Against Ohio State, Wisconsin has Pryor commitment

Top-ranked Alabama went on the road last Saturday and lost to No. 19 South Carolina. Less than 24 hours later the Crimson Tide officially tumbled out of the top spot and fell all the way to No. 8 in the AP poll.

On Saturday, Ohio State, the new top-ranked team in the land, goes on the road to No. 18 Wisconsin (ESPN, 7 p.m.).

Can No. 1 survive this week?

As the college football season heads deeper into October, it becomes a weekly survival test for whichever team carries the No. 1 ranking.

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel was asked during his weekly press conference on Tuesday if he had reminded his team of what happened to Alabama.

"Uh huh," Tressel said.

Then Tressel was asked if there's a lesson to be learned from the Alabama loss.

"I would suppose if our guys watch the game, they'd see if you don't do the things that you have to do to win the game and the other people do, I don't care who you are, where you're ranked, what your name is, you're not going to win the game, but, no, we don't have a board sitting in our room with all the teams' names on them and see what happened to them and move them down," Tressel said.

Ohio State's success at Camp Randall will depend on quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Pryor is a dangerous runner but has also turned into a solid passer. Pryor is completing 68 percent of his passes. He's thrown for 1,349 yards with 15 touchdowns and only three interceptions. Pryor had 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions last season.

The question is, does Wisconsin have enough speed on defense to contain Pryor? And do the Badgers have the players in the secondary to prevent the deep passes to DeVier Posey and Dane Sanzenbacher?

Pryor, who had a strained left thigh muscle against Illinois on Oct. 2, threw for a career-high 334 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-10 win over Indiana last Saturday.

Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema was asked on Monday whether the game plan to defend Pryor has changed this season.

"If you watched Saturday's game, it definitely changes your opinion, although this year, he's been noticeably different in the throwing game," Bielema said. "I've said this for a long time: Ohio State's got tremendous coaches. They knew for his game to go to the next level, he was going to have to expand that element, and he's done that. And Saturday was a great example.

"I mean, against Indiana, he was just sitting back there putting the ball wherever he seemed to want to go with it. And they were making the plays with it as receivers as well, and he was getting the protection."

Wisconsin likes to run the ball - and run it a lot. The Badgers are 11th in the nation with 241 yards on the ground per game. John Clay has rushed for 692 yards and nine touchdowns and freshman James White has 485 yards and eight touchdowns.

But Ohio State is No. 3 nationally in total defense, allowing just 237 yards a game. The Buckeyes give up just 79 rushing yards a game.

So that means Wisconsin quarterback Scott Tolzien will need to make some big plays if the Badgers hope to pull off the upset.

Other games of note on Saturday:

No. 12 Arkansas at No. 7 Auburn (Ch. 2, 3:30 p.m.): Before you tune in to watch Heisman contender Pryor against Wisconsin, check out another Heisman contender, Auburn quarterback Cameron Newton. Newton has thrown for 1,138 yards and 12 touchdowns. Plus, he's run for 672 yards and nine touchdowns. Auburn has this game and another home game against No. 9 LSU. If the Tigers get through these games, it's possible Auburn will be undefeated heading to Tuscaloosa on Nov. 26 to play Alabama in the Iron Bowl.

No. 15 Iowa at Michigan (ABC/ESPN, 3:30 p.m.): Continuing our television tour of Heisman contenders . . . tune in to see Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson, who has thrown for 1,223 yards and eight touchdowns to go with 991 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground. Robinson threw three interceptions and was held under 100 yards rushing last Saturday in a 34-17 loss to Michigan State in the Big House. Now comes perhaps the best defensive front in the country and the best defensive team Robinson has seen thus far. Robinson can't afford another subpar game with the Heisman race wide open. After losing to Arizona, Iowa was a forgotten team. But the Hawkeyes might be catching the Wolverines at the perfect time. Michigan is coming off a stinging loss at home and Robinson had his worst game of the season.

Texas at No. 5 Nebraska (ABC/ESPN, 3:30 p.m.): How about another Heisman contender? Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez has been sensational. Martinez has only thrown for 660 yards and three touchdowns, but he has rushed for 737 yards and 12 touchdowns. Martinez has a ton of speed and could cause big problems for the Longhorns. Nebraska would like nothing better than to leave the Big 12 Conference by beating up on Texas, which got a controversial 13-12 win over the Cornhuskers in last season's Big 12 title game. There's some bad blood between these teams.

Brigham Young at No. 4 TCU (Versus, 4 p.m.): BYU is 2-4 and not having a great season. So what's the importance of this game? Air Force, ranked No. 23, looms a week later for TCU. Could TCU be looking past BYU and preparing for Air Force's high-powered rushing attack? Not likely. The Horned Frogs know very well that a spot in the BCS title game is still very much within reach. TCU only has two ranked teams remaining on its schedule: No. 23 Air Force on Oct. 20 and a trip to No. 11 Utah on Nov. 6. With Alabama already losing, Ohio State traveling to Iowa later this season and Oregon with some tough games remaining (at USC, at California, vs. No. 17 Arizona and at rival Oregon State), TCU needs to stay focused.