Nov. 24—A grade card on Ohio State’s 38-15 win over Indiana:
OFFENSE: B
The game started badly for Ohio State’s offense when it went three and out on its first possession and followed that by Quinshon Judkins being stopped for no gain on fourth down at Indiana’s 2-yard line the second time it had the ball.
After tying the game at 7-7 on its third possession, Will Howard’s pass was intercepted at the Hoosiers’ 11-yard line on its fourth possession when the football bounced off the hands of tight end Jelani Thurman.
But the Buckeyes eventually scored 31 unanswered points, led by Howard who completed 22 of 26 passes for 201 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score. Emeka Egbuka was OSU’s leading receiver with 7 catches for 80 yards and a touchdown. Thurman bounced back from the interception to get his first career touchdown catch.
The big question going into the game was how would losing starting center Seth McLaughlin because of a torn Achilles tendon affect OSU’s offense. The results were mixed.
Indiana came into the game leading the Big Ten in sacks but sacked Howard only once. But OSU’s 115 yard rushing was its second lowest total of the season after the 64 yards it gained on the ground against Nebraska.
DEFENSE: A-
Indiana drove 70 yards for a touchdown the first time it had the ball for a 7-0 lead but didn’t get close to scoring again until until the final two minutes of the game.
If Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles made adjustments after that quick first touchdown they must have been good ones. No adjustments to OSU’s pass rush were needed. The Buckeyes sacked Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke five times, led by linebacker Cody Simon’s 2.5 sacks, and harassed him into his worst game of the season (8 of 18 for 68 yards).
SPECIAL TEAMS: A+
OSU coach Ryan Day admitted there were a lot of discussions before moving safety Caleb Downs into an additional role as a punt returner because of the heightened risk of injury to a very valuable defensive player. But that move paid off in a big way against Indiana when Downs returned a punt 79 yards for a touchdown to take Ohio State’s lead from 14-7 to 21-7 early in the third quarter.
It was the first punt return for a touchdown by an Ohio State player since Jalin Marshall did it in 2014, also against Indiana.
Special teams also contributed to another touchdown, which gave OSU a 14-7 lead just before halftime, when Indiana’s James Evans bobbled a punt snap, Caden Curry tackled him at the 7-yard line and three plays later TreVeyon Henderson scored a touchdown.
OVERALL: B+
Ohio State’s defense mostly shut down an offense which came into the game ranked No.2 nationally in scoring at 43.9 points a game. OSU’s defense looked like what many people thought it would be before the Oregon game created some doubts.
Cornerback Davison Igbinosun, who was called for three pass interference penalties in Saturday’s game, has to find a way to reduce the number of penalties without losing his aggressiveness.
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