Well-grounded Wisconsin aims to run on TCU in Rose Bowl

LOS ANGELES — Three hundred fifty-seven.

Three hundred forty-six.

Three hundred thirty-eight.

Three hundred twenty-nine.

Two hundred seventy-eight.

If you were to guess that those are the weights of the five Wisconsin starting offensive linemen, you'd be wrong.

Close, but wrong.

Those are actually the five best rushing totals this season for the Badgers' potent, powerful, punishing running game, the biggest factor in Wisconsin being able to outrun and defeat every opponent but one this season.

The fourth-ranked Badgers (11-1) were outrushed only once, 175 yards to 165 in a 34-24 loss at Michigan State.

So third-ranked TCU (12-0), playing in its first Rose Bowl, knows what the No. 1 order of business will be Saturday in The Granddaddy of Them All in Pasadena, Calif.

Who does Wisconsin and its old-school, straight-ahead running game remind TCU defensive coordinator Dick Bumpas of?

He laughs.

"Probably the Green Bay Packers back in their heyday," he says.

Only bigger.

A lot bigger.

In 1966, the year the Packers won Super Bowl I, the starters on their offensive line averaged 245 pounds.

Wisconsin in 2010 played in the same state as those Packers but in a different world.,

The Badgers' offensive line goes 327 (Outland Trophy-winning left tackle Gabe Carimi), 323 (first-team All-America left guard John Moffitt), 318 (center Bill Nagy), 315 (right guard Kevin Zeitler) and 322 (right tackle Ricky Wagner).

That's 321 pounds a man and, no matter how fast and tough TCU's nationally No. 1-ranked defense is, that's still a lot of manpower bearing down on the undersized Horned Frogs.

"That's like a Ferrari and a dump truck," Bumpas says. "I mean, we are fast, but the reality of it is when the dump truck is going straight ahead, it's a dangerous weapon."

And it's not as if Wisconsin doesn't have talented running backs finding the holes between the massive pillars.

It's not enough that Wisconsin has perhaps the best offensive line in the country. It also has an outside chance to be the first team in major college football history to have three 1,000-yard rushers in a season.

It is the only Football Bowl Subdivision team this season with three running backs with more than 800 yards. James White (1,029 yards), John Clay (936) and Montee Ball (881) have combined for 2,846 yards on 465 carries, which computes to 6.1 yards per carry.

Bucking the trend toward the spread offense, Wisconsin in 2010 went with huge offensive linemen, rotating running backs, tight ends and blocking fullbacks and old-schooled its way to a share of the Big Ten title.

Down the stretch, the Badger bullies were scary good, piling up 83 points (and 338 rushing yards) vs. Indiana, 48 points (and 357 rushing yards) vs. Michigan and 70 points (and 329 rushing yards) vs. Northwestern.

And that was with Clay, the Badgers' veteran power back, mostly on the sideline with a knee injury.

In the Badgers' last three games, Ball, a 5-11, 236-pound sophomore, averaged 24 carries and 173 yards, with 11 TDs, and White, a 5-10, 198-pound freshman, averaged 21 carries and 153 yards, with five TDs.

And Clay, a 6-1, 255-pound junior who gained 1,517 yards as a sophomore and went for more than 100 in six of the Badgers' first seven games this year, was back to 100% in practices this week. He might be No. 3 on the depth chart, but he could end up being No. 1 in carries Saturday.

"I feel great," Clay says. "I'm ready to get back out there."

Asked if he was going to put in any new wrinkles against TCU, Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst looked over at his mammoth left guard and said, "We're putting Moffitt at tailback."

The self-deprecating Moffitt got a kick out of that. When asked if the Wisconsin linemen ever got tired about hearing how big they are, as if that's all they have going for them, Moffitt laughed and said, "No. That might be true."

Actually, it's not altogether true.

"Excluding Moffitt, we have a pretty athletic line," Carimi says. "No, he's athletic, too. It's not all about size for us."

It's a good place to start, though. Actually, a good way to finish, too.