There were some moments that we were not sure if we would get here, and that is not as much of "if Ohio State would be allowed into the Big Ten Championship Game" but rather "will we make it to a Big Ten Championship Game"?

But it is full-steam ahead and a league championship is 60 minutes away for one of two teams and the Buckeyes are a heavy favorite in this one, being installed as a 20-point favorite last week against the Northwestern Wildcats.

The Cats have played seven games, won six of them, have won four games by one possession (w/in eight points) and have a completely inexplicable loss to Michigan State as the only blemish on their record this season.

Going into the season, Ohio State fans probably felt that Wisconsin, Minnesota, even Nebraska were all much more likely opponents in this game and did not spend much time watching the Wildcats.

And yet here we are.

We head behind enemy lines with Louie Vaccher of WildcatReport.com to get some intel on Ohio State's final December opponent of the year.

Louie Vaccher: Well, it’s a lot of things. But what it comes down to is something that decidedly unsexy: they are fundamentally sound. They are good at just about everything, and they are outstanding at a few things. And they have more talent on that side of the ball than people think. They aren’t the “Fighting Rece Davises,” the moniker that ESPN’s Joey Galloway bestowed on them and got them a lot of free publicity and a catchy T-shirt. There are some NFL players wearing Purple this year. Paddy Fisher just took home the Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebacker of the Year award, safety Brandon Joseph won the Thompson-Randle El Freshman of the Year award, and those two, plus cornerback Greg Newsome II were named first-team All-Big Ten.

Their numbers across the board are impressive. What gets everyone’s attention is that they have the No. 2 scoring defense in the nation – No 1 in the Power Five – allowing just 14.6 points per game. They’ve let up more than 20 points just once all season – in their lone loss to MSU – and they shut out four of seven opponents in the second half. But beyond that, the Wildcats rank no worse than 21st in the nation in any major category. They are 13th in total defense (313.9 ypg) and 21st against both the run and the pass. They also have the No. 1 pass-efficiency defense in the FBS. I’m not exactly sure what the stat (93.3?) means, but I know that they have been strong against the pass all season, and they’ve picked off 12 passes. That’s five more than they had in 12 games all of last season.

That’s really the biggest difference about this defense: they are generating takeaways, a total of 22 in seven games. The Wildcats’ defense has been pretty damn good for the last few years. They were in the Top 25 in most major categories during last year’s 3-9 disaster, even though the offense was making life difficult for them. But this year, they are generating takeaways and getting outstanding play in the secondary. Newsome has shut down the opponents’ best wide receiver every week, and Joseph has five interceptions.