Indiana 14 - Ohio State 42: I've Got Your Style Points

Well that went about as well as most of us had hoped on Saturday. In the cold and eventually the snow, the Hoosiers went into Columbus and showed little to no fight the entire game. Sure, Indiana has played probably the two best teams in the conference over the last team weeks, but the offense has looked incredibly pedestrian. I'm actually starting to doubt whether the offense was nearly as good as we all thought or if it was just mostly running up against less than average defenses.

Indiana came out and struggled mightily to get anything going on offense. Of course, Ohio State got their first touchdown 2 minutes into the game after receiving the kickoff. 5 plays, 71 rushing yards and one touchdown. None of us were shocked. But the offense again failed to respond multiple times. Punt, punt, missed field goal (due to a forced turnover, not because they moved the ball), punt, punt. That was the first 5 drives of the game for a total of 64 yards. Obviously, 13 yards per drive wasn't going to cut it.

At that point, Indiana was already down 21 points when they strung together their first successful drive of the day. Roberson started the series with two rushes for a total of 18 yards and then Sudfeld came in mid drive and took the Hoosiers another 50 yards before the drive stalled out on the Ohio State 26. Instead of kicking a field goal on 4th and 6, Kevin Wilson desperately tried to find any sort of spark for a comeback. Instead, he found a Nate Sudfeld 5 yard sack to turn the ball over. Any hope of putting up a fight was officially over.

Next Ohio State drive, 13 yard rush, 17 yard rush, 34 yard pass, 5 yard touchdown rush. 28-0. The game all but decided, Ohio State put up two more touchdowns in the third and early fourth quarter before calling off the dogs. At that point Indiana had already turned the ball over on downs 3 separate times and missed two separate field goals. Leaving 15 points on the field from botched kicking game or refusing to use it would have been outrageous if this were any other game. Instead, I'm completely OK with it. Wilson knows we stand no chance kicking field goals, might as well go for it on every fourth down at this point.

Indiana did generate two touchdowns after Ohio State quit playing football, which of course is kind of a big deal when we let computers decide our national championships. So there's that. Moral victories by robbing Ohio State of a couple style points and avoiding the shutout. That's really all any of us were expecting. The defense is still awful and the offense has looked mediocre, but hey at least we get to play Purdue now. Indiana opens as 21 point favorites as the dreadful Boilers come to town to wrap up the season. I expect Wilson and company to take out all their seasonal frustrations on little brother.