The Ohio State Buckeyes have quite a challenge ahead of them if they are going to get back in the Big Ten Leaders Division race. Fortunately for them, they have already faced two of their toughest teams on the schedule according to the latest BCS rankings. Their next opponent, the Wisconsin Badgers, are one of three teams from the Big Ten in the top 15 of the latest BCS rankings:
| BCS | Harris Poll | USA Today | Computer Rankings | ||||||||||||||
| RK | TEAM | AVG | PVS | RK | PTS | % | RK | PTS | % | AVG | A&H | RB | CM | KM | JS | PW | % |
| 1 | LSU | .9702 | 1 | 1 | 2854 | .9927 | 1 | 1457 | .9878 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | .930 |
| 2 | Alabama | .9627 | 2 | 2 | 2777 | .9659 | 2 | 1434 | .9722 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | .950 |
| 3 | Oklahoma State | .9240 | 4 | 3 | 2559 | .8901 | 4 | 1301 | .8820 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 |
| 4 | Boise State | .8302 | 5 | 5 | 2410 | .8383 | 5 | 1213 | .8224 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 6 | .830 |
| 5 | Clemson | .8240 | 7 | 6 | 2346 | .8160 | 6 | 1174 | .7959 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | .860 |
| 6 | Stanford | .8124 | 8 | 4 | 2523 | .8776 | 3 | 1327 | .8997 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 21 | 9 | .660 |
| 7 | Oregon | .6877 | 10 | 7 | 2136 | .7430 | 7 | 1121 | .7600 | 12 | 14 | 7 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | .560 |
| 8 | Kansas State | .6681 | 11 | 10 | 1764 | .6136 | 12 | 827 | .5607 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | .830 |
| 9 | Oklahoma | .6642 | 3 | 8 | 1866 | .6490 | 9 | 964 | .6536 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 14 | .690 |
| 10 | Arkansas | .6581 | 9 | 9 | 1851 | .6438 | 8 | 974 | .6603 | 8 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 7 | 6 | 7 | .670 |
| 11 | Michigan State | .5380 | 16 | 11 | 1760 | .6122 | 10 | 932 | .6319 | 15 | 18 | 10 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 17 | .370 |
| 12 | Virginia Tech | .5338 | 12 | 15 | 1343 | .4671 | 15 | 729 | .4942 | 10 | 11 | 16 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 8 | .640 |
| 13 | South Carolina | .5014 | 14 | 14 | 1378 | .4793 | 14 | 730 | .4949 | 13 | 10 | 17 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 15 | .530 |
| 14 | Nebraska | .4385 | 13 | 13 | 1508 | .5245 | 13 | 798 | .5410 | 21 | 20 | 13 | 18 | 22 | 23 | 19 | .250 |
| 15 | Wisconsin | .4333 | 6 | 12 | 1731 | .6021 | 11 | 867 | .5878 | 24 | 24 | 12 | 23 | 0 | 25 | 21 | .110 |
The Badgers fell nine spots after their last second loss at Michigan St. Michigan at No. 18 and Penn St. at No. 19 are also left on the Buckeyes' schedule.