Indiana Hoosiers

Buckeyes Beat Hoosiers With Lackluster Performance, 38-17

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Urban Meyer and his Buckeyes teams have had trouble shaking Indiana teams in his time at Ohio State, and today was no different. With the Buckeyes holding onto a 14-point lead, a last-gasp effort by the Hoosiers offense with just over five minutes left to play didn’t turn out, securing an ugly win for the number two ranked team in the country.

Lackluster would be one of many adjectives to describe the less-than-stellar performance by the Ohio State offense. A week after racking up almost 700 yards of total offense, the Buckeyes were held to just 372 yards, well below their season average.

Even more startling than the total yardage was the overall ineffectiveness of J.T. Barrett and the Buckeyes passing game. Barrett completed just nine of his 21 attempts, and for only 93 yards. He was also intercepted once.

The vast majority of Ohio State’s offense came on the ground, where the they were able to

consistently get a push up front. As a team, the Buckeyes ran for 290 yards. Barrett had 137 yards and a touchdown on the ground, carrying the ball 26 carries. Curtis Samuel and Mike Weber combined for 153 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries.

While the defensive coaching staff will have plenty of teaching points, the Silver Bullets came up big on multiple occasions, despite being on the field much more than anyone could have imagined. Indiana was limited to 99 yards rushing, and quarterback Richard Lagow completed only half of his passes for 182 yards. He was picked off once, by Malik Hooker late in the fourth quarter to cap off a solid performance by the defense.

The game got off to an ominous start offensively as the Buckeyes turned the ball over on the opening drive for the third time in five games. On the third play of the game, Barrett’s pitch to Mike Weber bounced off of his face mask, and Indiana recovered the ball on Ohio State’s 35 yard line.

Indiana turned the miscue into a field goal after moving the ball down to the four yard line.

The Buckeyes answered with three points of their own to tie the score up at 3-3. They would take a 21-10 lead in the break.

The Hoosiers opened up the second half with a 13-play, 89-yard drive to cut the lead to seven points. Lagow found his tight end, Danny Friend, wide open as the Hoosiers erased any doubt about whether they would fade in the contest.

In serious need of an answer, J.T. Barrett engineered a 13-play drive if their own, encompassing 85 yards and ending with a one yard run by Mike Weber to get the lead back up to 14. The game was all but over at that point, but the good vibes were short lived as the offense continued to sputter after that drive.

Fortunately for them, the defense made sure that Indiana would get no closer.

The end result was a 21-point win for the Buckeyes, who now head on the road in back-to-back weeks for primetime kickoffs against Wisconsin and Penn State.

Wins are wins, even when they are of the ugly variety. The bad performance might be the perfect tool for Urban Meyer as he continues to develop the mindset of his young football team. The offense will not be able to afford a similar outing when they head to Madison next Saturday.