OSU Column: Buckeyes, Badgers in shape for showdown

MADISON, Wis. - There are some things that are pretty much the same in every college football program.

One of them is that the players everywhere will tell you how tough their summer workouts were, how hard they worked and how much time they put in.

That offseason conditioning is not just about physical conditioning. It's also a form of mental conditioning.

Maybe there will be a moment in the season when a player will think, "We didn't put in all that work last summer to fall short of our goal now."

Or maybe in a gut-check moment, a player will think, "If I could finish that 3-mile run, I can gain three yards on this play."

Just once, I'd like to have the guys from a championship-caliber team tell me they spent their summer playing golf, water skiing, hanging out with their girlfriends and working on their tans.

I'm not holding my breath, waiting for that to happen, though.

Ohio State's opponent tonight, Wisconsin, put its players through an interesting workout this summer.

In the past, the Badgers had run the steps of Wisconsin's Camp Randall Stadium. This year, they moved the daily running to Bascom Hill in the center of campus.

The hill, in front of Bascom Hall, is sometimes referred to as the university's front yard. It would be like Ohio State's football team training on The Oval.

But strenuous offseason workouts aren't the only similarity you notice between OSU and Wisconsin.

If you go on the blogs and message boards devoted to Wisconsin football, here are some of the things you can read:

The veteran quarterback needs to be replaced. The play calling is unimaginative and there needs to be a new offensive coordinator. The offensive line is full of holes. The team isn't as good as we thought and that first loss could be followed by a couple more. Forget the BCS, it might be the Alamo Bowl for this team.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

No. 14 Ohio State (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten) and No. 18 Wisconsin (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) both expected to be unbeaten when they played tonight's game.

But USC and Michigan had other ideas. Ohio State has had time to try to get over its 35-3 loss at USC three weeks ago. Wisconsin's loss came last week when it let a 19-point lead slip away in the second half against Michigan.

So, will the Badgers come out breathing fire tonight because of that loss? Or will it make them tentative?

It could go either way. The best approach for Ohio State would be to jump ahead early, take the home crowd out of the game and put a few more doubts into Wisconsin's minds.

Doing that will take freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor remaining steady in his first big road test.

It will take OSU's offensive line proving it can protect the quarterback and open holes for the running game against a real defense, not just against a I-AA team or a back-of-the-pack Big Ten team.

And, maybe most of all, Ohio State's questionable defensive line will have to control Wisconsin's running game, led by tailback P.J. Hill, and put pressure on the Badgers' inconsistent quarterback, Allan Evridge.

It's a big game for both teams. We'll see which one is best conditioned to handle the big-game atmosphere.

The prediction: Ohio State 20, Wisconsin 16