With Ohio State one win away from clinching its first-ever Big Ten Leaders division title, the Buckeyes could be the beneficiaries of an injury issue facing this weekend’s opponent.
Wisconsin, which has already clinched the Leaders spot in the conference championship game thanks to OSU’s NCAA sanctions, is preparing to play their divisional rival Saturday without its top defensive player. Maybe.
Chris Borland‘s status for the Buckeyes game has been up in the air throughout the week after the starting middle linebacker aggravated a hamstring injury last weekend. That issue was something that first surfaced during training camp.
Head coach Bret Bielema was non-committal Thursday when discussing Borland’s availability after the linebacker’s participation in practice this week has been severely curtailed.
“Game speed is different than practice speed,” Bielema said. “It will be interesting to see when Saturday gets here.”
It appears if it’s up to Borland, though, he’ll line up and be on the field to face the Buckeyes.
“He’s very adamant about every day it feels better,” said the coach. “A lot of times when you’re dealing with an injury like that, you get concerned if they start regressing. He hasn’t regressed.”
Borland is currently first on the team in sacks with 4.5, while he’s second in tackles (82) and tackles for loss (nine).