The Ohio State Buckeyes continue to make statements as their supposed counterparts falter embarrassingly. On Saturday, they made a clear one during a 34-0 win over the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison:
OSU is the top team in the country, and no one is in their stratosphere. And unfortunately for Badgers head coach Luke Fickell, he ran into a buzzsaw that was practically inevitable at the most inopportune of times after a 37-0 stomping at the feet of the Iowa Hawkeyes last week.
The head of Ohio State's snake? Quarterback Julian Sayin (36/42 passing, 394 passing yards, four touchdown passes). The redshirt freshman continues to make Carnell Tate (six catches, 111 yards, two TDs) and Jeremiah Smith (nine catches, 97 yards) look like potential top NFL draft picks. Sayin, as CBS Sports' Cody Nagel believes, might be the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy.
"No. 1 Ohio State left no doubt it's the best team in the country with a 34-0 win at Wisconsin on Saturday. The Buckeyes raced out to an early lead and never let up. Quarterback Julian Sayin was near perfect -- making a strong case to potentially be the front-runner in the Heisman Trophy conversation after Week 8. He completed 36 of 42 passes for 394 yards and four touchdowns, spreading the ball effectively across the country's top receiving corps," Nagel wrote.
"Even the Badgers' few flashes of creativity -- including a successful fourth-and-19 fake punt -- weren't enough to spark sustained drives against the Buckeyes' suffocating defense. One week after being shutout at home for the first time since 1980, Wisconsin and coach Luke Fickell face another crushing loss."
Ohio State continues to not only win, but also cover most spreads, too. Good teams win, great teams cover, and it looks like the Buckeyes could be a historically great one based on the early returns so far.
The second bye week will precede the Penn State Nittany Lions at home, the Purdue Boilermakers in West Lafayette, Indiana, the UCLA Bruins and Rutgers Scarlet Knights at home, then TTUN in Ann Arbor, the rest of the way.
Over the next six weeks, Ohio State can prove what greatness looks like against a schedule that offers one legitimate challenge that the program is under extreme pressure to overcome.
We'll see if Ryan Day can pass his greatest test, and greatness test, on the other side of the College Football Playoff National Championship hill. If nothing else, Matt Patricia's group looks eager to do its part after its third win while giving up zero touchdowns in Big Ten play at Camp Randall Stadium.