MY THOUGHTS.....INDIANA

 

The Ohio State Buckeyes followed the script of their prior two contests in starting out strong and having a let down in the second half, as they defeated a plucky Indiana squad 42-35. 

Justin Fields threw three interceptions, equaling the number he had thrown in his entire time at Ohio State.  One was a batted ball and two were passes he should’ve never thrown, throwing into coverage where the receiver didn’t have a chance of catching the ball.  The Buckeyes were fortunate that Indiana failed to capitalize on the turnovers.  The defense stood tall after his first two picks and Julian Fleming saved Ohio State’s bacon when he punched the ball out of the Indiana defender’s hands and the Buckeyes got it back when Thaler Munford fell on the loose ball.  It was obvious the Indiana defensive game plan was to come after Fields from the get-go.  The myriad of blitzes caused the poor throws that led to the interceptions and they sacked Fields five times.  But, when they didn’t get to him, Fields was still effective enough to find Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave, as both went over 100 yards receiving.  Wilson notched 169 yards and two scores, while Olave made some critical third down conversions.  Fields also managed a twisting, turning run to find the end zone just before halftime.  In focusing on Fields, the Indiana defense left itself wide open to be dominated in the run game.  The offensive line looked the best it has this season in their run blocking and it allowed Master Teague to master the Indiana defense to the tune of 169 yards and two touchdowns, his best game at Ohio State.

The defense had a very good first half and an awful second half.  Michael Penix ended up with 491 yards through the air, the most against an Ohio State defense since Purdue’s Drew Brees put up 455 in 2000.  Of course, Penix was forced to attempt 51 passes since the Buckeyes completely shut down any semblance of a ground game, holding Indiana to -1.  Still, Penix was able to hit on four passing plays of 50-plus yards, reminding us of the issues the 2018 defense had against big-play offenses.  Indiana WR Ty Fryfogle was able to get open multiple times against Shaun Wade and the other corners, turning in a career day with 218 yards receiving and three scores.  The bright spots on this side of the ball were linebackers Baron Browning and Pete Werner, who wrecked the Indiana ground game and led the team with eight tackles each.  Shaun Wade made up for getting beat a few times with his pick-six in which he made a perfect read and break on the ball. 

It is not just the passing defense that needs work.  Ohio State has been outscored in the second half in each of their last three games and they must focus on finishing games strong as well as the defense.