After back-to-back road trips, Ohio State could use the comfort of home. Especially after the oddity of Saturday’s rain-soaked and wind-warped 21-7 win over Northwestern.
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3-6 (1-5 B1G) ROSTER / SCHEDULE |
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NOON – SATURDAY, NOV. 12 OHIO STADIUM COLUMBUS, OHIO |
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FOX FOXSports |
The Buckeyes return to their own backyard this weekend to take on a struggling Indiana program that hasn’t beaten Ohio State in the last 29 tries. Tom Allen and company are on the verge of a seventh straight loss this season, and a win over the scarlet and gray would be the Hoosiers’ first since 1988 (!).
As Ohio State prepares to dive into the final quarter of its regular-season schedule, get acquainted with the next opponent up on the Buckeyes’ docket below while we explore five things to know about the 2022 Hoosiers.
Six-game skid
It’s been tough sledding for the Hoosiers from late September on.
The start of the season looked promising for Indiana. Its season-opening win over Illinois has aged well. Even if tight non-conference victories over Idaho and Western Kentucky weren’t all that impressive, they were still part of a three-game win streak to begin the year.
But the wheels fell off on Sept. 24, and Indiana hasn’t recovered.
Luke Fickell led Cincinnati to a three-touchdown destruction of the Hoosiers in their final non-conference game before five consecutive Big Ten opponents rattled off wins against Indiana after that. Two of those games came against ranked conference foes, as Michigan and Penn State both delivered the multi-score beatings you’d expect against Indiana.
Three of those losses came to Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers, though, with its two-touchdown defeat to the Huskers standing as a lowlight of the season thus far.
But as bad as the Hoosiers’ skid seems, it’s not even as long as the losing streak that ended Indiana’s 2021 season when it dropped eight games in a row from Week 5 onward.
Allen’s on the hot warm seat
Indiana’s breakout 2020 season, in which head coach Tom Allen won Big Ten Coach of the Year, feels farther away with every Hoosier loss this year.
Two years ago, Indiana knocked off Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin in the same season and played Ohio State to a seven-point ballgame in Columbus. That momentum was stomped out just as quickly as it came the following year, as Indiana lost 10 of its 12 contests to finish with its highest loss total in the Allen era.
Now in his seventh year in Bloomington, Allen succeeded his best-ever season with his worst. The 2022 Hoosiers look more like last year’s squad than the 6-2 2020 team, and it won’t exactly be favored to get its first win since September next Saturday.
Perhaps it’s not scorching hot, given the recency of his conference coach of the year hardware, but Allen’s seat is getting warmer by the minute. By now, the 2020 season seems to be a flash in the pan more than a building block for future success.
Former OSU commit having huge first year
In terms of major statistical categories, Indiana’s defensive rankings are anywhere from poor to putrid. The Hoosiers rank 114th in scoring defense, 107th in average yards allowed, 107th against the pass and 83rd in run defense.
But make no mistake, there are still standout performers on the roster. Perhaps most promising of all is a true freshman whose name should be pretty familiar to Ohio State fans.
Outside linebacker Dasan McCullough, a top-75 overall prospect in the class, initially committed to the Buckeye program back in August 2020. But a couple of months after that, the Bloomington native’s father, Deland McCullough, rejoined the Hoosier coaching staff as an assistant, Dasan decommitted from Ohio State and pledged to Indiana. Dasan also joined his brother, Deland II, who was playing defensive back for the Hoosiers at the time.
Since then, Deland McCullough and Deland McCullough II have both left the program. The former to take the vacant Notre Dame running backs coaching position, and the latter having medically retired from football. But Dasan remains, and he’s been even better than anticipated so far this season.
Opposing offenses beware. @Dasan2022 | #IUFB pic.twitter.com/S8C3Ckpjsk
— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) September 12, 2022
Dasan McCullough is Indiana’s team leader with four sacks this season, is second with 5.5 tackles for loss and has 38 total tackles and three pass breakups. McCullough was quiet in Indiana’s blowout loss to Penn State, recording just two tackles and no sacks or TFLs, but he’s shown the ability to impact a Big Ten game on multiple occasions as a first-year college football player.
@Dasan2022 pic.twitter.com/EABaR8X8GI
— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) October 19, 2022
Could be on third-string QB
Michael Penix Jr. left a gaping hole at the quarterback position in Bloomington after transferring out of Indiana to have a stellar fifth year in Washington.
Allen and company brought in Missouri transfer Connor Bazelak to operate under center in 2022 but to mostly mixed results. Starting the first seven games of the season in eight total appearances for Indiana, Bazelak threw for at least 250 yards on four occasions and tossed multiple touchdown passes in four contests. But Bazelak also threw at least one interception in seven games and more than one in two games.
Bazelak sat out Saturday with injury, leaving Hoosier veteran Jack Tuttle to pick up the pieces. But Tuttle got banged up in the first half against Penn State, leaving the game with an apparent shoulder injury while Indiana tried out two other options at quarterback.
Five different Hoosiers have attempted at least one pass for Indiana this season. Allen said the Hoosiers should get Bazelak back against the Buckeyes, but as we know from Ohio State’s season, few injury updates are guaranteed when it comes to college football.
Dismal run game
A great deal of pressure would be taken off Indiana’s various quarterbacks if it only had a competent running game. But that’s not the case.
The Hoosiers ranked next spots above last place in the FBS with a ground game that averages just 78.7 yards per game. That figure ranks dead last in the Big Ten by more than 20 yards per game.
Indiana rushing leader Shaun Shivers’s 399 rushing yards don’t even crack the top 100 in terms of FBS leaders, and he’s averaging just 3.8 yards per carry this season. Indiana’s second and third options at running back, Josh Henderson and Jaylin Lucas, are also both well under five yards per carry on the year.
The Hoosiers have only cracked 100 yards on the ground this season twice and 200 yards only once, against Idaho. During Indiana’s six-game losing streak, it’s averaging 52.8 yards per contest in the run game, with 68 being the most it’s had during that stretch. Against Michigan, Indiana mustered all of 19 rushing yards on 25 attempts.
Ohio State doesn’t possess the best run defense Indiana’s seen all year, but the Buckeyes still rank No. 13 in the country with an average allowance of 105.9 yards per game.
