Recap: Indiana vs Ohio State

imgres

Here I am fuming after this poor showing, but after putting all the anger and bad thoughts, Our Buckeyes earned a tough, hard-fought victory over an Indiana team that just wouldn’t die.  I understand that there are games that are considered to be “trap” games and this game?  WAS THE TRAP…  At home too…  But that is neither here, nor there.  Let’s be real, there were very few highlights, so I will mention the very few that had occurred.

jtb-2

J.T. Barrett was not his usual self.  He struggled mightily and that is rare for the anointed leader for Ohio State.  He finished 9 for 21 for 93 measly yards through the air with a single touchdown strike to Dontre Wilson who shed a tackle en route to a 37-yard sprint to the end zone.  J.T. Barrett had 26 carries for 137 yards and a touchdown.  The touchdown came on a Quarterback run for 5-yards.  The other touchdowns scored were courtesy of Mike Weber and Curtis Samuel.  Both were scored deep within the red zone, Weber chipped in two scores from 9-yards and 1-yard out and Samuel chipped in his lone touchdown from 5-yards out.  This game was not the ideal showing prior to the two-game road trip to Wisconsin and then Penn State.  Wisconsin will have two weeks to prepare and I guarantee you that they watched this game for some weaknesses and I for one think that Indiana exposed the Buckeyes.  Not too much, but enough to give the Buckeyes fits.  They will most likely look at what Indiana did and use it with their personnel to try to secure a win at home.  I don’t know if the wind was that bad or J.T. Barrett had a bad day, but things better pick up because the latter half of the season is upon us and that is when the tougher matchups come up.  The offensive line needs to be more disciplined and they need to cut down on the dumb penalties because it prevents the team from reaching their potential.  That and the Wide Receivers and the Tight Ends need to make more of an impact.  You can’t mess this up because once again, the harder part of the schedule is upon us.

z-osu-dThe Buckeyes Defense was pretty good when they sorely needed a key stop.  Although the Buckeye Offense put up numbers well below their season average, 383 total yards rushing and passing, they did their best and kept Indiana below their season averages, 281 combined.  The offense gave up two turnovers, but the defense took it away twice and one was a pick-six, but it was negated due to a chop block during the return.  This was a game where the defense looked like they were just going through the motions, expecting to show up and win, but for some reason, Indiana came out swinging for the fences and every time they hit the Buckeyes, the Buckeyes responded accordingly.  This game baffles me.  Indiana shouldn’t be in this, but like Jeremiah stated, Indiana IS the trap game, every year.  They always play Ohio State close and although they eventually lost by 21 points, the game was much closer than the final score looked to be.  There will be a lot of talk between the coaches and both units and I want them to be angry for the rest of the year.  Like angry after the Virginia Tech and Michigan State losses angry and I think that they will get lit up by Urban Meyer because he looked furious. Let’s hope the Silver Bullets reload because again, it is only going to get harder as the season progresses on. It always seems like, during a couple of games, our offensive play callers seem to forget our strengths, our bread, and butter.  This was close to last years Michigan State. Quarterback runs galore.  Cute, ineffective trickeration, mass movement, you name it.  Tim Beck and Ed Warriner tried it all.  Hope they fix it prior to our date against TTUN.  I am still a tad salty, but I still love my Buckeyes.  Now, on to Wisconsin.  O-H!!!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: