There will be plenty to talk about after this one…
Nick Marsh’s left foot, two missed Indiana field goals, Jeremiah Smith tying Braylon Edwards’ Big Ten record on fourth down, and the news nobody wanted — Julian Sayin is, “probably out several weeks,” with an injury.
But for me, the matchup that decided Ohio State’s 19-15 win was the Buckeyes’ front seven against Indiana’s run game, and it wasn’t close.
Indiana came in averaging 221.3 rushing yards per game. Turbo Richard had 597 rushing yards and was averaging 8.4 yards per carry. Lee Beebe Jr. had another 551. The Hoosiers’ offense is built on running the ball and setting up Josh Hoover’s play-action shots.
On Saturday, Ohio State took that away.
Indiana finished with 73 rushing yards. Richard had 46 on 16 carries, under three yards per attempt. An offense averaging 40.2 points per game scored 15, and seven of those came on a two-play drive after a Sayin interception.
Ohio State made Indiana one dimensional
The first quarter set the tone. Indiana’s early handoffs went for four, five, minus one and zero yards, and the Hoosiers went scoreless in the opening 15 minutes. Indiana’s run game had been the foundation of its 22-game streak, and Ohio State’s defensive front simply wasn’t giving it any room.
That had a ripple effect. Without a run game, Indiana had to put the game on Hoover’s shoulder, and that shoulder was hurting after he landed on it in the first half.
Hoover finished 20-of-40 for 296 yards and a touchdown. Those yards look good in a box score, but a 50% completion rate tells you how much Ohio State forced him to work.
The defense also did something no one had done in a long time: they took the ball away from Indiana.
Nick Marsh fumbled to open the second half, ending the Hoosiers’ streak of 1,437 plays from scrimmage without a lost fumble. Hoover later lost another fumble when he was hit from behind on a fourth-down pass attempt.
Indiana entered the day having never lost the turnover battle this season, and it finished even at two apiece.
The red zone defense mattered too. On Indiana’s first long drive, Payton Pierce broke up a third-down throw near the goal line, forcing a 32-yard field goal attempt that Nico Radicic hit off the left upright.
In a game decided by four points, holding Indiana to zero points on a drive inside the 15 was the difference.
It wasn’t perfect
I’m not going to pretend this was flawless.
The pass defense gave up 296 yards, Hoover found Marsh for a 19-yard touchdown that made it 19-15, and on the final drive, Marsh got behind Cam Calhoun for what should have been the game-winning touchdown. If his left foot lands an inch to the right, I’m writing a very different article.
Ohio State also got some help. Radicic, who had missed only once all season, missed two field goals. The second was a 55-yarder well beyond his career long.
Indiana also committed a few uncharacteristic penalties, and the Buckeyes absolutely caught a few breaks in this one.
The offensive line also had the kind of day I worried about this week. Indiana sacked Sayin repeatedly, including two sacks each from Mario Landino and Tobi Osunsanmi. On the play where Sayin got hurt, Landino beat Phillip Daniels in his first game back.
Ohio State managed only 78 rushing yards of its own. Sayin finished 15-of-29 for 235 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Both touchdowns came on fourth down — one to Bo Jackson, and the 38 yarder to Smith on fourth-and-1 early in the fourth quarter.
That touchdown was Smith’s 39th, tying Edwards’ Big Ten career record.
But when the offense struggled to move the ball, the defense kept up their end of the bargain. Take away the short field after the interception, and Indiana’s offense scored eight points in four quarters against Ohio State.
This defense can win games now
That’s the biggest takeaway from Bloomington. Ohio State’s defense allowed 462 yards to Illinois a month ago and looked like a real weakness. Since then, they have held Iowa, Maryland and now the defending national champions in check.
They’ve done that without a dominant pass rusher, leaning on a run defense that doesn’t give up anything easy.
That matters even more now. With Sayin out for what Day called “several weeks,” Luke Fahey becomes the probable starter.
The true freshman went 0-for-2 in relief on Saturday. Ohio State has a bye week before traveling to USC on Halloween, and then Oregon comes to Columbus. The offense probably isn’t going to look like it did in September for a while.
If Ohio State is going to keep its season on track until Sayin returns, it’ll be because of games like this one. Shutting down the run, forcing turnovers and making opposing offenses earn everything.
Indiana’s offense came in averaging 40 points. Ohio State’s front seven made sure it never found its footing.