The 2014 Big Ten Football Championship Game was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

game played on December 6, 2014 at

Lucas Oil Stadium Lucas Oil Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It replaced the RCA Dome as the home field of the National Football League (NFL)'s Indianapolis Colts and opened on August 16, 2008. The stadium was ...

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

. It was the fourth annual

Big Ten Football Championship Game The Big Ten Football Championship Game is a college football game held by the Big Ten Conference each year to determine the conference's season champion. The game, held after the regular season has been completed, matches the division champions ...

and it determined the 2014 champion of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. The game featured the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree ...

, champions of the East Division, and the West Division champion

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin). They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisi ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

was favored by 4.5 points over

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, but Ohio State won by a score of 59–0. It was the first (and only) shutout in

game history.

History

The 2014 Championship Game was the fourth held in the Big Ten's 119-year history, and the first to feature the conference's new division alignment of East and West. The first three games, in 2011, 2012, and 2013, were played under the previous division alignment of Legends and Leaders.

Teams

Multiple members of both teams' coaching staff have worked together in the past. In 2004 Gary Andersen, current-Badgers head coach, was the defensive line coach under Urban Meyer, then head coach of the Utah Utes. Together Utah finished the 2004 season 11-0. After that season Meyer became head coach for the Florida Gators and Gary Andersen became defensive coordinator for the Utes. Ohio State's co-offensive coordinator

Tom Herman Thomas Herman III (born June 2, 1975) is an American football coach and head coach of the Florida Atlantic Owls. He was the head football coach for the Texas Longhorns at the University of Texas at Austin from 2017 to 2020. Prior to that, he se ...

and Wisconsin's defensive coordinator Dave Aranda both attended college together, at

California Lutheran University California Lutheran University (CLU, Cal Lutheran, or Cal Lu) is a private university in Thousand Oaks, California. It was founded in 1959 and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, but is nonsectarian. It opened in 1960 ...

, and were roommates for a semester.

Ohio State

Ohio State came into the Big Ten Championship Game ranked #5 in the AP Poll. With their starting quarterback, redshirt freshman

J. T. Barrett Joe Thomas Barrett IV (born January 23, 1995) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is currently an offensive assistant for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ohio State ...

, out for the rest of the season after suffering a fractured ankle against

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

the previous week, redshirt sophomore Cardale Jones would receive the first start of his career. The Buckeyes defense was led by

Joey Bosa Joseph Anthony Bosa (born July 11, 1995) is an American football outside linebacker for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ohio State and was selected third overall by the (then San Dieg ...

who was the 2014 Big Ten defensive player of the year. With only one loss on their record, from

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

in week 2, OSU defeated

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

to take the lead of the Big Ten East division on November 8. The Buckeyes offense was ranked 5th in points scored with 44.1 points per game, and was fairly balanced with 246 passing yards per game compared to 257 rushing yards per game. The Buckeyes defense was ranked 29th in points against, allowing an average of 22.9 points per game.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin came into the Big Ten Championship Game ranked #11 in the AP Poll. The Badgers were led by the 2014 Big Ten offensive player of the year, running back

Melvin Gordon Melvin Gordon III (born April 13, 1993) is an American football running back for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Wisconsin, and was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the first roun ...

, who had set numerous school, Big Ten and NCAA records throughout the season and led the league in rushing yards (2,260) and touchdowns (26). At the start of November the Big Ten West division was a four-way tie between the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams partici ...

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big Te ...

and Badgers. The Badgers clinched the Big Ten West division by defeating their rivals, Minnesota, in the last game of the season. The Badgers offense was ranked 15th in points scored with 37.5 points per game, and was centered around the rushing game which was 3rd overall with 334.3 rushing yards per game compared to their 147.8 passing yards per game which came in at 119th overall. Their defense, despite having to replace all front seven starters, was ranked in the top 10 for all four defensive categories, 2nd in total defense with 260.3 yards per game, 4th in scoring defense with 16.8, 8th in rushing defense with 103.8 yards allowed per game and 2nd in passing defense with 156.6 yards allowed per game.Temple, Jesse (December 4, 2014)
"Underappreciated 'No-Name' Badgers Defense Ready to Prove Itself Again"
Fox Sports. Retrieved December 4, 2014.

Scoring summary

1st quarter scoring: * OSU: Devin Smith 39 yard pass from Cardale Jones (Sean Nuernberger kick) (13:01) (7-0 OSU) * OSU:

Ezekiel Elliott Ezekiel Elijah Elliott (born July 22, 1995) is an American football running back for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ohio State, where he earned second-team All-America honors in 2015. Elli ...

81 yard run (Sean Nuernberger kick) (4:06) (14-0 OSU) 2nd quarter scoring: * OSU: Sean Nuernberger 23 yard field goal (14:14) (17-0 OSU) * OSU: Devin Smith 44 yard pass from Cardale Jones (Sean Nuernberger kick) (11:09) (24-0 OSU) * OSU: Ezekiel Elliott 14 yard run (Sean Nuernberger kick) (6:36) (31-0 OSU) * OSU: Joey Bosa 4 yard fumble return (Sean Nuernberger kick) (0:36) (38-0 OSU) 3rd quarter scoring: * OSU: Devin Smith 42 yard pass from Cardale Jones (Sean Nuernberger kick) (9:24) (45-0 OSU) 4th quarter scoring: * OSU:

Curtis Samuel Curtis Samuel (born August 11, 1996) is an American football wide receiver for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ohio State, where he was a member of the team that won the 2015 Colle ...

12 yard run (Sean Nuernberger kick) (11:39) (52-0 OSU) * OSU: Curtis Samuel 1 yard run (Sean Nuernberger kick) (2:25) (59-0 OSU) Kickoff time: 8:18 p.m. • End of Game: 11:54 p.m. • Total elapsed time: 3 hours 36 minutes

Statistics

Legacy

In 2019 Meyer said that he intentionally

ran up the score Running up the score occurs when a competitor continues to play in such a way as to score additional points after the outcome of the game is no longer in significant question and the team is all but assured of winning. Sporting alternatives inc ...

against Wisconsin to help his team be chosen for the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...

. Criticizing the subjectivity of the selection process, Meyer said that he left the

starting lineup In sports, a starting lineup is an official list of the set of players who will participate in the event when the game begins. The players in the starting lineup are commonly referred to as ''starters'', whereas the others are ''substitutes'' o ...

in the game despite Ohio State ahead 45–0 in the third quarter—risking players' health by not

resting the starters Resting the starters is the substitution of regular players on a sports team with backup players, and it occurs when a team has clinched at least a playoff berth, often its division, and in many cases, home advantage, and no further regular season ...

, and poor sportsmanship—because "I don't think the 'eye test' and 'people think' is going to get enough to bump TCU and Baylor". He continued, "I had a job to do, and that was to get Ohio State in the playoff. Do I think that's right? That's wrong", proposing a selection system based on defined criteria.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2014 Big Ten Football Championship Game

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

Big Ten Football Championship Game Ohio State Buckeyes football games Wisconsin Badgers football games

Big Ten Football Champ 2010s in Indianapolis