My Thoughts.....INDIANA

           After a shaky first half, the Ohio State Buckeyes wore down and pulled away from the Indiana Hoosiers for a 49-21 opening game win.  The Buckeyes were more hype than substance in the first half, but after Indiana took a one-point lead in the third quarter, the floodgates opened as Ohio State wore down Indiana and pulled away for the final margin. 

One of this off-season’s biggest points of emphasis by new Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson and co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ryan Day was for the Buckeyes to become more prolific throwing the deep ball.
That didn’t happen in Ohio State’s season opener at Indiana on Thursday.
While Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett threw for 304 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Buckeyes to a 49-21 win, he did not complete any passes that traveled more than 15 yards past the line of scrimmage through the air. While Barrett attempted numerous deep throws during the game, none of them resulted in receptions by his pass-catchers.

While Barrett misfired on a couple of downfield throws, such as a wide open Marcus Baugh in the third quarter, his receivers let him down a few times.  He gave his receivers some opportunities to make plays on downfield throws, most notably on a perfectly placed pass that would have been a 41-yard touchdown had it not been dropped by a wide open Parris Campbell.  The receivers did however, take advantage of any soft coverage the Indiana defense gave them however, on long catch and runs by Parris Campbell (74 yards) and Johnnie Dixon (59 yards) showing the flat-out speed that exists among Ohio State’s receivers.  Barrett was also deadly accurate on his medium –range throws with the aforementioned Campbell, Dixon, and Marcus Baugh finding seems in the Indiana zone defense, while the line did a good job, especially in the second half, of protecting Barrett from the pass rush, yielding only one sack.  Of course, the main storyline is the emergence of true freshman running back J.K. Dobbins.  The first true freshman to start at RB since Maurice Clarett in 2002, Dobbins wore down and tore up the Indiana front seven to the tune of 181 yards and 6.2 yards per carry.  With Mike Weber not playing due to hamstring issues, Dobbins had 31 touches in the game, including two pass receptions for 24 yards.  When Weber returns, he and Dobbins will probably be the best RB tandem in the country.

Replacing three 1^st round NFL draft picks in the secondary is difficult for any program, so I expected the secondary to struggle a bit.  The Indiana offense had their number in the first half as IU quarterback Richard Lagow tallied 24 completions on 38 attempts, good for 278 yards and a pair of scores against one interception.
Lagow benefited from great one-on-one plays from Simmie Cobbs (who was a freak two years ago so don't panic over his success against OSU), Luke Timian and Donovan Hale. Cobbs registered seven grabs for 98 yards while Timian caught seven balls for 53 yards and Hale added four for 64 yards.  It was a nightmare as Cobbs and Timian toasted Damon Arnette, Kendall Sheffield, and Denzel Ward at times.  But, give the young OSU secondary credit for adjusting in the second half.  No defense will be able to completely shut down Cobbs as he managed four more catches, but they did a good job against Timian and Hale.  Ward would finish with five pass breakups and a pick while Sheffield added two breakups and first-time starter Jordan Fuller added a pick of his own.  The secondary and the linebackers still needs work in coverage, but against probably the best passing attack on their schedule, they held them to a mere 132 yards in the second half.  They also ended up completely shutting off the run, holding the Hoosiers to a paltry 27 yards rushing and 9 out of 20 third down conversions.  

Next week will see a huge bump up in talent as the Oklahoma Sooners come to town for the 2017 home opener seeking redemption after getting beat down in Norman a year ago.  The deep passing game and secondary both need to continue to improve if the Buckeyes are to come out on top.