Ohio State is surging at the right time.
Stocks are almost universally up after the most complete game of the season for the Buckeyes, a 38-15 dismantling of what was then the No. 5 team in the country, Indiana. The Buckeyes smothered an otherwise prolific offense with a ferocious pass rush and blanket coverage in the secondary, performing before easily the loudest crowd Ohio Stadium has seen this season. Everything only intensifies with Michigan coming to town this week.
Ohio State's late-season momentum comes at a time of chaos around the country. College Football Playoff ambitions for multiple teams in the SEC and Big 12 took a big hit in Week 13 while the Buckeyes' playoff chances are somewhere close to 100 percent.
Stock Up
Pass Rush
Ohio State collected five sacks against Indiana, dialing up a number of creative pressures to get after quarterback Kurtis Rourke, whether simulated or actual blitzes. I've already highlighted Cody Simon's strip sack, which came on a gorgeous four-man simulated pressure, elsewhere. Here I want to pose a question: What on earth is a center supposed to do on this play?
Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles sends a five-man rush on this play, but simulates a six-man attack by having defensive end JT Tuimoloau show and bail into pass coverage. That has the effect of pulling Indiana's left guard toward defensive tackle Ty Hamilton, thinking his running mate at left tackle will need to handle Tuimoloau.
That leaves Hoosier center Mike Katic isolated for Ohio State to run a gorgeous stunt on him. Cody Simon shows blitz in frontside A-gap before the snap of the football, only to slant across Katic's face to backside A-gap. Jack Sawyer, originally lined up in backside C-gap, loops all the way around behind Simon to the linebacker's original frontside A-gap. It's a criss-cross that leaves Sawyer running free to mash Rourke into applesauce.
Cornerbacks
Yes, Davison Igbinosun drew some flags on Saturday. More on that in the Stock Down section. Take away those penalties and on the occasions when Rourke got a pass off against Ohio State's pass rush, he wasn't doing a lot of damage with it. The nation's No. 2 quarterback in yards per attempt with 10.1 entering his bout with the Buckeyes, Rourke went just 8-of-18 for 68 yards.
Counting passing yardage the way the NFL does and subtracting sacks from a team's total, Indiana gained 25 yards on its 23 pass plays as the Hoosiers lost 43 yards in sacks. Denzel Burke, Jordan Hancock, Jermaine Mathews Jr. and even Igbinosun (when not drawing a flag) threw the wettest of blankets over a highly-touted IU receiving corps.
The Shoe
The 105,751 fans that packed into Ohio Stadium made it one of the loudest atmospheres in the Shoe in quite some time. It impacted the game, as covered in my and Dan Hope's Notebook after the contest. Here I want to share some stuff I've never shared on Eleven Warriors.
My brother is a senior at Ohio State. Unlike I, who has always football and played football in high school and built a career around writing about football, he's a late bloomer to loving this sport. It really ignited his first handful of games as a freshman at the Shoe. He's become every bit the fanatic of me and my dad, who went to school during the dreaded Jon Cooper era.
My brother has sat in A-deck in the student section every game this year and when I talked to him after the Indiana win he barely had a voice left. But this week in particular is big for our entire family. My dad has a cousin who was at Ohio State the same four years as him, and those four years (1990-93), the Buckeyes never beat the Wolverines, going 0-3-1. My dad's cousin had a son who is the same age as my brother and also goes to OSU, and now both of them are 0-3 in their time as students watching The Game. (Ohio State was 4-0 against Michigan during my time as a student, for those curious.)
I've always strived to stay balanced and unbiased as a reporter. But this week, the small-town Ohio kid within me, one who grew up bleeding scarlet and gray, is tough to keep contained. It's time to break a family curse before a Horseshoe that's even louder this weekend than against the Hoosiers. My brother and our (second) cousin will be two of the loudest.
Will Howard
Will Howard had a few messages for Cignetti and Indiana after Ohio State's win pic.twitter.com/PGzTLE6E7p
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 23, 2024
Some Ohio State fans might not appreciate this type of behavior from a quarterback. I strongly disagree with those assertions. Howard's playing with a swagger and confidence that are infectious right now, and this is part of that. And he's walking the walk before he talks the talk, picking apart Indiana's defense with his school-record sixth game this year with a completion percentage above 80. Howard finished 22-of-26 (85%) for 201 yards and two touchdowns with another touchdown on the ground.
Big Plays on Special Teams
A quick copy and paste of something I said in the previous edition of Stock Up/Down:
I'm just going to post this clip and enjoy the gorgeous, violent pageantry of Caleb Downs playing football. No other words are needed.
Yeah, other words still aren't needed.
CALEB DOWNS TO THE HOUSE @OhioStateFB starts the second half with a bang pic.twitter.com/XT4Wrax5CI
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 23, 2024
Buckeyes in the First 12-Team CFP
Ohio State now holds two wins over teams ranked in the top five at the time and who will likely be in the inaugural 12-team CFP, one of those on the road at Penn State. The Buckeyes' only loss was to the country's No. 1 team, and it was on the road by one point. Their win over Indiana all but clinched a playoff berth, regardless of what happens against Michigan or in a potential Big Ten Championship Game.
That playoff will console approximately zero percent of Buckeye Nation if Ohio State loses on Saturday. But at least it's locked down.
Stock Down
DPI
Defensive pass interference. Igbinosun got called for it three times against Indiana for 28 yards, three of the four flags thrown against Ohio State's entire defense against the Hoosiers. Igbinosun has the most penalties of any defender in college football this season with 13, 11 of those being pass interference. That said, he allowed one reception on four targets when he wasn't whistled for a foul, surrendering just 9 yards per Pro Football Focus. Igbinosun also grabbed a pass breakup.
Sometimes officials get tired of throwing flags against the same guy and just let players play, so maybe it's all a long con by Igbinosun to be allowed to play more physically down the stretch.
Assistance from Referees
Between some questionable block-in-the-back calls and the Indiana secondary tackling tight end Bennett Christian with no repercussions, it'd be easy to feel like the Buckeyes got the short end of another bad officiating crew. Follow Christian, who wears No. 85 and is the tight end with a hand in the dirt at the top of the screen, as he's about to break wide open on a corner route:
Anyone who knows about officiating mechanics knows that each eligible receiver is assigned to a zebra on a given down. This is not a call that should have been missed.
Referees keeping flags in their pockets for Ohio State opponents has been a trend this year. Of 134 teams in the FBS, the Buckeyes ranked 134th in opposing penalty yardage per game at 25.5 entering the Indiana game. That average dipped to 24.1 after the Hoosiers were flagged just two times for 10 yards over the weekend. Those two penalties were obvious ones, a false start and a delay of game.
Loving Thy Neighbor
Ohio State fans hate their neighbors to the North in Michigan 365 days a year, but this week takes it to another. Prepare for every M in sight to be X'd out with red tape across OSU's campus. The word Michigan will be avoided like the bubonic plague in The Buckeye State. Great rivalries make great college football and this is the greatest of them all.
The SEC
Three SEC teams ranked in the top 15 of the latest CFP rankings fell to unranked teams on Saturday. No. 7 Alabama dropped a 24-3 contest with Oklahoma, No. 9 Ole Miss fell 24-17 to Florida and No. 15 Texas A&M lost 43-41 in a quadruple-overtime thriller against Auburn. It was each of those teams' third losses, almost (almost) eliminating them from playoff conversation. It just means more?
The Big 12
The only two teams ranked in the top 15 from the Big 12, Colorado and BYU, were also handed devastating losses, the Buffalos falling to Kansas 37-21 and the Cougars dropping a pivotal clash with No. 21 Arizona State 28-23 in one of the whackiest endings to a game this season as Sun Devil students rushed the field too early. No. 18 Iowa State at least clung to life in a 31-28 win over Utah. The Cyclones, Sun Devils and Cougars are tied atop the conference standings with 6-2 records in league play and 9-2 records overall entering the final week of the regular season.
