Inside the Numbers: Ohio State

Written by: Nate Comp (@NathanComp1)

Each game week, we will take a further look into the stats to preview Indiana’s upcoming matchup. The Hoosiers will have an uphill battle this week as they head to Columbus to take on the College Football Playoff’s 2nd ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Indiana opened as 41.5-point underdogs, their largest ever spread as an underdog according to oddshark.com. It’s David vs Goliath this week; let’s take a look at some of the stats that could come into play for David.

76.7

If Indiana is going to stand any chance at pulling off a miracle, it is going to need to take advantage of every opportunity it is given. Believe it or not, despite the disaster this season has turned into, Indiana still ranks in the top ten nationally of one statistic: opponent penalties. Indiana is fifth nationally in forcing its opponents to commit penalties for an average of 8.3 penalties per game and 76.7 penalty yards. If Ohio State wants to continue the trend of gifting the Hoosiers free yardage, it simply has to take advantage. Indiana’s blitzing nature on defense and pass-centric offensive approach can put a lot of pressure on an opponent; now, it has to take advantage.

29

I could have chosen any number of stats to describe CJ Stroud’s dominance, but I’ll stick with 29 and throw in a bunch more while I’m at it. If Indiana stands any chance, they must find a way to slow down a quarterback that no other defense has yet to have an answer for. There is a reason why Stroud continues to appear at the top of NFL Mock Drafts. Stroud has an absurd 29 to 4 touchdown to interception ratio (2nd most TDs nationally), he has 21 pass plays of 30+ yards (3rd nationally), and he has a QB rating of 185.85 (1st nationally). Stroud has done this all without what was expected to be his top target, Jaxson Smith-Njigba, who has been out much of the season with an injury and has only been able to register 5 catches on the season. In a string of special quarterbacks like Ohio State has had, Stroud stands out among the bunch.

10

Indiana must hope to muck up Ohio State’s game script, and a big way they could make that happen is in forcing some takeaways. Indiana ranks 16th nationally at the moment in fumbles forced, having forced 10 fumbles over their nine games. Tom Allen has talked all season about the path back to the Hoosiers’ surge from a couple years ago directly relating to the number of forced takeaways. Allen hangs his hat on defense and needs his experienced playmakers to throw a wrench in Ohio State’s offensive plans by getting back to their takeaway ways of 2020.