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College Football

Indiana has come devastatingly close to a marquee win, so how can it score one against Ohio State?

Ryan O'Gara

By Ryan O'Gara

Published:

Indiana football loves to tease its fan base in big games. If it’s after basketball season starts in November, it slides under the radar a little more, like when the Hoosiers led Michigan at halftime last season only to lose by 11.

But early in the season, with the fan base optimistic and not yet focused on hoops, IU has a bad habit of being a major letdown. Like last season when the Hoosiers led at Ohio State midway through the second quarter and put a scare into the No. 8 Buckeyes. Or two years ago when IU led No. 2 Ohio State at halftime in the season opener.

Well, Ohio State comes to Bloomington again this week and per usual, the Buckeyes are national title contenders and the Hoosiers look just plucky enough to make this interesting. Can the Hoosiers seal the deal, though?

Here are three things they need to do:

1. Contain Justin Fields

The Ohio State quarterback has been as advertised in his first two starts since transferring from Georgia. He is a true dual-threat quarterback, though he is perfectly happy to sit in the pocket and show off that rocket arm. It’s been noteworthy that he doesn’t just flee the tackle box and try to take off – even though at times it has appeared that he could have. Fields is going to hang back and try to move the ball with his arm. He has completed 76 percent of his passes, with six passing touchdowns and no interceptions.

Fields has game-breaking ability with his legs, and this is where Indiana has to contain him the best. He is good enough to just beat a defense with his arm, but if he can get loose for rushing scores (he has three already), it’s so hard to stop the Buckeyes.

2. Get a big game from Penix and/or Ramsey

Indiana’s starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is dealing with an undisclosed injury and is a game-time decision. After beating out last season’s starter Peyton Ramsey in the preseason, Penix has played well.

Pro Football Focus has Penix as its second-highest graded quarterback in the Big Ten so far, behind only Fields, and 10th in the country. He looked sharp in completing 14 of 20 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns against Eastern Illinois before exiting with an apparent injury. And he was good, though a little sloppy on a few throws, against Ball State in the opener. If he’s able to play, he has the big-play ability to bust Ohio State’s defense.

The good news is that Ramsey is a very capable backup. And most wouldn’t even label him that, as the redshirt junior is IU’s all-time completion percentage leader. And besides that, do you remember last year at Ohio State. He threw for 322 yards and three touchdowns – his best performance of the season.

You may be saying, IU already got a standout performance from its quarterback and couldn’t beat Ohio State. And that’s true, but it starts there. Ramsey put the Hoosiers in position to win, and that’s something. The Buckeyes will have talent advantages at nearly every position, so the Hoosiers need a great performance from their quarterback and a few lucky breaks.

3. Finish

As mentioned above, Indiana loves to tease. That means at least the Hoosiers are putting themselves in position to close out these games; they just don’t actually do it.

You have to feel for Indiana football, to an extent. In the top-heavy East, it is guaranteed to face Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Michigan State every year. And then this year, Maryland is a very formidable foe, giving the East five teams in the Top 25. It’s like when Ole Miss and Arkansas try to compete in the SEC West. It’s so hard to gain any momentum without beating at least one of Alabama, Auburn and LSU.

At least the Big Ten West is more wide open to where Purdue is more evenly-matched against a team like Iowa then IU would be against college football bluebloods like Ohio State and Michigan. So if IU has aspirations of taking the next step as a program, which obviously is head coach Tom Allen’s goal, it has to knock off one of these upper-echelon East squads.

It is possible, as Purdue proved last year to knock off the Buckeyes. Ohio State has had baffling road clunkers each of the last two years – at Iowa and at Purdue. In those games, Ohio State’s defense that is always loaded with NFL talent faltered in those games. So why can’t IU be the one to exploit that this season?

It’s early in the season, but Indiana has the capability to knock off a team like Ohio State. It just has to finish the job it hasn’t been able to in past seasons.

Ryan O'Gara

Ryan O'Gara is the lead columnist for Saturday Tradition. Follow him on Twitter @RyanOGara.