Wisconsin won’t dwell on Big Ten title game past

MADISON, WIS. » A team that prides itself on not looking ahead, No. 3 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 eighth-ranked 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.

“I think the guys in that (locker) room, they understand that if we take care of this game, everything takes care of itself,” tight end Troy Fumagalli said after practice Monday.

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. Fumagalli, a senior, is one of the few players left on the team that played in that game.

“I try to forget about it,” he said.

That’s exactly the mindset Chryst wants the rest of the team to take. 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.”

A moment that will most likely include trying to contain the Buckeyes’ J.T. Barrett. Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said Monday that his star quarterback was probable to play this weekend after leaving last weekend’s victory over Michigan in the third quarter with a knee injury.

TONY DING — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Ohio State Coach Urban Meyer stands among his players on the field during warmups before an NCAA college football game against Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich.