Hoosier Offense Sinks to New Low in "Ugly" Performance Against Ohio State

Written by Matt Smith

Indiana played another top 10 opponent in their long-time Big Ten rival Ohio State, the number five team in the country. Ohio State dominated the Hoosiers in their 54-7 win in Bloomington.

“It was ugly. That’s the best way to describe it. It was painful, That second quarter window. It just was not good,” head coach Tom Allen said.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Hoosiers started off strong with a long touchdown drive led by Jack Tuttle. Tuttle threw a seven yard touchdown pass to Peyton Hendershot on third down. However, Tuttle went down after that play with a head injury which led to true freshman Donovan McCulley receiving the majority of the snaps.

Tuttle’s X-Rays came back negative, but will receive more evaluation in the coming weeks on some ligament damage.

Following the first drive, Indiana could not get any offense going. The rush game was non-existent with only 48 yards rushing. Trenten Howland was the leading rusher with only 18 yards rushing on five attempts. Stephen Carr added 13 rushing yards on 10 attempts.

Peyton Hendershot had 35 yards receiving on five catches with a touchdown. Ty Fryfogle also had a 30 yard reception.

McCulley completed only one pass for 30 yards. Grant Gremel, a walk-on, also received playing time at quarterback going 3 for 4 throwing the ball for only 9 yards.

“We didn’t want to put him back there and ask him to make some complex reads. You have a plan going in to have him focus on those small things. Then when Jack goes out so early, it really puts us in a position that we didn’t want to be in,” Allen said.

Indiana’s offense was abysmal again against a top 10 team. They will need another wake up call if they want to play for a bowl game in a tough big ten conference.