What Worked and What Didn't in Indiana's 42-26 loss at Ohio State

Written By Nathan Comp

In what will likely be Indiana’s toughest test of the season, the Hoosiers fell on the road to the 3rd ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, 49-26. Indiana kept it close enough to have the Buckeye fans in Ohio Stadium nervous before ultimately running out of gas in the tank in the fourth quarter. We’ll take a look at what worked and what did not as the Hoosiers look forward to Iowa’s homecoming game next weekend.

What Worked? 

Vertical Passing

After weeks of Indiana fans requesting a more aggressive downfield passing game, Peyton Ramsey and Nick Westbrook delivered. Westbrook had Ohio State cornerback Kendall Sheffield’s number throughout the game, finishing the contest with five receptions and 109 yards, including a 38-yard falling catch down the sideline and a 19-yard touchdown. Ramsey also found tight end Peyton Hendershot for a 32-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

Coming into the game knowing that the Ohio State defense was susceptible to explosive plays, it was refreshing watching the Indiana offense take its shots downfield and allowing its big-bodied receivers to make plays or draw penalties. “I told Peyton toward the end of the game, this shows you how scary we can be. How dangerous. Going forward, we’re expecting a lot of ourselves as receivers and in the passing game,” said Nick Westbrook post-game.

Takeaways

Indiana knew that to hang in the game long-term, its defense would have to be able to force takeaways and be on the positive side of the turnover margin battle. From the opening drive when Brandon Wilson forced a fumble, they accomplished this feat. The defense finished the day with three total takeaways. In Tom Allen’s 31st game as an Indiana coach, this was the ninth time the Hoosier defense was able to force three takeaways in a game. Unfortunately, this was not enough, as the Ohio State defense forced a couple takeaways of its own and overpowered the Hoosiers in the fourth quarter.

What Didn’t? 

Pressuring Haskins

Ohio State fans believe Dwayne Haskins is the best quarterback they’ve had in years. Yesterday, he was able to show why. Haskins threw for 455 yards and a school record-tying 6 touchdowns. The Indiana defense knew that it would have to get pressure in the face of Haskins to make him uncomfortable and force him outside of the pocket where his accuracy drops dramatically. Unfortunately, the defense was rarely able to accomplish this. Haskins felt comfortable the majority of the day, shown by his 75% completion percentage. When the Hoosier front seven was able to put pressure on him, they were able to force the only blemishes on Haskins’ stat line, two interceptions, both off of passes that were thrown as he was being hit. “When we [pressured him], it was very effective. And when we didn’t, you could tell. He had time to look downfield and off our defensive backs,” said Raekwon Jones.

The Run Game

Outside of an opening drive 45-yard scamper from Stevie Scott, the Indiana rushing attack was virtually non-existent. The Hoosiers finished with just 84 yards rushing and forced Peyton Ramsey to throw for a career-high 49 attempts. This likely was a strategy coming into the game, as even without Nick Bosa the OSU defensive line is daunting and they have shown to be weaker in the secondary, however it would have been nice for the offense to have a more balanced attack. This showed to be the most troublesome when Indiana was forced to throw on third and short situations. Finding a rushing game has been an issue so far throughout the conference slate and must improve next week against Iowa.