by The No. 2 Ohio State football team took care of business on Saturday, defeating No. 5 Indiana 38-15 at home to end the Hoosier’s hopes of an undefeated campaign. With the result, both teams are 10-1 on the year and the Buckeyes are in a prime position to earn a spot in the Big-10 Championship game with a win over Michigan next week.
Although the final score was lopsided, Ohio State got off to another of their patented slow starts. After the Buckeyes went three-and-out on their first drive, a couple of costly pass interference penalties on cornerback Davison Igbinosun allowed Indiana to drive down the field and take an early 7-0 lead.
However, that’s about where the highlights ended for the Hoosiers. On Ohio State’s next drive, quarterback Will Howard marched his team down the field and tied the game up on an 11-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Emeka Egbuka. Later in the second quarter, Indiana made a costly mistake, muffing a punt and handing the ball to the Buckeyes within the 10-yard line. Three plays later, running back TreVeyon Henderson capitalized on the drive with a touchdown run to put Ohio State up 14-7 going into the half.
The biggest play of the game came shortly after the start of the third quarter as Indiana was forced to punt, and after letting the ball bounce a couple times, superstar safety and punt returner Caleb Downs picked it up, made a nasty spin move, and took it 79-yards to the house, extending the Buckeye lead. Then, after forcing yet another punt for Indiana, Howard was able to orchestrate a strong drive that concluded with a one-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jelani Thurman.
In the fourth quarter down 31-7, Indiana tried to put together a comeback and were able to get a touchdown as well as a two-point conversion to cut the lead to 16. However, Henderson had something to say about that, as he busted out a 39-yard run to take the Buckeyes all the way down to Indiana’s 1-yard line. A couple plays later, Howard took into the end zone himself to put the game out of reach and secure an Ohio State win.
Overall, Howard was strong on the day, throwing for 201 yards and garnering three total touchdowns. He did throw an interception, but it can hardly be considered his fault as it was bobbled by Thurman. The tandem of Henderson and Quinshon Judkins looked good today in the backfield, although Henderson had the better showing, going for 68 yards and a touchdown. That’s 32 more yards than Judkins on five less carries, too.
Howard’s favorite target in the receiving room all day was Egbuka, as the veteran racked up seven catches for 80 yards and a touchdown. Howard also looked to Carnell Tate frequently in the early portions of the contest. Freshman standout receiver Jeremiah Smith was rather quiet today, at least for his standards, as he only had three catches and 46 total yards. The offensive line came in with lots of question marks after the season-ending injury blow to Seth McLaughlin earlier in the week, but looked alright. The unit struggled to give Howard time to throw early on, but figured things out as the game progressed.
Defensively, the Buckeyes put up a very strong showing. Things looked rather dicey early on, but like the offensive line, they were able to figure it out. Linebacker Cody Simon had an absolutely monstrous day, going for 2.5 sacks as well as a forced fumble and wreaked havoc all over the field. The linebacker pairing of Simon and Sonny Styles has quietly grown into a major strength for the team. The edge rushers came to play too, as Jack Sawyer picked up 1.5 sacks and J.T. Tuimoloau had one.
It’s only fitting, though, that we take a moment to recognize the play of Downs. The secondary’s been up and down all year, especially the play of the cornerbacks (Denzel Burke and Igbinosun), but Downs has been a model of consistency. He’s plugged the holes that needed to be plugged, made the big-time tackles, and now he’s taking back punts for touchdowns. Come on, I know I’ve already made Heisman shoutouts multiple times this year for Howard and Smith, but Downs deserves one as well. He might not win this season, but don’t be at all shocked if we see him in New York about a year from now.
With Indiana receiving so much hype, let’s not forget arguably the biggest game of the season next week. Ohio State has lost three straight years to Michigan, and next week there will be no shortage of emotions as the Wolverines try to spoil the Buckeyes season.
