All-American running back Jonathan Taylor of Wisconsin gets a third chance at Ohio State in this weekend’s Big Ten Championship Game.

Can the Buckeyes contain one of the nation’s most talented rushers yet again?

That’s one of the most critical questions facing Ohio State head coach, defensive co-coordinators Greg Mattison and Jeff Hafley when the No. 1 Buckeyes face the No. 8 Badgers (8 p.m. ET Saturday, Fox TV) in Indianapolis.

Taylor has only been held under 3 yards per carry twice in his glittering 39-game career. Both times came against OSU. The junior running back had a career-low 2.6 ypc on Oct. 26 (52 yards on 20 carries) in Columbus. But even that was more yards than Taylor gained in the 2017 B1G title game, when the Buckeyes held him to a career-worst 41 yards on 15 carries (2.7 ypc).

So why is Taylor and the Wisconsin offensive line the matchup to watch for Buckeyes fans in this year’s B1G Championship Game? Read on.

Jonathan Taylor and Badgers O-line vs. OSU’s front seven

This season the Badgers are ranked in the nation’s top 20 in rushing offense and scoring offense, which is little surprise.

But a deeper dive into the statistics reveals a Wisconsin team doing very Wisconsin things.

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Wisconsin leads the nation in average time of possession at 36:02 per game, more than a minute per game ahead of second-place Utah. OSU is doing pretty well at 31:51 per game, ranking 28th, but what the Badgers do is next level.

The ground game not only grind out drives, the break the backs of opposing defenses by converting in critical situations. The Badgers are seventh in the nation in 3rd-down conversion percentage at 50.3 and, as if that weren’t enough, they are ranked No. 1 on 4th downs at 86.7% (13-of-15) on the season.

The Wisconsin offensive line is rated in the nation’s top 10 in three categories, according to the Football Outsiders S&P ratings. And the Badgers just miss, at No. 11, in the main category of Line Yards Per Carry (how much the line is credited for rushing) at 2.96.

Wisconsin’s general passing stats (96th in passing offense) and O-line passing situation stats (106th in line yards on passing downs) puts the team’s success on the ground in even sharper focus. Every defense knows what’s coming but it is still very hard to stop.

Especially No. 23.

Except for a Heisman Trophy, Taylor has received every superlative in college football including the Doak Walker Awards as the nation’s best running back. It’s easy to see why he has been so lauded.

He has 5,932 career rushing yards, second in Big Ten history behind another Wisconsin legend, Ron Dayne — and mind you, this is just after three seasons. Taylor has averaged 152.1 rushing yards per game and has surpassed 100 yards in all but 8 of his 39 career games.

With two games left in his junior season, Taylor already owns the NCAA mark for most rushing yards in the first 3 seasons, and the most in any 3-year span.

He’s already 7th in career NCAA rushing and is 94 yards from passing former Memphis back DeAngelo Williams for 6th.

This season, Taylor is second in the nation in rushing yards per game at 146.8, trailing only Oklahoma State’s Chuba Hubbard (161.3) and just ahead of two other veteran standouts, Boston College’s A.J. Dillon (140.4) and Ohio State’s J.K. Dobbins (138.1) in the FBS.

Yet, one thing is missing for Taylor: A strong game against the Buckeyes.

OSU brings a pretty strong resume into this game, as does Taylor. The Buckeyes are first in the nation in total defense, fourth in rushing defense and fourth in scoring defense.

Of course the front seven is led by Chase Young, who this week was named the Big Ten Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year. The nation’s sack leader at 16.5 (despite missing two games while suspended), Young is is bound to pick up national awards hardware in the next couple of weeks.

But defensive line mate Davon Hamilton and linebackers Malik Harrison and Pete Werner are having terrific seasons as well and several other players on the front seven have taken turns making big plays all season.

Will they have a few more up their sleeves and be able to contain the great Jonathan Taylor one more time? That’s the matchup OSU fans will want to watch — and if the Buckeyes manage it, they will punch their ticket to the College Football Playoff.