Ohio State vs Indiana Recap

What on earth is wrong with Ohio State's pass defense? On Friday, I wrote about title contenders and the questions they still need to address to reach the promised land. I could come up with only one "if" for Ohio State, but it turned out to be pretty pertinent: The Buckeyes are 91st in passing success rate allowed and are struggling to force obvious pass situations. Despite having a pair of dynamite corners in Shaun Wade and Sevyn Banks, new defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs has chosen to mostly play a pretty passive zone coverage. ... Is this the week Coombs gets more aggressive? Or is this going to be an actual problem the rest of the season? We don't have full Saturday charting data yet, so I can't say with certainty how much zone or man coverage Ohio State played beyond the norm. But whatever the Buckeyes tried in Saturday's 42-35 win over Indiana, it didn't work. Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. went 27-for-51 for 491 yards, five touchdowns and one interception -- a Shaun Wade pick-six that turned out to be vital. Penix completed 10 passes of 15+ yards, and to my eye three of them came against zone coverage, while seven others seemed to simply be Indiana WR A (usually Ty Fryfogle) beating Ohio State DB B in man-to-man. This was a disaster for what was supposed to be a tremendous Ohio State secondary. And almost as damning, considering the historic strengths of the Ohio State defense, was the fact that the Buckeyes sacked Penix only twice in 53 attempts. They completely rendered the Hoosiers one-dimensional -- IU backs rushed 11 times for just 18 yards -- and still couldn't generate pressure or slow IU's receivers down. Credit where it's due: Penix, Fryfogle and company have flashed massive potential on and off for a couple of seasons, and they were ridiculously good in Columbus. The Hoosiers' defense, meanwhile, forced more mistakes from quarterback Justin Fields than we typically see in a month. The Buckeyes were brilliant in building a 35-7 lead despite solid Indiana play, but they thought the fight was over and Indiana most certainly did not. Still, this was a continuation of a known issue. Despite the presence of Wade (one of the top cornerback prospects in next year's NFL draft), plus Sevyn Banks and lots of other star recruits, Ohio State had been passive against the pass, and when the Buckeyes tried to get more aggressive on Saturday, it nearly blew up in their faces. As good as Penix can be at times, he is not, from a consistency standpoint, Mac Jones, Trevor Lawrence, Ian Book or any of the other quarterbacks this defense might face in the College Football Playoff. The Buckeyes have an offense good enough to win any game by itself and a defense that has had little to no trouble stopping the run. But they can't get enough pressure on opposing QBs, and their DBs aren't covering as well as we expected them to this year. If the Buckeyes don't round into form in this regard, their odds of winning two College Football Playoff games are not great. The good news, as it were: OSU's last three regular-season games are against Illinois, Michigan State and Michigan, and they'll probably face an offensively improved, but still limited, Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship. There will be plenty of opportunities for the secondary to build confidence, at least if the pass rush does its job a little bit better, too. 5 Things From Indiana By Chris Lauderback

MASTER PLAN Speaking of hat tips, here's one for Master Teague. After averaging 4.5 yards per carry and 70 rushing yards through three outings, Teague caught fire yesterday carrying it 26 times for 169 yards (6.5 ypc) with two touchdowns. Purposeful running combined with some excellent blocking helped Teague rip off runs of 10, 32 and 41 yards. He had just one carry for negative yards. It probably isn't a coincidence that Teague was able to get going as (1) he was able to get into a rhythm due to scaled-back rotation with Trey Sermon and (2) Justin Fields logged 15 rushing attempts for 78 yards, forcing the defense to account for him as a running threat. Fields carried it just 12 times combined in wins over Rutgers and Penn State. With Teague charging downhill, Ohio State ran for more yards (307) than it accumulated through the air (300) for the first time this season. Teague's big day was clutch as Ryan Day needed a viable running game to take advantage of the Hoosiers' blitz-happy defense and also run clock in the second half, helping keep his own defense off the field. Chris Olave celebrates his touchdown #3 OHIO STATE 42, #9 INDIANA 35 NOVEMBER 21, 2020 • OHIO STADIUM • COLUMBUS, OH • OHIO STATE HOLDS OFF INDIANA, 42-35 • THE BUCKEYE PASS DEFENSE IS OFFICIALLY A CONCERN • JUSTIN FIELDS: “I DIDN'T PLAY WELL AT ALL” • OHIO STATE ALLOWED NEAR RECORD PERFORMANCES • OHIO STATE POSTGAME • INDIANA POSTGAME • PHOTOS • NOTEBOOK SO.. THE FRONT SEVEN LOOKED REALLY GOOD IN THE FIRST HALF You wouldn't know it from looking at the full game stats but Ohio State's defense was pretty damn solid in the first half as the Buckeyes built a 28-7 lead. Indiana's offense had eight first half possessions (not counting the 1-play kneel down right before the half) and three of them resulted in 3-and-outs. Six of the eight went for 21 yards or less. The Buckeyes completely stuffed Indiana's rushing attack with the Hoosiers running it 12 times for -6 yards. Sampson James led the cream and crimson with three carries for 10 yards while a typically effective Stevie Scott picking up five yards on five attempts. The defense held Indiana to 1-of-7 on third down conversions and most importantly, didn't allow the Hoosiers to score a point on two drives following Justin Fields interceptions. The front seven was flat out dominant over the first 30 minutes as Indiana's attempt at balance showed 12 rushing attempts (for the noted -6 yards) and 22 passes for 197 yards. Baron Browning had probably the play of the half, forcing and recovering a fumble after Indiana reached Ohio State's 5-yard line. If Browning doesn't create the turnover, Indiana likely scores a touchdown to make it a 21-14 contest with less than three minutes left in the opening half. Instead, Ohio State's offense took the ball 93 yards in nine plays and 2:54 of game clock, culminated by a Fields touchdown run for a 28-7 lead with just 17 seconds left before intermission. HARD PASS After Justin Fields and company took the second half kickoff right down the field for six, capped by a 9-yard Garrett Wilson grab to make it 35-7, Indiana's offense was forced to abandon the run and air it out. With the Hoosiers throwing it on 29 of their 33 second half snaps, Penix Jr. straight up torched Ohio State's secondary. The lefty completed 15 of those 29 throws for 294 yards and four touchdowns (against one pick). For the game, Penix Jr. finished with the 4th-most passing yards ever against an Ohio State defense with 491 to go along with five touchdowns. Wide receiver Ty Fryfogle was his chief target with seven grabs for 218 yards and three scores. Fryfogle got the better of Shaun Wade on a handful of occasions though Wade did record a pick six giving Ohio State a 42-21 lead late in the third quarter. Still, this secondary is taking on water. Even with the pick, it feels like Wade has cost himself a lot of NFL money by not turning pro after last year, unless he finishes strong. Senior Marcus Williamson has taken some lumps while adjusting to having a major role on the defense after playing sparingly in his first three seasons. Marcus Hooker appeared to be out of position a few times yesterday, and in past games as well, as he, like Williamson, is also adjusting to having a ton of responsibility in his first year logging major minutes. No spring ball, the loss of Cam Brown earlier this season to an Achilles tear and the February dismissal of Amir Riep, combined with Jeff Okudah, Damon Arnette and Jordan Fuller now playing on Sundays has Kerry Coombs' secondary behind the eight ball. The lack of depth is so glaring that the defensive braintrust can't really deploy a dime defense, opting instead to take its chances with linebackers in obvious passing situations. There's still time for the secondary to improve but right now, you'd have to be wearing some severely rose-colored glasses to see this secondary as championship-level. And a middling pass rush further magnified these issues yesterday against Penix and company. Kerry Coombs It's going to take more than Red Bull and rah-rah to get Ohio State's secondary on an upward trajectory. LINE MAKING PROGRESS I felt like the offensive line took some strides yesterday, specifically in the run game as Ohio State went for a season-highs of 307 rushing yards on 6.1 a pop. The total rushing yards were Ohio State's most since a 383-yard day last November versus Maryland. Teague went untouched on his 41-yard touchdown jaunt midway through the second quarter and he was able to get a head of steam on most of his carries thanks to the work up front. You might take issue with the fact Indiana put up five sacks but I didn't see a ton of mistakes or 1-on-1 beats from left tackle to right tackle. Oftentimes, Indiana brought more blitzers than Ohio State could account for and Fields looked flat out confused on more than one occasion. Fields also held the ball forever a handful of times, as he does and as we should generally be fine with, but the line can only pass block for so long. I'm no offensive coordinator but I found it curious a few times as it seemed Ohio State kept dialing up downfield throws that take time to develop while Indiana was bringing the kitchen sink. I don't fault the line for that. At least one other time a tight end was asked to go in motion and pick up an edge rusher which failed and while Teague had a great day running, he looks like an average to below average pass blocker. He was bowled over a couple times leading to trouble and he whiffed twice taking on edge rushers. GARRETT WILSON IS UNREAL Another day, another 100+ yards receiving for Garrett Wilson. The sophomore lit Indiana up with seven catches for 169 yards and two touchdowns on 10 targets. Wilson accounted for all 75 yards on Ohio State's first possession of the afternoon, hauling in a 65-yard catch on the first play before snagging a 10-yard touchdown on the second. He would later add catches for 27 and 39 yards along with a 9-yard touchdown grab putting Ohio State in front 35-7 early in the third quarter. He now has four consecutive games of at least 100 yards receiving putting him within one game of tying Cris Carter's school-record set back in 1986. For future reference, David Boston owns the single-season record for total games of at least 100 yards receiving with nine (in 12 games) in 1998. Through four games, Wilson is averaging 7.8 catches per contest which still has him on track to break Boston's single-season record of 7.1 set back in 1998.

Stats from OSU vs Indiana 9 Indiana 4-1 0 7 14 14 35 3 Ohio State 4-0 7 21 14 0 42 Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH 491 PASS YDS 300 -1 RUSH YDS 307 490 TOTAL YDS 607 Indiana OFFENSE PASSING CP/ATT YDS TD INT M. Penix Jr. 27/51 491 5 1 RUSHING ATT YDS TD LG S. James 3 10 0 8 S. Scott III 7 6 0 4 D. Ellis 1 2 0 2 M. Penix Jr. 3 -2 0 9 RECEIVING TAR REC YDS TD LG T. Fryfogle 14 7 218 3 63 M. Marshall 8 4 89 0 68 D. Ellis 8 4 86 1 51 W. Philyor 9 6 56 1 15 P. Hendershot 6 4 32 0 11 S. Scott III 3 2 23 0 12 Ohio State OFFENSE PASSING CP/ATT YDS TD INT J. Fields 18/30 300 2 3 RUSHING ATT YDS TD LG M. Teague III 26 169 2 41 J. Fields 15 78 1 30 T. Sermon 9 60 0 16 RECEIVING TAR REC YDS TD LG G. Wilson 11 7 169 2 65 C. Olave 10 8 101 0 31 T. Sermon 1 1 13 0 13 J. Williams 1 1 10 0 10 J. Smith-Njigba 1 1 7 0 7 J. Ruckert 1 0 0 0 0 L. Farrell 2 0 0 0 0