Badgers and Buckeyes: The New ‘Big Game’

For years we here in Big Ten land have had to endure the annual media love fest that leads up to the last weekend of the football regular season, the weekend during which Michigan and Ohio State square off in the so-called “Big Game”.  So much a love fest this preclude has become that the weekend itself has become commonly known as “Michigan-Ohio State weekend”.

Forget the fact that there are 53 other games that weekend in FBS alone. The last full weekend of the college football calendar is all about the Buckeyes and the Wolverines.

But in the past few years, that rivalry has gained a rival of its own. While Ohio State was taking advantage of a depleted Michigan program en route to seven straight wins in the series (2004-2010), another Big Ten team was giving those same Buckeyes fits.

From 2003-2010, Wisconsin took half of their matchups with the Buckeyes, all three coming with Ohio State ranked in the top 20 in the nation. On top of that, the Badgers and Buckeyes went back and forth in their series on the hardwood, with UW coming out victorious in 10 of 15 matchups dating back to 2004. During that same stretch, Michigan only beat Ohio State three times out in 17 tries.

So what is the true “Big Game”?

At this point, I would argue that the Wisconsin-Ohio State rivalry is a better one that even that better the Buckeyes and UM.

There is history.

Wisconsin men’s basketball has only beaten a #1 team twice. Both teams were from Columbus.

There is controversy.

Jared Sullinger claiming that a UW student spit at him while the Grateful Red rushed the floor following last year’s 71-67 Wisconsin victory over previously-undefeated OSU.

There is gamesmanship.

Ohio State’s student section rushing the field after beating Wisconsin this past year despite the fact that UW was outside the top 10. Say what you want, that was all about avenging what had happened in Madison the previous year.

And there is plenty at stake.

In 2010, Wisconsin and Ohio State finished tied for the Big Ten conference title (although Ohio State would vacate following the tattoo scandal).

In 2011, Wisconsin and Ohio State both finished in the top three in the conference in men’s basketball, with the Badgers handing OSU one of only two losses in their Big Ten title run.

That fall, Wisconsin came to Columbus still (in hindsight) in the hunt for a potential BCS Championship game bid even after losing on a hail mary the previous weekend in East Lansing. After the Buckeyes repeated that feat at Ohio Stadium, UW’s championship hopes were dashed.

And finally, on February 4^th, 2012, Wisconsin and Ohio State will meet at the Kohl Center with 1^st place in the Big Ten on the line.

The networks might not recognize it, but this is the new “Big Game”. OSU might get the CBS timeslot when they play Michigan, but you have to believe that they circle their trip to the Kohl Center on the calendar well before they would a visit from the Wolverines.

And if you doubt the intensity of this rivalry on the gridiron, just watch the last two games. Not only the games themselves, but the student section reactions afterward.

Michigan and Ohio State seems now to be a rivalry almost exclusively by dictation. On the field, there is not that much different about their matchup than there is a game between Michigan and Nebraska.

Sure, when both teams are good the ghosts of Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler make the OSU-Michigan matchup something special. But in recent years, that hasn’t been the case all that often.

When OSU and Wisconsin meet, you know you are going to see a good game. You know that both teams have plenty to play for, and by plenty I don’t mean a shot at the Gator Bowl.

This new-age rivalry might lack the pageantry of its ancient rival, but if you want to see some intense Big Ten competition, come to Madison when the Buckeyes are in town or Columbus when Bucky visits.

Wisconsin-Ohio State: This is the new “Big Game”. 

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