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3 takeaways from Ohio State’s grind-it-out 23-3 win at Indiana

Alex Hickey

By Alex Hickey

Published:

For the second straight year, Ohio State’s offense got off to a sluggish start against an opponent from Indiana. And just like last year’s debut against Notre Dame, the Buckeye defense held down the fort long enough for the offense to finally put the game away.

No. 3 Ohio State’s 23-3 win over Indiana was not a work of art. But it was a win nonetheless, and the Buckeyes are an all-important 1-0 in Big Ten play as a result. They’ve also won 28 in a row over Indiana since the programs tied in 1990.

Here are 3 takeaways from the 2023 season opener for both the Buckeyes and Hoosiers.

Kyle McCord appears to be the guy

Now all of us can see what Ryan Day and Ohio State’s coaching staff saw in training camp: Kyle McCord is this team’s starting quarterback.

But not because he ran away with the thing. It’s more a case of Devin Brown evidently not being ready for the role.

Day said both quarterbacks would play and was true to that word. But until he was put back in for garbage time, Brown played a single possession on which Ohio State ran the ball 3 times, including a 3-yard loss on his lone carry.

When he was put back into the game with under 2 minutes to go, Brown went 1 for 3 passing for minus-2 yards.

Even when Ohio State was inside the 1o-yard line, there were no special packages featuring the mobile Brown. This was especially noticeable on a third-and-goal quarterback draw call for McCord that resulted in a 4-yard loss because he hit the wrong hole. If you don’t call Brown’s number in that scenario, when will you?

McCord’s stats were rather pedestrian, especially by the standards of a program that’s produced a first team all-B1G quarterback every year since 2016. He finished 20 of 33 for 239 yards with an interception.

But he did have 1 throw in particular that made you say, “Oh. That’s where this thing could go” — a dart through traffic to Julian Fleming.

If there’s more of where that came from, McCord will eliminate any additional questions about who will start.

Indiana’s defense is probably much improved

The Hoosiers were scorched on a regular basis last year, allowing 449.3 yards per game — the worst in the Big Ten by an average of 33 yards. Indiana also allowed a B1G-worst 33.9 points per game.

Tom Allen, a defensive coordinator by trade, restocked that side of the ball with help from the transfer portal. But the best player for either team in this game was an old standby — linebacker Aaron Casey, who led all players with 11 tackles including 9 solos. No one else had more than 6 tackles

Indiana limited the Buckeyes to 2 of 12 on third down, which was an incredibly encouraging sign for the Hoosiers. Indiana’s young quarterbacks weren’t up to the task of making Ohio State sweat, but the assignment will get easier from here.

If this is what Indiana’s defense looks like on a weekly basis, the Hoosiers will end their 2-year bowl drought.

Ohio State’s offensive line: Not bad, but not great

The big question for Ohio State this season is up front, where the Buckeyes are replacing starting tackles Paris Johnson and Dawand Jones.

The film will tell the full story, but on first glance it looked like replacements Josh Fryar and Josh Simmons performed reasonably well. Ohio State did not allow any sacks.

However, the Hoosiers did get into the backfield for 5 tackles for loss. The Buckeyes were also limited to 4.6 yards per carry. Ohio State averaged 5.4 ypc a year ago.

The Bucks will need to use the next couple weeks against Youngstown State and Western Kentucky to shore things up before visiting Notre Dame in Week 4.

Alex Hickey

Alex Hickey is an award-winning writer who has watched Big Ten sports since it was a numerically accurate description of league membership. Alex has covered college football and basketball since 2008, with stops on the McNeese State, LSU and West Virginia beats before being hired as Saturday Tradition's Big Ten columnist in 2021. He is an Illinois native and 2004 Indiana University graduate.