Ohio State has reached the fourth quarter of its regular season, and the Buckeyes' goals of beating Michigan, winning a Big Ten title and winning a national championship are all intact.
To achieve those goals, Ryan Day understands his team needs to play its best football in November. While that wasn't the case for Ohio State last week in a rainy and windy Evanston, the Buckeyes will have another chance to prove their worth on Saturday as 40-point favorites over Indiana.
The Hoosiers (3-6, 1-5 Big Ten) are led by Tom Allen, the same head coach who led Indiana when it put Ohio State on upset watch in 2020 when the Buckeyes escaped with a 35-28 win in Columbus. Knowing this, Day expects Allen's team – regardless of its record – to provide his players with a challenge once the teams kick off at noon.
With only a few hours until kickoff, we provide our final thoughts, ask some questions and tab some players to watch in what should be an entertaining matchup between the Buckeyes and Hoosiers.
Final Thoughts
The weather shouldn't matter
I confess that I looked at the weather report for the game a few times this week. After watching Ohio State's performance against Northwestern last weekend, how could I not? But as the days went by, I realized that the weather shouldn't matter for the Buckeyes, even if it will be cold and wet in Ohio Stadium from noon to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The bottom line is that this is Ohio State, and it's November in Big Ten country, which means it's time for Ryan Day to leave the finely-tuned Ferrari that is the Buckeyes in the garage at the Woody and roll out the Ford F-150. Get the offensive line back in order, pound the rock and – when necessary – let C.J. Stroud prove why he's the Heisman Trophy frontrunner after 10 weeks, all the while changing the narrative that Ohio State can't play in the elements.
- Chase Brown
But the weather WILL matter to me
The title of the above section is clearly written by someone that will be in a warm press box for the duration of Saturday's game while yours truly embraces the sub-40 temperatures on the field donning my ever reliable Ski-Doo snowmobile winter jacket in an attempt to get photos with the rest of the Buckeye faithful embracing the cold while in the stands. It CERTAINLY was written by someone that didn't have to experience the wind onslaught of last week for three-plus hours.
In all seriousness, while the wind will be back to normal November conditions Saturday, the contest against Indiana is another chance for OSU to prove it can handle playing in cold weather, and the Buckeyes will need to do it three more times successfully if they want to reach their goal of competing for a national title before they can play in domes much more suitable for their style of offense.
And in case you were wondering, I absolutely did not just write this section for a futile attempt at humor because it seemed more preferable to coming up with yet another example of how bad Indiana is, why do you ask?
- Garrick Hodge
Questions
Will a backup running back see meaningful snaps?
Even though Miyan Williams and TreVeyon Henderson have only both been available for the duration of a game for one of Ohio State’s last five games, Dallan Hayden and Chip Trayanum have played only sparingly, combining for just six snaps in the second half of the season. While last week looked like it could be a prime opportunity for the backup running backs to see more playing time – I even chose Trayanum as my player to watch in last week’s Last Call – Williams ended up playing all but two snaps with Henderson sidelined and the game remaining tight through the fourth quarter.
Day said Thursday, though, that he thinks Ohio State is “going to try to play some depth this week at running back.” If the Buckeyes can blow out the Hoosiers, that could mean playing backup running backs after the result of the game is in hand. But with Henderson and Williams both banged up, I’m more interested to see if Ohio State will trust Hayden and/or Trayanum with some carries with the first-team offense while the game is still on the line.
– Dan Hope
Can OSU outdo Michigan?
Ohio State and Michigan are the only unbeaten teams in the Big Ten, they’re stacked right on top of each other at No. 2 and No. 3 in the latest CFP rankings and the archrivals will line up across from one another in just a couple weeks’ time in an all-important contest. That matchup overshadows the next two opponents for both teams, and as such, performances against common foes are fair game when evaluating how they might stack up. Ohio State’s outdone Michigan in terms of margin of victory against three of their common opponents so far (Iowa, Rutgers and Michigan State), but the Wolverines had the better showing against Penn State – the best team either progam has played this season.
Indiana presents a fifth common opponent between the archnemeses, and a chance for Ohio State to best Michigan’s 31-10 win over the Hoosiers last month. Whether or not the Buckeyes accomplish that task may be of little consequence, but given the growing sense that Michigan is a very real threat to Ohio State once again this season, it wouldn’t hurt to blow Indiana out by more than 21.
– Griffin Strom
Players to Watch
C.J. Stroud
While Stroud enjoyed showing the world what he could do as a runner last week, he’s surely itching for a big game through the air after throwing for just 76 yards in the Northwestern winds. Against an Indiana pass defense that ranks 107th in passing yards allowed per game (264.4) and 122nd in passing touchdowns allowed (21), I expect Stroud to bolster his already-strong Heisman candidacy by throwing for at least 300 yards and four touchdowns to hit each of those marks for the fifth time this season.
– Dan Hope
Jack Sawyer
Jack Sawyer is third on the team among defensive ends with 248 snaps behind J.T. Tuimoloau (294) and Zach Harrison (276), but where is the statistical production? In nine games, Sawyer has 16 tackles, four tackles for loss, two sacks and a pass breakup. Perhaps I'm being too harsh, but I was expecting more from the second-year edge rusher and five-star talent.
Against Michigan State, Iowa, Penn State and Northwestern, Sawyer recorded only six combined tackles. His last tackle for loss was against Rutgers in Week 5, and his last sack was against Wisconsin in Week 4. On Saturday, I'm looking for Sawyer to turn the tide on his season and show up in a big way against the Hoosiers. Let's see if he delivers.
- Chase Brown
Matt Jones
Ohio State's right guard has been much-maligned the past few weeks in regards to his run blocking in particular, and while it's unfair to pin the struggles of the running game on just one player, Jones is someone that could definitely use a breakthrough game that involves a few pancakes creating running lanes for either TreVeyon Henderson, Miyan Williams, Dallan Hayden or whoever else.
- Garrick Hodge
Chip Trayanum
For every reason Dan stated in his question, Trayanum is an intriguing player to watch as Ohio State anticipates playing more depth at running back than it did last week. While Chip's received plenty of praise for his athleticism and potential since transferring to Ohio State, he hasn’t been able to put it to use all that often during games thus far. The physically imposing 230-pound athlete might just be a welcome change of pace for the Buckeye run game if given some leash to carry the rock, which is something many Ohio State fans will be excited to see.
– Griffin Strom
