Numbers That Mattered From Indiana's Loss at Ohio State

Indiana had little success running the ball against Ohio State on Saturday

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

The Indiana Hoosiers were up against a potential College Football Playoff team Saturday and held their own in a 38-17 loss to Ohio State. Taking a look back after 24 hours here are some numbers and statistics that mattered from the game.

99 Yards Rushing

As expected it was tough sledding for the Hoosiers without All-American Dan Feeney and fifth-year senior Dimitric Camiel (out for the season), however not cracking the 100-yards rushing mark was semi-unexpected. Outside of a game with Michigan the rushing offense should get tested like that again this season. The 2.5 yards per carry limited the Hoosiers offensive play calling, forcing Lagow into bad passing situations. Without a homerun threat at running back defenses are now stacking the box a little bit more and stuffing the run.

Johnston Averaged 45.8 Net Yards Per Punt

Cameron Johnston Put IU in tough spots all afternoon showing why he is an awesome punter. Every time Indiana forced the Buckeyes to punt from inside their own territory Johnston would unleash a bomb of a punt. Usually when the punter has four punts of 50+ yards there are returns to be had. That is not the case with Johnston, who put enough air under his kicks to nullify Mitchell Paige as a threat. On the day Johnston had three punts land inside the 20-yard line and forced four fair catches. Hello, Ray Guy Award.

Indiana Gifted Ohio State Short Fields on Three Touchdowns

The scoreboard at Ohio Stadium said that the Indiana defense gave up 38 points to Ohio State. That’s not bad considering that Ohio State was outscoring opponents 61-4 at home. It also should be taken into consideration that the defense was put in extremely poor position due to turnovers or a special teams gaff. Two of Ohio State’s first three touchdowns came from inside the IU 10-yard line. The first touchdown “drive” started at the IU nine-yard line after an iffy call ruling Lagow had fumbled the ball. The second coming from the six-yard line after a 91-yard kick-off return set Ohio State up. That’s 14 points that came from 15 yards of offense. Ohio State’s final touchdown came after the Hoosiers had to go for it on fourth-and-five from the 33 and turned it over on downs. A team like IU will never survive against a top tier team making with those kinds of circumstances. 

The Hoosiers Did a Great Job Of Making J.T. Barrett One-Dimensional

Barrett deserves a lot of praise for his play on Saturday, he ran the ball really well. However, credit the IU defense for making him and the Ohio State offense one-dimensional. Barrett threw for only 93 yards while completing just 42.8 percent of his passes. The Hoosier defensive backs played outstanding and the defensive line was in his face most of the afternoon. Ralph Green, Nate Hoff, and Patrick Dougherty, as well as the rest of the line played with high motors all game long. If that continues this defense will continue to trend upwards.

Hoosiers Need To Find a Balance on Offense

Indiana ran 68 offensive plays on Saturday, 40 of them were rushing plays. It looked as if the game plan was the same as the one we saw against Michigan State, try and establish the run and get the game into the fourth quarter. Well Indiana did not establish the run, yet they only threw the ball 28 times. The biggest concern is in the red zone where it looks like the coach’s trust in quarterback Richard Lagow is a little bit shaken. As Indiana becomes more one-dimensional inside the 10-yard line the easier it will be for opponents to stop them. The Hoosiers have big bodies at tight end in Danny Friend, Ian Thomas, and Austin Dorris. They can do so much with those players in terms of play-action fakes and run-pass options it’s hard to believe that this is the red zone offense we have seen so far.