The Buckeyes won their second top-five matchup of the season, this time in dominant fashion.
No. 2 Ohio State trailed No. 5 Indiana out of the gate, but left no doubt the rest of the way as the Buckeyes dominated the Hoosiers 38-15 on Saturday afternoon. Jim Knowles’ defense smothered Curt Cignetti’s group for the final three quarters, allowing eight total points in that span while keeping pressure on Kurtis Rourke and company throughout the game. Ryan Day’s team likely secured its spot in the College Football Playoff, and can earn a rematch against Oregon in Indianapolis with a win over TTUN next weekend.
Here is the good, the bad and the ugly from Ohio State’s victory over Indiana.
The Good
Caleb Downs
In this week’s Land-Grant Holy Land staff picks, I predicted Caleb Downs to be the game’s MVP. While I wouldn’t necessarily say that bore out to be true, the Alabama transfer did make the biggest play of the afternoon with his 79-yard punt return touchdown — the first for Ohio State in exactly 10 years and one day, which also came against Indiana.
With the Buckeyes up 14-7 to begin the third quarter, the Silver Bullets forced a quick three-and-out. Indiana punted from its own 27-yard line, and Downs fielded it around the Ohio State 20-yard line after two bounces. A stutter step made the first two guys miss, and a spin move evaded a third would-be tackler before Downs sprinted down the sideline. The safety followed his blocks and cut it back after passing midfield, throwing up the peace sign with nothing but green grass in front of him as he crossed the 10-yard line en route to the end zone.
The touchdown put the Hoosiers in two-score hole, changing the complexion of the game from there on. For Downs, it is his second career punt return touchdown, his first coming last season on an 85-yarder against Chattanooga as a member of the Crimson Tide. With all the good he does defensively, Downs look just as dangerous on special teams.
Defense
Speaking of defense, the Silver Bullets were the real stars of the show against Indiana. It looked like it could be a long day for the Ohio State defense early on, as the Hoosiers drove 70 yards down the field and scored a touchdown on their first possession of the game. However, as they have done several times already this year, the Buckeyes seemed to flip a switch once the first quarter came to a close, allowing zero total yards in the second quarter and only 98 yards the rest of the game.
In terms of individual success, it was a huge game for Cody Simon. The Block O recipient led the team with 10 tackles, adding a team-high 2.5 sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. Jim Knowles committed to the blitz, and Indiana had no answers for it, as Ohio State racked up five sacks and eight tackles for loss as a group. Knowles’ defense has come a long way since the Oregon game, and it feels as though real tangible changes have been made since that loss that have allowed this unit to flourish, especially when it comes to rushing the passer.
Overall, Ohio State held Kurtis Rourke to a season-low 68 yards on just 8-of-18 passing — the first time in his career he has been held under 100 yards when attempting at least 15 passes. Indiana began the game 4-for-4 on third down, converting three times on its opening series, but finished 6-for-14. The Hoosiers did not run the ball especially well either, averaging only two yards per carry as a team (3.6 yards per carry adjusting for sacks).
Offensive Line
A lot of the talk this week leading into the game was focused on the injury to Seth McLaughlin, and rightfully so. After losing Josh Simmons for the season earlier in the year, the Buckeyes found out late this week they would now be without McLaughlin as well, as the Alabama transfer center suffered an achilles injury in practice that will sideline him the rest of the way. Ohio State lost probably its best two offensive linemen, and depth at the position was already a problem coming into the new campaign.
Against Indiana, Justin Frye inserted Austin Siereveld at left guard, keeping Donovan Jackson at left tackle and sliding Carson Hinzman over to center, where he started for the Buckeyes last season. Given the circumstances, the unit performed exceptionally, keeping Will Howard clean all afternoon and allowing zero sacks against an Indiana pass rush that came into the game leading the Big Ten in getting to the quarterback. The run blocking wasn’t perfect, but it is hard not to say that this new-look unit passed its first big test.
The Bad
Slow Starts
It’s becoming more of a feature than a bug at this point for this Ohio State team, but it was yet another slow start for the Buckeyes on Saturday — this time on both sides of the ball. Ohio State started with the ball and threw short of the sticks on 3rd-and-5 for a quick three-and-out, and then the Buckeyes immediately let up the long scoring drive for Indiana to fall into an early 7-0 hole. On the ensuing possession, Ohio State found itself in a 3rd-and-35 situation, ultimately moving the chains after getting it to 4th-and-10 but turning it over on downs on the goal line (we’ll get to that in a minute).
From that point on it was basically all Buckeyes. The next eight drives for Indiana went as follows: punt, fumble, turnover on downs, end of half, punt, punt, punt, punt. Ohio State managed to flex its muscle and pull away for what turned into a dominant win, but again it took a bit for the team to wake up and get itself into the game. It would be easy to blame the Noon kickoffs for the sleepy openings, but the opponents are starting at the same time and it doesn’t appear to affect them out of the gates.
Ohio State has trailed by seven or more early on in three of its last four games. While it hasn’t come back to bite them yet, it would make everything a lot easier if the Buckeyes started playing games for all four quarters instead of just the last three.
Shotgun on 4th-and-1
Back to that aforementioned turnover on downs.
Ohio State seemed to pick up some serious momentum after turning a 3rd-and-35 into a fresh set of downs at Indiana’s 11-yard line, prompting a timeout by the Hoosiers. The Buckeyes proceeded to run it twice with Quinshon Judkins for seven yards, then again with TreVeyon Henderson for two yards to set up a 4th-and-1. All season long in these spots — especially in the red zone — Chip Kelly has elected to sneak it with his 6-foot-4, 235-pound quarterback, and it has worked seemingly every time.
This time, Ohio State came out in a shotgun formation, handing it off to Judkins who was stuffed at the line of scrimmage. It made no sense for the Buckeyes to not at least line up under center, even if they were a bit worried about it being Hinzman’s first start of the season at center and how he would be able to handle the play. Ohio State has been so good inside the red zone this year, largely because of its ability and willingness to use Howard like a battering ram or as an option threat.
They went away from that on a crucial play, and it costed them seven points in a spot where the team was trailing.
The Ugly
Refs
I’m not a big complain about the refs guy, especially as someone who is very aware of Davison Igbinosun’s… we’ll say ‘aggressive’ style of play. However, Saturday’s game was pretty badly officiated.
Ohio State was called for a very questionable block in the back on what would have been a 26-yard play by Henderson, as well as an intentional grounding on the next play which led that to crazy 3rd-and-35 scenario. There was also no flag thrown on the pass to Jeremiah Smith in the end zone with the defensive back all over him, and again no flag when Bennett Christian was tackled during his route one play later.
The Buckeyes came into the day ranking No. 134 in FBS (dead last) in opponent penalty yards per game. In fact, all six of the schools at the bottom of that list come from the Big Ten. The conference clearly has an officiating problem this season, and Ohio State has appeared to get the worst of it. That gap got widened even more against Indiana, with the Buckeyes flagged eight times for 58 yards compared to three penalties for 15 yards on the Hoosiers.
CFP Narratives
The national media sharks were circling the waters as Ohio State began to jump out to a bigger and bigger lead against Indiana. The usual talking heads at ESPN almost sounded as if they were celebrating what could be a crushing blow to Indiana’s College Football Playoff hopes in favor of whatever overrated two or three-loss SEC team they’re itching to put in their place. The FOX broadcast, meanwhile, spent much of the fourth quarter stumping for the Hoosiers to still make the field of 12.
Sure, Indiana did not exactly play well against the Buckeyes on Saturday, but one loss on the road to the No. 2 team in the country should not keep Curt Cignetti’s group out of the College Football Playoff. This is still a very good football team, and it could have been a much tighter contest without a couple special teams miscues and a fumble. Regardless of their schedule, the Hoosiers should make the CFP at 11-1 because they didn’t lose to schools like Vanderbilt or Arkansas, which can’t be said for others…
What is the obsession with pumping up these SEC programs that have no business sniffing the CFP, like an Ole Miss team that went out and lost to Florida today? Apparently Lane Kiffin has been too busy crying on social media about Ohio State’s “$20M roster” to win football games, and the rest of that conference has caught some of that whininess as they stump for undeserving teams to make the College Football Playoff based solely on inaccurate perceptions of the logos on the helmets.