MLB News: Indians sign Mike Zagurski to minor league deal
November 22, 2013Can the Browns rivalry with the Steelers ever return?
November 22, 2013Remember what happened last year when the Buckeyes faced Indiana? Allow me to refresh your memory.
No. 8 Ohio State sauntered into Bloomington’s Memorial Stadium at 6-0, coming off consecutive wins against ranked opponents to open the Big Ten schedule – the latter of which was a 63-38 dismantling of then No. 21 Nebraska. The Hoosiers came into the game at 2-3 (0-2 in the conference) and looked to be an inconsequential speed bump on the Buckeyes road towards an undefeated season. But then the Hoosiers started doing whatever it is that Hoosiers do1, and the Buckeyes couldn’t get a key stop against Indiana’s suddenly potent offense, and by the it was all said and done Ohio State escaped – yes, that is the appropriate word – with a 52-49 win.
Does that sound slightly familiar? Well it should after Ohio State’s surprisingly lackluster performance in another Memorial Stadium2 – this one belonging to Illinois – last weekend. After an offensive blitzkrieg in the first half, the Buckeye defense suddenly found itself unable to stop Nathan Scheelhaase and the Fighting Illini attack. The final score didn’t look as ugly thanks to two long Carlos Hyde touchdown runs late in the fourth quarter, but the game certainly felt similar to last year’s trip to Bloomington, as some on Twitter have noted.
This week, Ohio State gets its chance at revenge on the Hoosiers for having the insolence to challenge Urban Meyer’s machine last season. With just two regular season contests remaining on the schedule and the Buckeyes holding the most tenuous of grips on the number three spot in the most recent BCS rankings (Baylor sits just .0013 behind the scarlet and grey), now is not the time to falter. Meyer’s squad must be at its devastatingly efficient best in all three phases of the game to impress the voters and computers enough to hold off the Bears while simultaneously chasing down Florida State and Alabama. A repeat of last year’s game against Indiana could deal a deathblow to the Buckeyes hopes for a berth in the BCS Championship Game unless at least two other teams were to stumble in the dying weeks of the season.
The need for an impressive rout of the Hoosiers is even more pressing this week, as Florida State faces questions about its Heisman hopeful quarterback Jameis Winston, who has been linked to an ongoing sexual assault investigation from 2012. It is irresponsible to speculate, but I can’t help but mention that Winston missing any time would surely deal a blow to the Seminoles, possibly opening the door for the Buckeyes. You’re thinking it, I’m thinking it, and Urban Meyer is most definitely thinking it too.
With that in mind, Meyer must have his team fired up to play a complete game. The defense can’t lose focus up four touchdowns, and the offense can’t take their foot off the gas. Facing a 4-6 Indiana squad that gave up 554 rushing yards to Wisconsin last week, expect a heavy dose of Carlos Hyde – who I’m now convinced would be a legitimate Heisman candidate had he not been suspended for the first three games of the season – and Braxton Miller keepers. Those two (as well as some of the other Buckeye backs) should get their numbers. It remains to be seen whether the defense and special teams (which allowed a punt return touchdown last week) can match the offense’s performance.
Indiana is never a marquee game, but the importance of this matchup with the Hoosiers cannot be overstated. With 60 minutes of domination, the Buckeyes can give themselves a brief respite from the pursuit of the offensive juggernaut in Waco, while also positioning themselves to take advantage of any missteps from the two teams ahead of them.
- Really though, the question of what a Hoosier is will bother me until the day I die. I lived in Indiana for seven years, my mother and an aunt are graduates of IU, and my brother is a current student there, and I still haven’t accepted that it’s just a stupid name for someone who lives in Indiana. But I digress. [↩]
- I fear for the Buckeyes next trip to Lincoln, Nebraska, where the team inhabiting Memorial Stadium is actually a traditional power, unlike either the Illini or Hoosiers. [↩]