Tom's Takes looks back on the 31-13 loss at Ohio State on Saturday and ahead to the second half of the season:

1, FUN WITH NUMBERS: Strange game. It's not so much that the Badgers held the ball for 42 minutes, 47 seconds and still got trounced by 18 points. Peyton Manning showed a couple weeks ago, it's not how long you have the ball but what you do with it.

It's also not that UW had a 250-87 edge in passing and a 118-97 edge in rushing, despite allowing six sacks. As we all know, the turnover battle tends to trump the yardage battle and Ohio State emerged at plus-one in that department. Not only that, the Badgers' two turnovers were both returned for touchdowns. Nothing swings momentum like a defensive score.

Still, the most amazing thing to me is how the Badgers could have such a decisive edge in the stats, but you still walk away feeling like they got trampled in that game.

I can't recall another 18-point loss, where the losing team dominates the statistics, but still got physically whipped by the other team (at least on offense). The Badgers defense was good. But it couldn't compare to the way the way the Buckeyes' front seven played. Relentless is a pretty good description.

2, OFFENSIVE LINE WOES: The Badgers have a solid offensive line that has overcome a lot of injuries so far this season. I'm not sure it's a great line, but it has a chance to get better the more the players work together and the more experience new starters get.

UW is playing with three new starters in redshirt freshman center Peter Konz, sophomore right guard Kevin Zeitler and sophomore right tackle Josh Oglesby. Junior John Moffitt is also back at left guard, after spending all last year at center.

Yes, the Badgers got whipped by an extremely talented Ohio State defensive line. Yes, it's another big challenge this week against Iowa.

But I don't think fans should overreact to the six sacks. Things looked especially bad in the fourth quarter, but that was a tough situation to be in, where the Badgers had to throw and Ohio State could disregard the run.

Quarterback Scott Tolzien attempted 45 passes in the game, 14 more than his previous high. Needless to say, that wasn't the plan coming into the game.

"When you get into a drop-back passing game, that's not the game plan we went into it (with)," offensive line coach Bob Bostad said on Sunday. "That wasn't our plan, but you don't have a choice. So, you do the best you can."

If anything, that last game showed the important role Tolzien played in the four straight games without a sack. His ability to get rid of the ball quickly has been a key factor. That won't change against Iowa this week.

3, HOW WILL TOLZIEN BOUNCE BACK? Offensive coordinator Paul Chryst certainly has a lot of issues to deal with this week, but the ability of Tolzien to bounce back from the last game is not one of them.

Yes, Tolzien needs to take responsibility for the two interceptions returned for touchdowns. He did that after the game. But I don't think his first really rough game will have any lingering effects.

Tolzien completed 27 of 45 throws, a season-low 60 percent, for 250 yards.) He completed 17 of 28 (60.7 percent) against Fresno State.) It was the first time all season he failed to throw a touchdown.

Wide receiver Isaac Anderson had two crucial drops, including one that would have been a touchdown. Tolzien also missed a couple open receivers with errant throws. But given the immense pressure Tolzien was under, I thought he hung in there pretty well. He threw for 250 yards against the Big Ten's top pass defense, despite having only one completion of longer than 19 yards. That was a 33-yarder to Nick Toon.

"I honestly don't worry about him at all," Chryst said. "There's nothing that gives me any reason to be worried (about Tolzien). That's not taking away from all the stuff we can do. I don't see anything, or have any reason (on Sunday), that I'm concerned how he'll react."

4, 0-for-Ohio State: Bielema has a 17-10 Big Ten record, built in large part by his success against two schools: A combined 7-0 against Indiana and Minnesota.

As Bielema mentioned after the game, it bothers him to no end that he is now 0-for-3 against the Buckeyes, the only team in the conference he has not beaten.

The Buckeyes have dominated the conference the last four-plus seasons, so that should not be totally surprising. Bielema certainly knows he blew a chance to beat the Buckeyes last year in Madison, losing 20-17 on a touchdown drive in the final 2 minutes.

The Badgers held a 17-10 lead late in the third quarter in Columbus, Ohio, on the way to losing 38-17 in 2007. And on Saturday, they dominated the statistically, only to lose again.

It's probably too soon to say the Buckeyes have Bielema's "number." If that's the case, they've got the numbers of most of the coaches in the conference. Still, it's easy to see why Bielema feels so frustrated, having kicked away some decent chances to win.

Here's Bielema's current record against the conference: Iowa 2-1; Michigan 1-2; Indiana 3-0; Northwestern 1-0; Minnesota 4-0; Purdue 1-0; Illinois 2-1; Penn State 1-2; Michigan State 2-1; Ohio State 0-3.

A couple other notes: Bielema is a combined 2-7 against the big three of Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan. Also, he needs to beat Iowa this week or fall to 2-2 against his former school, after a 2-0 start. While beating Minnesota wins him bonus points among fans, he's got to start winning some games against the top teams.

5, PRYOR REGRESSING: After watching Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor complete 5 of 13 passes for 87 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, I think I can safely say he looks worse as a quarterback than he did a year ago.

I'm not sure what's going on, but the only time Pryor has looked good in two games against the Badgers is in the 2-minute drill. That seems to be when he relaxes and just plays, instead of trying to become some player he is not -- and may never be.

I haven't seen enough of Pryor to pretend to know what's going on. I'm not sure if it's coaching, or the offensive system, or just a lack of development on his part.

I know the Buckeyes have a new quarterbacks coach in Nick Siciliano, a former quality control assistant, who has been on the staff since 2005 but is in his first year as a full-time coach.

Something has to change. Pryor it too talented to continue playing this poorly.

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