Wisconsin vs. Ohio State 2025 Recap: Badgers Get Dominated and Fall 34-0

The Wisconsin Badgers lost their fifth straight game and shut out back-to-back weeks for the first time since 1968 in their Week 8 matchup to Ohio State. The Buckeyes dominated the game from start to finish and didn’t give the Badgers any hope of pulling off a miracle victory. The Wisconsin offense struggled mightily, while the defense did as best as they could against an extremely talented Buckeye offense. What are the key takeaways from Saturday’s game? Let’s break it all down in our 2025 Wisconsin vs. Ohio State postgame recap.

Wisconsin vs. Ohio State 2025 Game Recap

Buckeye Domination

Wisconsin was flat-out dominated against Iowa en route to a 37-0 home loss in Week 7. Saturday’s game was not much different, and it was another slow start for a Badgers team under Luke Fuckell. After a three-and-out to start the game on offense, Julian Sayin led the Buckeyes down the field. After a touchdown pass to Carnell Tate, the game was 7-0.

Sayin threw another touchdown pass to Tate with 10 seconds left in the first to bring the lead to 17-0, and the Buckeyes never looked back. The Buckeyes suffocated the Badgers’ offense, while they were able to move the ball with ease.

Ohio State finished with 491 total yards to the Badgers’ 144, and ran 24 more plays than Wisconsin. Ohio State finished with 11 minutes more in time of possession, and if not for a five-minute drive by the Badgers in garbage time, it would have been even more drastic. It felt like every time you looked up, the Buckeyes had the ball because the Badgers’ offense put their defense in a bind. Without the offense being able to sustain any drives or success, the Ohio State offense was constantly on the field.

That’s a recipe for disaster as Ohio State sports extreme offensive talent. Neither the Badgers’ offense or defense had any sort of answers, and got dominated by a much better team.

Quarterback Play

In Week 8, we saw two teams with completely different quarterback situations. On one side is Julian Sayin, a five-star coming out of high school and a Heisman contender. On the other side is Hunter Simmons, a transfer from Southern Illinois and the Badgers’ third-string quarterback to start the year.

Sayin had a career-day Saturday afternoon, finishing 36-of-42 for 393 yards and four touchdowns. He had nearly a perfect day throwing the ball and was essentially playing 7-on-7. The Badgers struggled to get pressure on Sayin, and the quarterback was able to stand back in the pocket and deliver the ball with ease all game.

When a Badger pass-rusher did win, Sayin was able to navigate pressure and deliver an accurate ball to his receivers. If Ohio State does have a weakness, it’s their inability to run the ball at times. However, that wasn’t the case. Ryan Day and the Buckeye offense clearly knew their severe talent advantage against a poor Badger secondary and threw the ball six straight times to start the game. Ohio State only finished with 98 yards on the ground and only ran the ball 21 times with their running backs.

Both of Ohio State’s star receivers, Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, feasted all game with the great quarterback play of Sayin. Smith finished with nine catches for 97 yards, and Tate finished with six catches for 111 yards and two touchdowns. Tate’s first touchdown on the first drive of the game was a great catch on a post route, which he jumped up and caught over Badger safeties Matthew Jung and Austin Brown.

On the other side, the quarterback play for Wisconsin was subpar to say the least. Simmons finished 6-of-12 for 54 yards with one interception. After an above-average game two weeks ago against Michigan on the road, Simmons struggled last week against Iowa. Saturday’s game against the Buckeyes was very similar to the Iowa game.

Simmons once again struggled to get threw his progressions and looked uncomfortable for most of the game in the pocket. After struggling all year in pass protection, the Badger offensive line actually did a fairly good job protecting Simmons. However, Simmons wasn’t able to take advantage of the better protection at all on Saturday.

Wisconsin’s receivers struggled to get open. Even when they did get open, Simmons struggled to deliver the ball accurately on time. The quarterback was eventually removed in the fourth quarter and replaced by Danny O’Neil. The game was already well out of reach, but O’Neil finished 1-of-3 for -5 yards. Ohio State’s defense is great, but throwing for 49 total yards in a college football game is unacceptable.

Going forward, Wisconsin needs to have something positive happen under center whether it’s Edwards, Simmons, O’Neil, or some random walk-on.

Badger’s Offense

For the second consecutive week, Wisconsin was kept off the scoreboard. One could argue that the past two games have been the worst the Badgers’ offense has looked over a two-game span since the 1980s. The Buckeyes flat-out dominated the Badgers’ offense; and at times, they looked like an FCS team.

Wisconsin didn’t seem prepared and only finished with 144 total yards. It seems that as soon as something positive happened offensively for the Badgers, they shoot themselves in the foot. On their second offensive possession, the Badgers got a first down after a nice Simmons pass to Jackson McGohan. However, two plays later, the quarterback threw an interception that bounced off running back Cade Yacamelli’s hands.

The offensive line struggled to stay on blocks and receivers failed to get open. It seems that no one on the Badgers’ offense is confident in what they are doing and aren’t playing the game aggressively. Wisconsin’s most explosive receiver, Vinny Anthony, only had one catch for 11 yards, and their most explosive play was a 20-yard run on a fake punt.

Wisconsin struggled to maintain any sort of rhythm and were flat-out embarrassed again offensively. The Badgers are averaging an abysmal 6.8 PPG against P4 teams and are looking for anything to get them going. Going forward, Wisconsin needs to focus on one play at a time, and to figure out ways to string a drive together. This offense isn’t built to go the length of the field, so finding a way to get chunk plays would be helpful.

Wisconsin vs. Ohio State Recap: Other Notes

Defensive Performance

Giving up 34 points and letting Julian Sayin have a career day certainly doesn’t look good on paper. However, the defense played a lot better than what the stats suggest. With the offense’s inability to sustain any success the defense was constantly out there, and a lot of the time with short fields.

We have highlighted the extreme talent disparity with the Ohio State receivers and the Badger secondary, but they held on pretty well for most of the game. Ohio State struggled to run the ball against the Badgers, and the Wisconsin secondary, besides the first Carnell Tate touchdown, kept the ball in front of them.

Mike Tressel tried to play man to start the game, but had to switch to predominantly zone after the first couple of possessions. There weren’t any breakdowns in the secondary, and they played about as well as they could have given the circumstances. Obviously, there are still some things to clean up and fix, but the defense showed heart and grit.

Injuries and Replacements

The Badgers have struggled with injuries to key players all year, and Saturday was no different. Receiver Tyrell Henry and running back Darrion Dupree were already out to start the game. During the game, RB1 Dilin Jones and RB3 Cade Yacamelli both sustained injuries, which threw RB4 Gideon Ituka into the fire.

Badgers right guard Kerry Kodanko suffered an injury, which caused some line reshuffling. Linebackers Tackett Curtis and Christian Alliegro both suffered injuries and missed some game time but were able to return. Safety Matthew Traynor also suffered an injury and did not return.

With the injuries and Luke Fickell trying to find some sort of spark, a lot of the younger players stepped in. True freshman linebackers Mason Posa and Cooper Catalano stepped in and played well. On offense, Dekel Crowdus and true freshman receiver Eugene Wilson Jr. got some run.

Two other quick notes are that Badger receiver Chris Brooks didn’t start the game, and it seemed Eugene Wilson Jr was in his place. Brooks didn’t get on the field until the second half and wasn’t mentioned on any injury reports. There was also no indication he was suspended by coaches or anything, so just something of note.

Also, a big shoutout to Christian Alliegro; he broke his arm during the game, went back to the locker room and got a cast put on, and then proceeded to play the entire rest of the game. That’s a testament to Alliegro and what he stands for, and more Badger players need to have that sort of passion. Alliegro has been a leader all season and showed it again on Saturday. Those are the type of players to build your program around.

Looking Ahead

After another blowout loss, the road doesn’t get any easier for the Badgers. The Badgers will be on the road in Week 9 in Eugene for a battle against the Oregon Ducks. Wisconsin opened as 34.5-point underdogs and will have their backs up against the wall against another talented team.

Who plays quarterback and if there is any continued effort and fight, are going to be the key. Fickell keeping his players enthusiastic and focused is paramount, as there is a lot of turmoil and noise surrounding the program.