Game Wrap and Reaction: Ohio State 49 Indiana 26

Indiana fought well but fell at Ohio State Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Opponent: Ohio State Buckeyes

Location: Saturday October 6th, 2018 Columbus, OH

Why They Played: The Hoosiers and Buckeyes play annually as Big Ten East foes

What The Game Meant: Indiana had a chance to make some noise on national TV before heading home to face Iowa while the Buckeyes were trying to avoid a letdown after a win at Penn State.

Top Offensive Performers:

Peyton Ramsey, QB, Indiana- Ramsey played well and finally started to throw the ball deep and use the skill sets of his outstanding receiving corps. He finished 26-of-49 for 322 yards and three touchdowns passing. He added 22 non-sack rushing yards.

Wide Receivers, Indiana- The IU receivers had their break out game of 2018. While the unit has put together a very solid season so far, this was the first time that it has been utilized to almost full potential. Nine different Hoosiers caught passes led by J-Shun Harris (8 rec 104 yards) and Nick Westbrook (5-109-1TD). IU had a clear advantage against the Ohio State secondary and the Hoosiers took advantage.

Dwayne Haskins, QB, Ohio State- Haskins is the real deal and should be in the Heisman conversation. The strong-armed quarterback tied an Ohio State record for passing yards with 455 and passing touchdowns with six. He also completed 33-of-44 passes. He did throw two interceptions when IU got pressure, but Haskins showed why he was talked about so highly.

Parris Campbell, WR, Ohio State- For the second year in a row the IU defense had trouble defending the speedy Buckeye receiver. Campbell made all the one-on-one plays he needed to and torched the IU defense for nine receptions, 142 yards and two touchdowns.

Top Defensive Performers

Cam Jones, Husky, Indiana- The freshman Swiss Army knife can do it all. He had a hand in two of Indiana’s three takeaways as he recovered an early fumble and pressured Dwayne Haskins into an interception.

Nile Sykes and Allen Stallings, DE, Indiana- It’s been awhile since Sykes has been listed here. He had four total tackles and a sack. Bookending with Allen Stallings, the Hoosiers got a decent pass rush. Stallings had five tackles and his pressure on Haskins led to Indiana’s second interception.

Pete Werner, LB, Ohio State- Linebacker has been a weak spot for the Buckeyes, but on Saturday Pete Werner made sure that unit wouldn’t be the weak link. He had four tackles including a sack and added three pass break ups covering the middle of the field.

Tuf Borlan, LB, Ohio State- Borland made an impact on the game and changed the tenure of it right before half time forcing a fumble that set the Buckeyes up for their fourth touchdown. In total he had three tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack to go along with the forced fumble.

Special Teams Performance

The good news for the Hoosiers is that their punt and kick return coverages didn’t bust, which has been an issue in games against top teams, and Haydon Whitehead and Jared Smolar were excellent. The longest return the Buckeyes had on a kickoff was 29 yards. Whitehead punted four times for a net average of 38.5 yards. Half of his punts were fair caught and one was downed at the four-yard line while Raheem Layne made an outstanding tackle on another. It was possibly Whitehead’s best performance of the year.

The Hoosiers also took eight touchbacks and took the free yards instead of testing OSU’s coffin corner kicks.

Logan Justus made one-of-two field goals, but his miss from 51 yards was way off. Allen has found his range which is about 45 yards. He hit both of his extra points.

​Key Stat(s)

609

The Hoosiers defense put up 609 yards (455 passing, 154 rushing) of offense. That number has to bug Tom Allen as many of those yards came of coverage busts. Ohio State is an elite team, but 609 yards of offense is a huge number.

Turning Point

There were two turning points in this game. First, with Ohio State ahead 21-17, Indiana’s Reese Taylor fumbled on the first play IU had from scrimmage and the Buckeyes then pushed the lead to 28-17. The second one came in the third quarter when J-Shun Harris had a pass go through his hands in Ohio State territory with IU down by nine. A catch there would have led to a big play and maybe even a touchdown.

I Knew it Was Over When…

I knew IU’s chances at the win were dashed when Haskins hit Terry McLaurin for a 17-yard touchdown with 12:04 left in the game. That score pushed the Buckeye lead to 42-26.

Players of the Game

Wide Receivers, Indiana- Give Peyton Ramsey credit, he used his weapons and threw down field. However, it was the wide receiving corps for Indiana that stole the show making great catch after great catch and proving that all they need is a chance to make a play.

Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State- I thought Haskins was pretty good coming into the game. I left Ohio State thinking this kid is great. He put up big numbers and has the arm to score from anywhere on the field.

What I took away from the game

Despite what other outlets have said, I look at more than the box score online or on the book they give media after the games. Funny how this one particular site reached out to me a couple years ago to RUN their football side of things. Needless to say, I happily turned them down. Anyhow down to the game.

The Hoosiers showed how far they’ve come and how far they still need to go to become a “special program”. Tom Allen is building something and this team never backed down. The talent gap was clear, but the Hoosiers weren’t embarrassed nor were they blown off the field. This team fought until the end and a great Ohio State team beat them 49-26. Losing stinks and is in no way “acceptable”, but the Hoosiers showed enough to where fans can be encouraged.

Offensively, IU finally opened things up down field. In spite of a couple over throws, that in the past has deterred Peyton Ramsey and Debord going back to the well, Ramsey rebounded to make several good throws down field to his big-play receivers. He ultimately threw for 322 yards and three scores. He played an excellent first half.

In the second half, Ramsey seemed to press and force things a little more. He seemed to tweak an ankle in the third quarter and it affected his ability to step into throws and maybe his ability or want to run. There were several plays where Ramsey could have gotten yards if he looked to run. I have been a big critic of Peyton Ramsey this year, but Saturday he played very well and if he can stay healthy and the offense stays aggressive, they’ll be just fine.

The Indiana receivers were great, although there are some plays and drops they want back. Nick Westbrook reemerged with several highlight catches and J-Shun Harris continued to fill in for the injured Luke Timian and Whop Philyor. Hopefully, IU can get those two back for Iowa this week. Ty Fryfogle continued his solid season with three more catches for 26 yards and Donavan Hale found his way back to the end zone as he left an OSU defender holding his jock.

The running game got off to a hot start when Stevie Scott took his first carry 45 yards, but finished the game with just 84 yards on 21 carries. Indiana became one-dimensional and, in an effort, to control the tempo and maybe chew up some clock, not having a rushing attack to complement the passing game hurts. The offensive line played fairly well in the first half, but was under duress for most of the second half as they surrendered three sacks and six tackles for loss over four quarters. The line took a hit when Coy Cronk get dinged up making a two-point saving tackle down field. There was no update on his status after the game and we’ll have more on him on Monday.

Defensively, IU ran into a great quarterback and really good talent at the skill positions. IU did force three takeaways, but they surrendered 609 total yards, a number that has to irk the defensive staff as they get ready for Iowa. Allen said postgame that the Hoosiers had their best defenders on OSU’s best players and just got beat. It was that simple. Indiana wants elite speed and Ohio State has it. It showed as IU was a step slow against some of Ohio State’s fastest players.

The Hoosiers have a big opportunity coming up next Saturday as they host the Iowa Hawkeyes for homecoming. A game that IU kind of has to win as they enter a rough stretch at 4-2 (1-2). A win gives them five and puts them in the driver’s seat for a bowl bid, a loss and IU could be staring 4-4 (1-4) in the face heading to Minnesota for a Friday night game. IU showed they can hang with the big boys, now can they show they can consistently put together good performances on both sides of the ball?