The Ohio State Buckeyes are Big Ten champions once again after downing Wisconsin, 27-21, in the conference championship game on Saturday night.
Let the Ohio State vs. Alabama College Football Playoff debate begin. With Clemson, Georgia and Oklahoma winning, three of the four spots appear to be solid. The last one will likely come down to the Buckeyes and the Crimson Tide.
Check out our play-by-play recap of the Big Ten championship game below.
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A team that prides itself on not looking ahead, Wisconsin must now avoid dwelling on its recent past at the Big Ten championship game.
The losses against Penn State last year and Ohio State in 2014 sting for different reasons.
The stakes are even higher going into this season's title game, in which the Badgers again face the Buckeyes on Saturday night in Indianapolis. Win and undefeated Wisconsin (12-0, No. 5 CFP) stands a pretty good shot at securing a spot in the College Football Playoff.
All season long, the blue-collar Badgers have shrugged off the whispers about the turnover-prone offense and the questions about their strength of schedule. The team follows the lead of even-keeled coach Paul Chryst.
The moment to talk about the playoffs has finally arrived. Wisconsin had perhaps its most complete game in Big Ten play when beating Minnesota 31-0 last week.
The Badgers have won 13 straight games, counting the Cotton Bowl in January over Western Michigan. The last loss came at the 2016 conference championship, when Wisconsin blew a 14-point halftime lead and fell 38-31 to Penn State.
The 2014 trip to the title game was even more painful, a 59-0 loss to Ohio State.
The Penn State loss was Chryst's first trip to the Big Ten championship game as the Badgers' head coach. He said he didn't think there was any "extra edge" to players because of that loss.
"No ... each year, it's a different team. I think you always draw on all your experiences," Chryst said. "But I think our team's got a great focus. They've had it all year long and I believe they'll continue to have that. But it's about this year, this moment."
This article was written by Genaro C. Armas from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.
