Ohio St. may have turned the corner

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Three weeks ago, Wisconsin seemed to be cruising toward a season to remember, unbeaten and in the running for a shot at a national championship.

Meanwhile, Ohio State was 0-2 in conference play and seemingly playing out the string in a season beset with NCAA problems, suspensions and bad breaks.

How quickly things have changed.

The Badgers, once No. 4 and considered an elite team, have been deflated by two soul-crushing defeats on successive Saturday nights on the road.

The Buckeyes, their season all but written off, now find themselves a strong contender to play in the first Big Ten championship game — if they get a little help.

Two teams, different outcomes, different perspectives. One is down, the other feels it has turned the corner.

“We always believe everything happens for a reason,” Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said.

The Buckeyes’ Braxton Miller looped a 40-yard touchdown pass to wide-open Devin Smith with 20 seconds remaining. The Badgers ran off four more plays but could not pull off some magic of their own in a 33-29 setback.

Ohio State has struggled all season since losing Terrelle Pryor. The Buckeyes tried Joe Bauserman as Pryor’s replacement; that experiment was deemed a failure after three games.

So the job was handed to Miller, a freshman who admitted in August that he was just hoping to learn four plays a day so he could figure out what was going on with the offense.

He showed some signs of maturity even though he completed just 1 of 4 passes in Ohio State’s 17-7 win over No. 15 Illinois on Oct. 15. That victory was also the first sign that perhaps the Buckeyes were coming out of their yearlong funk.

Now it appears Ohio State has its quarterback, for now and the future.

Before he went out on the field for the Buckeyes’ last offensive thrust, with Ohio State trailing 29-26, Miller showed he was in charge.

“As he walked out there for the last 1:10, he looked at me and winked,” Buckeyes interim coach Luke Fickell said. “And he said, ‘We’re all right.’”

Then he led a 52-yard drive that took just 50 seconds and rejuvenated Ohio State’s hopes.

Asked what he had said to Fickell, Miller smiled and said, “We got it. Don’t worry about it.”