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Will this be the test that everyone is waiting to see or will it turn into the Nebraska, Michigan State and Northwestern games? None of those games were exactly competitive, with Michigan State being the only team that was within 17 points of the Buckeyes at the half and that can boast being down by as few as three points in the second quarter.

The Badgers are certainly on paper a much better team, having shutout four opponents along the way, leading the nation in almost every single defensive stat and climbing as high as No. 6 in the polls until the Illinois debacle happened.

Now the Badgers find themselves sitting at No. 13 with a tough-to-explain loss the the Fighting Illini, coming into Ohio Stadium on a one-game losing streak. There are already people who are kicking the can down the road saying that Ohio State versus Penn State will be the conference game of the year, just a few days after saying the same thing about this contest.

With the game on FOX, there were doubts that ESPN would want to come to town to host College Gameday from Columbus (Ohio) and now with this not setting up to be a battle of unbeatens, ESPN has the perfect out to head to the Dakotas for the "Dakota Marker" game between North Dakota State and South Dakota State.

None of those trappings mean a darn thing when it comes to this game as each team will have a lot of pressure to win the game. For the Badgers, a loss here would be a second loss in conference play and with Minnesota unbeaten at this point, the Badgers would need to see the Gophers lose one along the way and then beat them head-to-head (provided Wisconsin does not trip up again outside of Ohio State) to get the trip to Indy and potentially a third match-up all-time in the B1GCG against Ohio State.

For the Buckeyes, there is plenty of pressure to keep winning as well with Penn State still unbeaten in the Big Ten East, with each team still set to play late in November. The Buckeyes have to feel as if there is no margin for error after winning the conference two straight years and not getting a bid to the CFP after a bad conference loss. Losing to Wisconsin would not be considered a bad loss, but nobody is up for taking any chances a long the way.

Historically, this has been all Ohio State in this series but 2010 and 2003 both saw the Badgers upend higher-ranked Ohio State teams. Granted, both of those games were in Madison (Wis.) and the Badgers have only won in Columbus twice this century (2004, 2001).

Let's head to the Tale of the Tape to get a little more insight into this game and look at some of the numbers as we try and sort some things out.

The Ohio State passing offense may only rank 6th in the Big Ten in terms of passing yards but Ohio State's 26 passing touchdowns is eight more than anyone else in the league (Purdue) and 17 more than week nine foe Wisconsin. So sometimes we got lost looking at the wrong numbers like total yardage for a passing offense when it comes down to efficiency and scoring and the Buckeyes are No. 1 in the Big Ten in Passing Efficiency with a rating of 192.3, more than five points better than No. 2 Minnesota. Justin Fields is throwing for about 213 yards per game, 132 yards less per game than Dwayne Haskins, but has anyone really noticed when you see that Fields is responsible for one more touchdown than Haskins when you combine pass/run? The Buckeyes spread the ball out and only KJ Hill ranks among the league leaders in receptions with 4.1 per game and no Ohio State receivers make the list for receiving yards per game as the targets rotate so greatly from week to week. But six players are in double-digits for receptions, seven players have at least two touchdown receptions this year and if you try and lock down Hill, Chris Olave steps up, if you lock down Olave and then Bin Victor steps up, etc...

The pass defense numbers are as expected with Wisconsin, a team that has a lot of 1s and 2s nationally in terms of defense. The Badgers lead the Big Ten in pass defense with just allowing 135.4 yards per game, 0.9 yards fewer than the Buckeyes. Wisconsin has allowed five receiving touchdowns however to Ohio State's three. The Badgers are a little more efficient against the throw however with a efficiency rating a little better than five points up (or down for this matter) than the Buckeyes with only allowing 91 completions on the year, 10 fewer than the Buckeyes. From a passing standpoint, the Buckeyes won't statistically be the best passing offense that the Badgers have faced (in terms of yards) with Central Michigan rating slightly higher and the Badgers held CMU to just 43 yards of passing. It actually was Michigan that put up the best numbers against this defense and much of that came in garbage time when the Wolverines finally remembered that they had some freak receivers to throw it up to. That is the only game where an opponent broke the 200-yard mark against this defense. The Badgers have eight interceptions on the year and are 'led' by Eric Burrell's two picks, which means a whole lot of players have one interception across the board and that proves that there is not one guy to stay away from. It is a young secondary with a R-Freshman, two sophomores and a junior and to this point the Badgers have gotten a lot out of this group. While the Buckeyes rank in the 60s nationally in passing offense (again, let's be sure that we understand that this game is not just about getting yards, Ohio State is No. 4 nationally in pass efficiency offense) this certainly will not be like any other test the Badgers have gone through so far with only one opponent ranking in the top-25 nationally in the category, the Indiana Hoosiers.