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Ohio State names Players of the Game after dominant win against Indiana

Mark Kern

By Mark Kern

Published:

Ohio State vs. Indiana was billed as the Game of the Week, but in the end, the Buckeyes took care of business in the 38-15 victory over the previously undefeated Hoosiers.

After Indiana went 70 yards on its first drive of the game to take a 7-0 lead, the Ohio State defense allowed only 83 yards the rest of the game. All off-season, the talk was about how dominant the Buckeyes could be on defense, and they delivered with an emphatic win against the Hoosiers.

On Sunday, the team announced the recipients of its offensive, defensive, and special teams Player of the Game honors. With their performances in the game, Will Howard and TreVeyon Henderson both took the offensive honor.

It wasn’t his biggest performance of the season, but Howard was extremely efficient. He went 22-of-26 for 201 yards and 2 touchdowns, and he also scored a rushing touchdown. With the defense playing so lights out, Howard needed to just make sure that he and the offense didn’t make the big mistake.

Henderson was equally as impressive in the win, as he had 68 rushing yards and 1 touchdown on only 9 carries. With Quinshon Judkins splitting carries, Henderson hasn’t gotten the ball quite as often this year, but he is averaging an impressive 7.4 yards per carry.

The aforementioned defense was dominant all day for the Buckeyes, and the unit was led by Cody Simon. The senior linebacker finished with 1 of the best games of his career with 10 tackles, 2.5 TFLs and a career-high 2.5 sacks. He also had a forced fumble.

 

Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke is putting together a special season in Bloomington this year, but he had by far his worst game of the season. His previous season-low in passing yards was 180 yards, and that was the season-opening win against FIU.

One of Simon’s defensive teammates is Caleb Downs, and he made his presence felt as he was named the Special Teams Player of the Game for the Buckeyes.

Downs had 1 of the most exciting plays of the day on Saturday, as he took a punt back 79 yards for a touchdown. It was a huge play in the game, as the Buckeyes were up only 14-7 in the 3rd quarter. It’s the first punt return touchdown for Ohio State since 2014.

The Buckeyes will play their regular-season finale next week at home against Michigan. The Buckeyes have lost 3 straight in this series.

Mark Kern