GameDay Primer: Indiana Hoosiers vs. Ohio State Buckeyes
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Week One Primer – Ohio State Buckeyes
Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)
What: Indiana Hoosiers (0-0) vs. #2 Ohio State Buckeyes (0-0)
When: Thursday, August 31 at 8:00 pm
Where: Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, IN
How to Watch
The game can be viewed on each ESPN channel and on the WatchESPN app. ESPN is giving this game the “Mega Cast” treatment so each ESPN channel is carrying a different broadcast of the game. The traditional game cast can be found on ESPN with Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler on the call.
Surrounding Events
IU has a number of events planned for the opening night of the season. ESPN’s College GameDay will be broadcasting live from Memorial Stadium (for the first time in the 25-year history of the show). The show will begin at 6:00 with the gates opening at 5:30 for those with tickets. The set will be located on the field in the southeast corner. College Football Live and College Football Countdown will air at 4:00 and 5:00 respectively, both live from Bloomington. Famed anthem singer and IU Music School graduate Jim Cornelison will sing the National Anthem and the Hoosiers will be presenting former IU head coach Lee Corso with the Bill Orwig Award between the first and second quarters.
What’s at Stake
The stakes are obvious…Indiana opens the season at home against the second-ranked team in the country and the attention of college football fans will be squarely focused on Bloomington. The Hoosiers have never opened the season against a ranked opponent at home and this presents a massive opportunity to show how far the program has come in recent years. Tom Allen is making his Bloomington debut as the head coach of the Hoosiers while Urban Meyer enters the contest at an astounding 61-6 during his OSU tenure.
A Few Things to Look For
Slow Starters? – Many outlets have run stories proclaiming some variation of the line: “Ohio State has been known to start seasons a little slowly under Urban Meyer”. I looked up their results in the past five years and found the truth to be significantly less appealing than Hoosier fans would hope for. Last season, Ohio State pasted Bowling Green 77-10 and then drilled a good Tulsa team 48-3 to kick off 2016. In 2015, they won at Virginia Tech by 18 and then beat Hawaii 38-0. 2014 saw them win at Navy before getting stunned by Virginia Tech at home. They had convincing wins to begin the 2013 and 2012 seasons against over-matched opponents. I think the Hoosiers are fortunate to get a young (in spots) Ohio State team in the first game of the season as opposed to in October or November but the narrative that the Buckeyes struggle out of the gate under Meyer is a myth. The Hoosiers will need to avoid getting overwhelmed by the moment and dodge having a major mistake that could derail their chances early.
Holding their Own – 2016’s matchup between IU and Ohio State saw the Hoosiers completely control JT Barrett and the Buckeyes passing game. However, OSU eventually took IU apart on the ground as Barrett ran for nearly 150 yards and the Buckeyes outgained IU by almost 200 rushing yards. We’ve written and talked about how good Ohio State’s defensive line is but the Hoosiers have to find ways to generate some success on the ground while containing Barrett, Mike Weber and freshman JK Dobbins on the other side of the ball. How will IU divvy up the workload for their running backs? How will weapons like Mike Majette and Devonte Williams be used? Will we see much of Morgan Ellison? So many questions that have been pondered throughout the offseason will get the beginning of their answers on Thursday night.
Special Teams Overhaul – Indiana has been thoroughly outplayed in the special teams department in games against superior competition in recent years. The easiest explanation for why that occurred is that it just wasn’t a point of emphasis for former IU coach Kevin Wilson. Tom Allen believes in the importance of special teams and it will no longer be something that is an afterthought in the IU program. The Hoosiers will debut a new punter and we’ll see how their work and focus on this area of the game impacts the contest on Thursday night. Ohio State is typically tremendous on special teams but the Hoosiers will need to play them even there to have a strong chance of the massive upset.
Hoosier Huddle will have extensive pre and post-game coverage of this and every other game of the 2017 season!
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