Ohio State should be feeling very good this week as they face Indiana, let's just hope they don't feel too good. It would be very easy for a young team like the Buckeyes to play overconfident after big wins over Illinois and Wisconsin. However, the players are young and they are human. I expect they will come out a bit flat against the 1-8 Indiana Hoosiers. The team from Bloomington has not defeated OSU since 1988 and it would take an extraordinary effort to stop that streak in 2011.
What will it take to win? Keys to the Game: 1) No punts today 2) Two rushers over 100 yards 3) Play consistent and continue to improve play from the last two games.
One problem I have seen with Ohio State this year is they can play down to the level of their competition. Anyone and everyone can beat Akron, but we struggled to score on Toledo. This week, Northern Illinois proved you can score more than a point a minute on the Rockets if you have an offense. The Miami Hurricanes have shown they are not back yet under their new coach and Ohio State did not even come close to challenging them. I think the Colorado Rockies could beat the Buffalos so that game doesn't prove anything. But then when October rolled around, the Buckeyes raised their game as they played four ranked teams. And they could have easily been 4-0, only losing to the Spartans by 3 and being ahead of Nebraska before Miller went down with an injury. I am just saying we need to see OSU play like they played last week.
Drew Basil kicks the ball out of bounds to start the game, not a good start at all. This is two kicks in a row for him as he pushed the final kick against Wisconsin out of bounds last week as well. Note to coaching staff ..... fix this! I began my support for the Buckeyes in the early 70's as a kid. Back then, I can remember we would get kickers that would put the ball out of the endzone. There are 56,000 students on campus, can we find one person that can kick the ball into the endzone on a kick-off?
Starting at the 40 yard line proves just want Indiana needed. After a few Stephen Houston runs, complimented with a couple Tre Roberson pass completions and they quickly work the ball to the Buckeye 18 yard line. The Hoosiers have no problem completing the 35 yard field goal and take the early 3-0 lead.
The Buckeyes will need to answer the Hoosiers but they don't. The drive started fine with a five yard run from Boom Herron, which increased another 15 yards as Indiana was called for a face mask penalty. But as Braxton Miller went back for a pass, the rush (where are you offensive line?) forces him out of the pocket and the ball out of his hand. Indiana's Jeff Thomas recovered the fumble and the Hoosiers set up shop on the Buckeye 46. Two minutes and six plays later, Stephen Houston rushes five yards to increase the lead to 10-0. Not the start any of the 105,195 fans in the Shoe wanted.
What happened next was exactly what the Buckeye fans. On the next OSU possession, Braxton Miller took a draw play to the house 81 yards to quickly cut the lead to 10-7. This was the longest TD run by an OSU quarterback. All of the sudden, it looked like might take the direction the experts were anticipating. After the defense finally stopped Indiana on a 3-and-out, a short punt allowed the scarlet & gray to begin their offense near mid field.
Unfortunately, the Buckeyes went backwards on the first two plays. Then Miller finds Chris Fields over the middle for 26 yards for the first OSU pass completion of the day. Two plays later, Miller dumps the ball over the line to Zach Boren who rambles for 25 more yards an another first down. Hoping this is the start of a great passing day for Miller, unfortunately there were only 3 more completions the rest of the day.
End of 1st Quarter: Indiana 10 Ohio State 7
Looking at the 1st quarter stats, it shows OSU with only 85 yards rushing. This means that Indiana only gave up 4 yards rushing beyond Braxton Miller's TD run, so far the Hoosiers are getting it done on defense. Can the Buckeyes Defense do the same?
Unfortunately, the OSU offense stalls and the field goal unit is summoned. Drew Basil gets the 37 yard field goal to tie the game at 10-10. Question to fans, how are you able to put the ball through the uprights so effortlessly, yet you can't keep it on the field on a kick-off? Will get back to you on that.
On Indiana's next series, they managed one first down but then were forced into Adam Pines second punt. In the first play for the Buckeyes, Dan Herron ripped off a 48 yard run and it looked like we were in position to break the game open. But the Hoosier defense once again holds, forcing a field goal. Basil gets his second field goal of the game, this time 45-yarder. After missing his first couple kicks of the year, he now has 12 straight, nice job. However, next time, I want to see a touchdown. At least Basil got a touchback on the following kick-off.
Down for the first time in the game, Indiana continues to find a way to move the ball on the Buckeye D. First on a 3rd and 7 and then on a 3rd and 4, the Hoosiers pass their way to first downs. You would not know their top receivers are not playing today. Then on 1st down from their own 46, Tre Roberson dials up Kofi Hughes for 43 yards to the Ohio State 11. The defense does finally stop the Hoosiers inside the 10 yard line, and Indiana settles for a 25 yard field goal to tie the score at 13-13.
Devin Smith gets a nice return out of the endzone but the OSU offense can not do anything with it. An early snap from senior Mike Brewster seems to catch Miller off guard which pretty much summed up this drive. So facing 4th down, Ben Buchanan is brought on for the first time in the game and he gets of a nice 41 yard kick to start the Hoosiers at their own 20. With only 2:35 remaining in the half, you might see the Cream and Crimson just sit on the ball and enjoy the tie at half. But coach Wilson starts a series of time-outs that certainly confused me. With 1:04 he calls a time out, brings the team to the field and calls a second time out. Then after running one more play for a first down, he winds the clock down to one second, calls his final time out, and then just goes into 'knee the ball down' formation to run off the final second.
HALFTIME: Ohio State 13 Indiana 13
Looking at things during halftime a couple of things stand out. First Ohio State has gained 180 yds on 4 of its plays and 7 yards on its other 19 plays. That shows the offensive line is NOT doing their job, adjustments will need to be made or this game could come down to the wire. Second, John Simon has 8 tackles so he and the defensive have picked up where they left off against Wisconsin. But the defense is going to have to make some plays in the second half, including getting a turnover or two. As for the goals I set out before the game, OSU is failing. Buchanan has only had one punt which is fine, but the offense is not playing well and aside from Miller's long run, we may not get one rusher to 100 yards. And if we don't, we will not win this. I think it is very important to establish the run in he second half.
Ohio State starts with the ball in the second half, they should just run the ball down the throats of Indiana and take over. But that is not the case. After a few nice runs, Miller tries to force a couple of passes without success. The final pass being an interception. Fortunately Indiana's Alexander Webb went out at the 2-yard line on the take-away, and the defense manages their second 3-and-out.
Another short punt by Adam Pines gives OSU the ball near mid field again. A couple long runs later with Herron getting the final 15 yards and the Buckeyes have their second TD of the game. It almost appears that Indiana is stacking the line, but if we can run past the initial line of scrimmage, the OSU finds themselves in open field for a long run. All of the sudden, it appears we will get our two 100 yard rushes I was looking for as one of the game goals.
I think if the defense could have managed another 3-and-out, we could have perhaps scored again and began to put the game away. That was not the case though. Tre Roberson and the Hoosiers just marched right down the field. A 34 yard TD pass to Kofi Hughes and the game was tied at 20 once again. In spite of having a freshman quarterback with inexperienced receivers, Indiana is moving the ball against one of the best defenses in the country.
Fortunately, Ohio State kept their running game going and moved the ball down the field 80 yards to break the tie. The drive keys included a 15-yard roughing the passer call. On that play there was a pass attempt to Evan Spencer, it was certainly nice to seem him on the field again. Also, Herron had a big run in the red zone dragging Webb inside the ten yard line. Miller got the final yards with his second TD run of the afternoon. But it was a big block by Herron that spring him, not the offensive line.
Also in the drive, JB Shugarts went down. Of course the BTN coverage gives us no information, but Lori Schmitdt tweets "Per 97.1 The Fan's Marty Bannister: OSU OL JB Shugarts has a right knee sprain. His return is questionable."
End of 3rd quarter: OSU 27 - Indiana 20
Indiana starts the 4th with the ball and the are going through the OSU defense like 'buttah'. This was not the same defense that held Wisconsin to under 100 yards last week. But with 3rd and 9 from the 18 OSU gets a big stop. And tacking on an extra five yards on a false start, the field goal attempt became 40 yards and it drifts just left for the miss. Bullet dodged as Indiana takes 6 minutes off the clock and comes up with zero points.
The Buckeyes start their next drive and on third and long both Herron and Miller are injured as his pass falls incomplete. The first thing that goes through my mind is we don't want another drop off like we saw against Nebraska. 5:49 on the clock and Indiana has the ball. Defense needs a stop or a takeaway. On a third and 10 plan, Roberson throws it between 4 Buckeyes for a first down. Follows with another first down run. However, the drive quickly stops as Travis Howard gets his second interception of the year and returns it to the Buckeye 42.
Carlos Hyde takes the first play for four yards but takes the next one for 47 yards. A few plays later Hyde gets the honor of the next TD and puts the game out of reach. Wonder what he will tweet after this game. OSU 34 Indiana 20
Basil gets of a flat kick but decent coverage, and OSU moves the Hoosiers backwards on four plays. Instead of trying to score from the Indiana 6, they take a knee to end the game. It is 3:05 Eastern and the game is over, even with all the injuries, that was fast.
Final Score: OSU 34 - Indiana 20
With the win, OSU improves their record to 68-12-1 all-time against Indiana. Next week the Buckeyes travel too West Lafayette to take on the Purdue Boilermakers. The last time OSU traveled to face the Boilers, they were upset 26-18. Indiana is idle next week and goes to Michigan State on the 19th.
EXTRA POINTS -This game is the first time since 1988 where the game featured two true freshman starting quarterbacks (Wisconsin vs. Purdue) .... 'Boom' Herron is 13th on Ohio State’s all-time rushing list with his 2,468 career yards .... Drew Basil has now hit 12 consecutive field goals .... John Simon, a quarterfinalist for the Lott IMPACT Trophy, now has five sacks for minus-36 yards, totals that are included into his team-leading 9.5 TFLs for minus-42 yards. Simon is fourth in the Big Ten in sacks .... Bowl Watch: Now that the Buckeyes are bowl eligible (NCAA ruling pending), the Big Ten has eight bowl eligible teams. The Buckeyes are tied for sixth place in the conference in terms of their overall record. The sixth place team would be in line to go to the TicketCity Bowl, which is in Dallas on January 2nd.
Ohio State 34 Indiana 20
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Ohio Stadium
Columbus, OH
Attendance 105,195
November 5, 2011
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By Gregg Watson
Buckeye50.com
