COLUMBUS, Ohio — On one hand, Ohio State football has thoroughly dominated Indiana.
The Buckeyes' last loss to the Hoosiers was in 1988 (26-0-1 record since then), and have only fallen twice in the series since 1952 (57-2-2). Repeating for effect, that’s only two losses in the last 61 meetings, which covers 69 years.
However, Indiana has given OSU plenty of fits over the last nine meetings, leading in five of those games, including three times in the second half.
The Buckeyes never trailed last year and held a 35-7 advantage in the third quarter.
The Hoosiers didn’t give up, though, battling back to make the final score 42-35. Indiana’s defense threw everything at Justin Fields, sacking the Ohio State quarterback five times, and forcing him into bad throws, three of which were intercepted.
On offense, IU’s Michael Penix completed 27 of 51 passes for 491 yards and five touchdowns. Problems on pass defense that were fully exposed by Alabama in the College Football Playoff Championship Game, were certainly brought to light here.
Last year, was an amazing year for Indiana (6-2 record), which reached seventh in the Associated Press poll, the highest-ranking for the school since 1967.
IU finished ranked in the final poll for the first time since 1988 and opened 2021 in the preseason poll for the first time since 1969.
Unfortunately, any carryover from last year is gone, though, as the Hoosiers are 2-4 this year.
All four losses (Iowa, Cincinnati, Penn State and Michigan State) are to teams currently ranked in the top 10. Penix is injured and not expected to play this week, and Indiana’s offense hasn’t really gotten on track.
What will be interesting to watch Saturday will be what Tom Allen and the Indiana defense try to do to confuse C.J. Stroud.
Will it try and be aggressive like it was a year ago? The Hoosiers only have nine sacks for the entire year, which ranks 112th in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Or, will Indiana take a page from Tulsa’s book and drop extra defenders into coverage. Either way, how Stroud reads and reacts to the defense will be a development worth watching, not only for this game but for his development.
Ohio State will try to add to a 21-game winning streak in Big Ten conference games, with the last loss against Purdue in 2018. It’s the second-longest such streak in Big Ten history:
Team Wins Years
Ohio State 30 2012-2015
Ohio State 21 2018-current
Michigan 19 1900-02
Ohio State 17 1974-76
Ohio State 17 1967-69
Ohio State 17 1954-56
To see if the Buckeyes can run that streak to 22 (and 27 straight against the Hoosiers), join Spectrum News 1 for The Postgame Show, immediately following the game at Indiana.
Andy Baskin and former Ohio State running back Antonio Pittman will break down the performance, and bring you Ryan Day’s postgame news conference.