Ohio State: 5 things I'd like to see from Buckeyes vs. Indiana

Ohio State begins October with a meeting (4 p.m. ET Saturday, Fox) at Ohio Stadium against Indiana, one of OSU’s oldest rivals.

Indiana has rarely troubled the Buckeyes on the gridiron. The Hoosiers won five of the first six meetings in the series (and tied the sixth) from 1901-13. But since then it has been all OSU — the Hoosiers have beaten the Buckeyes in back-to-back years just once since 1913 and that came in 1987-88.

That 1988 meeting was the last one Indiana won as OSU brings a 23-game series winning streak into this one. Still, Indiana is off to a 4-1 start and OSU has to prevent a letdown after last week’s enormous win over Penn State.

Which brings up the first of 5 things I’d like to see from the Buckeyes this week:

Don’t look past Hoosiers

Forget all of that history I laid out earlier. The kids don’t care about it — certainly the kids from Indiana won’t. The Hoosiers struggled to defeat an awful Rutgers squad last week but they led Ohio State at halftime of last year’s meeting, so the Buckeyes need to stay in the moment. They will be a prohibitive favorite and they should be; now all they need to do is keep their focus.

Even more ways to involve playmakers

After their comeback against Penn State last week, the Buckeyes offense should bottle that fourth-quarter form and keep it going. They should find even more creative ways to get the ball in the hands of playmakers like Parris Campbell and J.K. Dobbins. Quarterback Dwayne Haskins should have a boatload of confidence and he should spread the ball around against the Hoosiers.

Button up on defense

Indiana is fifth in FBS in completion percentage at 71.8 (of course Ohio State is fourth at 72.5) so the Buckeyes will have to be sound at tackling. OSU is allowing more than 200 passing yards a game, too much for a defense with this much talent. The Hoosiers are 25-of-35 on average but only for 232.8 yards a game, so don’t expect a lot of long bombs from Peyton Ramsey.

Better discipline

Ohio State is averaging 8.4 penalties a game, 18th most in FBS. The Buckeyes are 14th in penalty yardage at 80.6 yards a game. Indiana is just 74th in penalties at 6.0 per game. Ohio State needs to keep focused and make fewer mistakes, both in this game and going forward.

Stay healthy

The Buckeyes came out of the Penn State game relatively healthy. With four straight conference games against lightly regarded opposition — Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue, Nebraska — Ohio State should be building toward a critical three-game stretch to end the season. OSU already lost All-American defensive end Nick Bosa after he had abdominal surgery, and any other injuries to major players could hamper the Buckeyes in their quest to repeat as Big Ten champions — and perhaps achieve even more.