Unbeaten Buckeyes facing tough Badgers

OHIO STATE, which of course is 16-0 under Urban Meyer, still has not beaten a team this year that has a win over an FBS opponent. Now the fourth-ranked Buckeyes, fresh off a 76-0 win over FCS Florida A&M, are at home against No. 23 Wisconsin. The Badgers and first-year coach Gary Andersen might also be 4-0 had it not been for that end-of-game screwup by the officiating crew at Arizona State.

The survivor figures to represent your ever-popular Leaders Division in the Big Ten championship game. And in OSU's case, that could be one step away from a spot in the last BCS title game.

The Buckeyes do have to go to unbeaten Northwestern, which will be coming off a bye, next week. And there's always that closing trip to Michigan, which hasn't been looking anything close to the team that took out Notre Dame early this month. Or maybe the Irish aren't all that either. We should have much more of a clue on Saturday, since they are hosting Oklahoma.

Other than that, OSU's toughest obstacle would appear to be Penn State at the Horseshoe in late October. But as much as Bill O'Brien's been able to do, beating the Buckeyes there could be asking too much.

The Buckeyes have won five of the last six against Wisconsin. Last November it was 21-14 in overtime. But the Badgers still went to the conference final since the NCAA said OSU was ineligible. Andersen, who went 11-2 last year at Utah State, coached for Meyer in 2004 at Utah.

"The head coach sets the tone for the program," said OSU receivers coach Zach Smith, the grandson of former Buckeye head guy Earle Bruce, who gave Meyer his first job as a graduate assistant in the late 1980s.

Braxton Miller, who was fifth in last year's Heisman Trophy voting, missed most of the last three games with a left-knee sprain. But Kenny Guiton has thrown for 13 touchdowns, including a school-record six against FAMU. Braxton is ready to go again, so . . .

"I don't think it matters who is in there," Andersen duly noted.

Wisconsin averages 350 yards rushing per game, and 8 yards a play. Melvin Gordon is leading the nation with 156, 11.8 a carry.

"Sometimes it's a curse when you have a young player come in who thinks [winning] is the way it is," said Meyer. "It's not. It's something you have to earn. I make sure I remind them of that once in a while."

In 2003, an OSU team that had won 19 in a row lost to Wisconsin, 17-10. That was in Madison. The Badgers last celebrated in Columbus in 2004.

Oklahoma has beaten Notre Dame once, in 1956 (40-0). Paul Hornung of the 2-8 Irish still won the Heisman Trophy. Which OU players finished third and fourth? Hint: One should be pretty easy for Eagle fans. See Answer man.

Memphis junior defensive end Martin Ifedi leads the nation in sacks with 5.5.

*  In its last 31 games, SMU is 16-0 when it scores first and 0-15 when it doesn't.

*  Rutgers' Leonte Carroo has four fourth-quarter TD receptions.

Baylor is the first FBS team to open a season by scoring at least 60 points in three straight games since LSU in 1930. Based on available data since 1996, the Bears are the first team to put up at least 28 in the opening quarter of three straight games. The only other FBS team to get 28 or more in the first quarter of any three games in the same season was Oklahoma in 2008.

* The Pac-12 is 29-4 in nonleague play, after going 28-15 last season.

* Michigan's Devin Gardner has been intercepted eight times. Good thing his last two games were against Akron and Connecticut.

West Chester, which is averaging 49.7 points, is 3-0 for the first time since 1996. The Rams, who host 0-3 Kutztown in the PSAC, haven't been 4-0 since 1974, when coach Bill Zwann was the quarterback for the Delaware team that made it to the Division II title game.

* Delaware Valley, which hosts fellow 3-0 Stevenson in the MAC, has outscored its opponents 41-0 in the last quarter. Stevenson won twice in each of its first two seasons.

* Chris Curran needs to throw for 88 more yards and two TDs to break Frank Vecchio's Ursinus records of 5,733 and 42, respectively. The 3-0 Bears host 1-2 McDaniel in the Centennial.

* Cheyney (0-3) hosts East Stroudsburg (2-1). ESU has won all but one of the 56 meetings. That was in 1979 (7-3), when Cheyney won the PSAC East. The last time ESU was here, in 2011, it was 10-6 in severe weather.

Tommy McDonald (third) and center/linebacker Jerry Tubbs, who played 10 seasons in the NFL with three teams.