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Game Thread Indiana at tOSU, Sat. Nov. 23, 12pm ET, FOX

Just a few quick postgame notes before moving on to Hate Week....

1. The weather was lousy. I don't know if you could see it on TV but there was a fine mist falling for most of the first half, which likely contributed to some of the ball control issues that both teams experienced. It was also quite cold with a chill wind. Slightly below ideal football weather.

2. The Buckeye offense didn't do much – 316 total yards, 14 first downs – but it didn't need to do much with the defense generally stonewalling the Hoosier offense and the special teams creating short fields (fumbled snap, onside kick) or scoring outright (punt return). Will Howard had a decent game on the stat sheet (22/26, 201 yards, 2 TD, INT) but most of his passes seemed slight off target (possibly due to the poor weather). The running backs had tough sledding until TreVeyon Henderson broke off a 39-yard run in the final minutes of play (more on that in a bit).

3. The Buckeye defense had a great game overall, holding Indiana to 15 points and 151 total yards (2.56 per play). Almost all of Indiana's offense came on their two touchdown drives, when they ran a total of 26 plays for 112 yards (for a not very impressive 4.31 yards per play); converted 5/6 on 3rd down and 1/1 on 4th down; and were the beneficiaries of not one, not two, but three DPI penalties (all on Davison Igbinosun). For the rest of the game, the Hoosiers ran 33 plays for 39 yards (1.18 yards per play) and were 1/8 on 3rd down and 0/1 on 4th down. The Buckeye defense forced a turnover and had 5 sacks and 3 additional TFLs.

4. Caleb Downs might not admit this, but early in the 3rd quarter when he fielded a punt on the second hop he was probably just trying to prevent Indiana from downing the ball inside the 10-yard line. But after making a nifty spin move, Downs found some running room along the right sideline. It looked like Downs was going to be tackled near the Indiana 40-yard line but then C.J. Hicks (#11) laid out a Hoosier defender with a devastating block, and Downs was able to cut across field and eventually cruise into the end zone. Downs's 79-yard punt return TD was the 7th longest in Buckeye football history, and the first since Jalin Marshall's 54-yard return against Indiana in 2014.

5. Jayden Fielding connected on a 45-yard field goal in rough weather, a good sign for the future. Overall, the special teams had a great day and that will need to continue next week when the weather and the opponent will likely dictate another Tresselball type of game.

6. After scoring their second touchdown late in the 4th quarter, the Hoosiers attempted an onside kick still down 16 points. The kick went out of bounds and Ohio State gained possession at the Indiana 40-yard line with 1:18 remaining on the clock. On the first play from scrimmage, TreVeyon Henderson took a handoff a broke free. Instead of going into the end zone for the "sweep the leg" touchdown, Henderson slid down at the 1-yard line. But head coach Ryan Day didn't want to run out the clock, he wanted to run up the score. To be honest, it was kind of a dick move on Day's part. But I'm okay with that. For far too long, Day has been seen as a bland corporate CEO whose teams lack toughness, energy, and killer instinct. Not no more, my friends. The Buckeyes played with their hair on fire all game long and Day rewarded them with the coup de grâce in the final minute. Kudos to Coach Day and let's see some more of that next Saturday.

7. Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti might have learned an etiquette lesson today – respect your opponent. If not, then perhaps simply a practical lesson – don't poke the bear.
I hope you had a great time
 
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We for sure need to figure out these poor starts. Maybe we can weather bad starts vs Indiana or even TCUN but vs a team like Oregon etc we have to do a better job of hitting the ground running.

Been saying this for weeks and so far hasn’t hurt us too badly but geez it’d be nice to get off the field quick to start a game for once.

I figured against a team like Oregon it's pretty much down to execution. Oregon is going to get their 21-28+ points. And their defense is not that good. I don't care how we win against them. We just need to win.
 
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Complaining about "slow starts" at this point is kinda wild. Teams script their first drive. They study film for a week (or in this case 2 weeks) to give them the best chance to score. Complaining about teams scoring is like saying we're only allowed to shut teams out. But I know even that wouldn't be enough......because then we'd be whining about ALMOST letting teams score unless they never gained a yard.

Imagine watching Muhammad Ali and complaining about the rope a dope in real time. It's almost like that. Nobody outside of Saban's Bama is good enough to be compared to Ali......but it's close to that. Let the coaches do the thing that they do.
 
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I figured against a team like Oregon it's pretty much down to execution. Oregon is going to get their 21-28+ points. And their defense is not that good. I don't care how we win against them. We just need to win.
Their defense is pretty good overall I think. Also if Wisconsin can hold them to 16 why can’t we?

First things first… we owe those cheaters an ass whopping.
 
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Complaining about "slow starts" at this point is kinda wild. Teams script their first drive. They study film for a week (or in this case 2 weeks) to give them the best chance to score. Complaining about teams scoring is like saying we're only allowed to shut teams out. But I know even that wouldn't be enough......because then we'd be whining about ALMOST letting teams score unless they never gained a yard.

Imagine watching Muhammad Ali and complaining about the rope a dope in real time. It's almost like that. Nobody outside of Saban's Bama is good enough to be compared to Ali......but it's close to that. Let the coaches do the thing that they do.
That’s certainly not my standard (a shutout). For me it’s just the melting of the clock that’s the issue. Sure giving up points isn’t ideal but lately we aren’t getting the ball more than once in the first quarter.
 
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Complaining about "slow starts" at this point is kinda wild. Teams script their first drive. They study film for a week (or in this case 2 weeks) to give them the best chance to score. Complaining about teams scoring is like saying we're only allowed to shut teams out. But I know even that wouldn't be enough......because then we'd be whining about ALMOST letting teams score unless they never gained a yard.

Imagine watching Muhammad Ali and complaining about the rope a dope in real time. It's almost like that. Nobody outside of Saban's Bama is good enough to be compared to Ali......but it's close to that. Let the coaches do the thing that they do.
strange because I saw one team go 3 and out on their presumed scripted plays.
 
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That’s certainly not my standard (a shutout). For me it’s just the melting of the clock that’s the issue. Sure giving up points isn’t ideal but lately we aren’t getting the ball more than once in the first quarter.
Yeah it's crazy that the other teams are trying, too
 
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We for sure need to figure out these poor starts. Maybe we can weather bad starts vs Indiana or even TCUN but vs a team like Oregon etc we have to do a better job of hitting the ground running.

Been saying this for weeks and so far hasn’t hurt us too badly but geez it’d be nice to get off the field quick to start a game for once.
Do you think that Chip's game plan was to just pound away at their DL, because there is a lack of depth.

Honestly, I think Knowles does what he does to get an holistic look at what is happening when the game starts, then does adjustments along the way.
 
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