INDIANAPOLIS It had been an impo sible week. It was rough, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer acknowledged Friday. A time that ordinarily would have been pure football, with a little bit of sideshow to promote the Big Ten Championship game and to cope with questions about the national playoffs, suddenly became about life and lo s.Last Sunday came the news OSU reserve defensive lineman Kosta Karageorge, a senior in his first season with the team, had been found dead in what police termed a suicide. Wednesday, some 60 of the players were attending a funeral service at The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Columbus. And Saturday evening there was a game to play against the Wisconsin Badgers, with the only means of acknowledging the pa sing of a vibrant young man being the sticker with his number Cole Beasley Jersey 53 attached to the back of each Buckeyes helmet.Sports can be a ble sed distraction in such times. They suddenly seem a lot le s important, and that only increases their worth.DECOURCY: | HAYES: | MORE:The Buckeyes did not play Saturday night as though distracted by the week they endured. They played, perhaps, as though they were relieved to be beyond it and into the relative peace of the football field.There was joy in every one of the many OSU touchdowns, in every one of the many brilliant defensive plays, even in the dazzling collection of special-teams gems unleashed upon the Badgers. It was 59-0 at the end, and it was not that close."I dedicate this game to him," said sophomore running back Ezekial Elliott, who rushed for 220 yards and two touchdowns. "He was such a happy dude. We all mi s him."And now, the Buckeyes will wait until Sunday at 12:30 p.m. to find out if their performance was enough to climb into the four-team playoff. Ohio State entered the day No. 5 and all four teams in front of them won games this weekend. But with TCU and Baylor battling for superiority in the Big 12 without a conference championship game, OSU may have impre sed enough to convince the CFP committee."I dont think theres any doubt were one of the top four teams in America," Meyer said on the field after the victory.It had been such a week Tredavious White T Shirts that even the lo s of the teams starting quarterback, J.T. Barrett, to a broken ankle near the end of last Saturdays win against Michigan became peripheral. In practice, of course, the OSU coaches worked to ready sophomoreCardale Jones for his first extended action this season. They a sembled a gameplan that would be manageable for a player making his first career start.BENDER: | HAYES: Ohio States first quarter eased a lot of worries about the jumble at QB. The opening drive of the first half, could not have been more comfortable for Jones: three incisive runs by Ezekiel Elliott, a couple of sideline throws that were hard to bungle and then a heave into the right corner of the end zone toward wide receiver Devin Smith.That last play was not easy to convert, but it was rather low risk. At worst, it would function as long punt. At best, it would be Mario Addison Jersey fielded as a startling touchdown catch. In between was the likelihood it would be swatted away as an incompletion, and the Buckeyes still would have two plays to convert the 10 yards between them and another first down.Somehow, despite being in a crowd of defenders, Smith pulled down the pa s for a 39-yard score and a 7-0 lead not even two minutes into the game.As the first quarter proceeded, it began to appear the Buckeyes could have thrown in Jack Nicklaus at quarterback and still rolled through to an enormous lead.Think Nicklaus could have handed off to Elliott on the 81-yard touchdown run that tore through the heart of the Wisconsin D and doubled Ohio States advantage to 14-0? Of course he could. Hes the Golden Bear. And most of the best work on the play was transacted by tight end Jeff Heuerman, who came acro s on the line for a kick-out block and drew the rapt attention of safety Peniel Jean. With Jean following Heuerman to the Buckeyes right, there was an enormous gap behind him that Elliott sprinted through on the way to the end zone.It was a fascinating play design. Had that block been thrown by a guard, its likely Jean would have been disinterested. Instead, it became perhaps the defining play of the game. The odds of Wisconsin recovering from a two-TD deficit with a ground-based offense threatened only those Buckeyes paid to worry about such things.MORE: | The OSU defense was comfortably holding Wisconsin to 77 first-quarter yards, in part because they were more or le s fated to run the football into boxes stacked with eight or nine defenders, in part because the box into which they directed many of their key plays was occupied by defensive end/monster Joey Bosa.Wisconsin star running back Melvin Gordon was credited with 51 yards in the first Ike Boettger Jersey period, which put him on a 200-yard pace, which sounds tremendous. And it could not have been le s consequential. These yards had zero impact.The one promising drive the Badgers managed got them to the Buckeyes 42 with that two-touchdown deficit in place. Quarterback Joel Stave threw wildly on 1st-and-10, and safety Vonn Bell intercepted. The Buckeyes turned that into a field goal.Following another Wisconsin three-and-out, the Buckeyes moved into UW territory after Harrison Phillips Jersey just two plays and, on the third, Jones moved left and threw long toward the right portion of the goal line, dropping the ball perfectly over Smiths shoulder for a 24-0 lead. Ohio State had no i sues under center."Everyone in this room knew," Smith said. "We know how good he is."Whether they will have a place in the College Football Playoff is impo sible to say for another few hours. Whether they deserve one is, as well. Theyve got a lo s. TCU has a lo s. Baylor has a lo s.Therell be no debating the Big Ten title, though. The Buckeyes seniors had watched this game belong twice to Wisconsin, and last year were on the field as Michigan State celebrated a thrilling victory. The Buckeyes earned this night with a November road win at Michigan State and owned it like a college football team becoming intimate with excellence."I've never won a champoinship in my life," Elliott said. "In high school we made it to state three times ... and lost. This means so much to me."The week that began horrifically ended beautifully. There was no equivalence in those two experiences, but this game is what was on their schedule.