his passes and averaging 9.4 yards per attempt without an interception.
Sayin did take a shot on the first drive, throwing to Carnell Tate in the middle of Wisconsin’s two-high coverage. The junior receiver made a contested catch over two defenders in the end zone. From there, everything came easily for the Buckeyes.
Sayin to Tate 💥@OhioStateFB opens up the scoring.
📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/Z3SnXooCAj
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 18, 2025
In football terms, Ohio State made the throw against a “Tampa” coverage where two safeties played the deep halves of the field. It left a slight gap for Tate, who made a nice move to beat the drifting linebacker deep. And Sayin found the window.
Coach Ryan Day has been open about wanting to see more explosive plays, though he is adamant that if teams want to play deep coverage, the Buckeyes are more than happy to pepper teams with short passes all the way down the field.
But sometimes there are moments like that touchdown when Ohio State has to force a deep shot. It’s something that has been missing from Sayin’s game, but Day was impressed by the entire play, especially considering Tate had not run that play since his freshman year. The play was originally called for Brandon Inniss, who went out with an injury right before that.
“That was an All-American catch,” Day said. “For them to make a play like that set the tone, but when you’re trying to get it down the field, you’ve got to find the double moves, you’ve got to try in as many ways as you can to push it down the field.”
Tate had the headline-grabbing day with six catches for 111 yards and two touchdowns, though Jeremiah Smith added nine catches for 97 yards.
The entire performance was impressive, not just because of the yards, but because it’s become evident that Ohio State can move the ball through the air at will and in multiple ways. Running back Bo Jackson had five catches for 57 yards and the tight ends got involved, as Will Kacmarek had a touchdown and Max Klare had five catches for 29 yards.
Even Inniss, who has been quiet this year in the slot, caught his first touchdown on a 13-yard scramble drill by Sayin.
Ohio State’s passing game is beginning to take shape, and it’s scary how much the Buckeyes are showing they can move the ball in different ways.
Wisconsin fans show their displeasure
Wisconsin announced a crowd of 72,795 at Camp Randall Stadium, but a stadium that holds 80,000 was not anywhere near full. The entire top section of the student section was left unfilled most of the game, despite a group of people taking over one section and taking their shirts off in a similar fashion to some Oklahoma State fans last week.
The most energy in the stadium was for the famed “Jump Around” moment before the start of the fourth quarter. That was long after the “Fire Fickell” chants began just three plays into the game when the head coach decided to punt on fourth-and-1 on the opening drive.
Wisconsin suffered its second consecutive home shutout loss. (Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
The Badgers didn’t look much more energized on the field. Outside of a nine-play drive that was sparked by a defensive pass interference penalty, there wasn’t much from Wisconsin on offense. In fact, the Badgers crossed the 50-yard-line just once before their final possession, which ended with a turnover on downs. Quarterback Hunter Simmons completed only 6 of 12 passes for 54 yards.
Defensively, Wisconsin wasn’t terrible. The Badgers held Ohio State to just 3.8 yards per rush, though they didn’t do much to slow down the Ohio State passing attack.
Wisconsin’s season doesn’t get much easier with Oregon, Washington, Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota left on the schedule. As for Fickell, his seat is as hot as any coach in the country, even with a buyout north of $25 million, and the empty sections and students leaving after “Jump Around” illustrated the fan angst.
No letdown for Ohio State’s defense
Wisconsin’s offense hasn’t had much going for it this season, and the Ohio State defense didn’t let it get anything started.
Ohio State’s defense continued its streak of no first-half touchdowns and was dominant from start to end. It forced an interception on the first drive after Sonny Styles caught a dropped pass, and it didn’t even let Wisconsin get into the red zone until its final two plays.
That was the type of performance many expected from one of the best defenses in college football, so there’s not a lot that needs to be celebrated afterward, but it was good to see the Buckeyes not play down to their competition.
It’s a sign that this is a defense that’s not only talented, but also focused on the day-to-day process that Day and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia have preached all season. They’ve allowed a total of 41 points — the fewest given up by any team in its first seven games since Florida State in 1993, according to Stathead.
“These teams are always hungry, they want to be the team that beats the No. 1 defense,” defensive end Caden Curry said. “You have to think that it’s about us. We’re always trying to get better every week. If you play down to the level of your opponent, then you aren’t going to get better.”
Ohio State now has two shutouts this year and four in the past two seasons. Day joked that while that’s the standard, he hopes that’s not becoming the expectation from fans.
“I hope nobody is getting used to that,” Day said. “That doesn’t just happen. There is a lot of hard work that gets put in. You have to give the defense a ton of credit and the staff a bunch of credit.”
Tate makes Heisman pitch for his QB
Ohio State spent the first six games slowly bringing along Sayin. At times it looked like the Buckeyes were going to open up the whole offense, but then the next week the game plan would shift back to the ground.
On Saturday, it was all through the air and Sayin delivered. It sparked a postgame question about whether Sayin should be in the Heisman Trophy conversation.
“He’s the truth. He’s the Heisman winner,” Tate said. “Ain’t no question. Each and every week he goes out there and proves why he’s the Heisman winner.”
Sayin entered Saturday with the nation’s top completion rate but ranked 36th in averaging 246.5 yards per game. Add in a quiet performance in the high-profile opener against Texas, and he hasn’t been at the forefront of the Heisman conversation. In The Athletic’s midseason Heisman straw poll, Sayin received three third-place votes and ranked behind quarterbacks like Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, Alabama’s Ty Simpson, Miami’s Carson Beck and USC’s Jayden Maiava.
Saturday’s numbers, however, were attention-grabbing, and attention may only grow from here with Sayin quarterbacking an undefeated Ohio State team ranked No. 1 as the Playoff race takes shape.
Ohio State still figuring out run game
If there was one area that Wisconsin could compete with the Buckeyes, it was on the ground. The Badgers have given up just 97 yards per game and 3.5 yards per carry. They play with a heavy box and come downfield hard against the run.
That is why Ohio State opened up the passing attack, but it is still concerning to see it run for just 98 yards in a game it dominated. That’s two games in a row where the Buckeyes have averaged 3.5 yards per carry or less.
“We left some meat on the bone in the run game for sure,” Day said.
Wisconsin seemed content with letting Ohio State pass if it meant the rushing attack would be shut down.
This is something Ohio State must get fixed if it wants to make a championship run. That’s not to say the champion always has to run the ball well, especially with the receiving talent Ohio State has, but the balance helps.
One option is to make some changes up front. The left side of Ohio State’s line is consistent, but the Buckeyes are still searching for that on the right side. Right guard Tegra Tshabola has struggled and has lost snaps to Josh Padilla. That may be a change that comes after the bye week, if Ohio State thinks it has a personnel issue.
On the bright side, the Buckeyes might’ve found another option in Isaiah West. The freshman was one of three running backs to sign in the 2025 class, which included Jackson. But West was the best back of the bunch on Saturday. He led Ohio State with 55 rushing yards and impressed Day with not only his ability to hit the hole, but making defenders miss.
“It’s a good sign for a young back, so we’ll see what it looks like and see where we are going from here,” Day said. “We are going to look at everything and do everything we can to make sure we are more efficient and more balanced.”
If West continues that play, Ohio State is going to have to think hard about its rotation going forward.
