Ohio State junior quarterback Justin Fields (1) surveys the field as he rolls out to his right against Indiana Nov. 21. Credit: Christian Harsa | Assistant Photo Editor
In Ohio State’s first drive against Indiana, Justin Fields looked like he had all season: efficient and accurate.
But the rest of the first quarter would devolve into the worst quarter of the junior quarterback’s career as he would not only toss the first interception of his 2020 season but record the only multiple interception quarter of his career. Fields would go on to throw a total of three interceptions — matching his career total entering the game — to partially stain his 378 total yards and three touchdowns.
After the game, Fields was straightforward with the assessment of his performance.
“I didn’t play well, at all,” Fields said Saturday. “I have to improve. I have to be better.”
Entering the game with as many passing touchdowns as incompletions, Fields had efficiently navigated the Ohio State offense to a 3-0 record with a scoring output of 46.3 points per game.
The Georgia native had thrown three interceptions in 476 passing attempts in his career prior to the game against Indiana. In his first 23 throws against the Hoosiers however, Fields would double his career total with an additional three interceptions.
Although his day would end with three turnovers and a completion percentage of 60, Fields was able to start fast and add his 12th passing touchdown of the season on the first drive of the game as he connected on his first two throws for 75 yards and a touchdown.
On the next drive, Fields would force a ball down the seam, resulting in the fourth interception of his career.
“I just got that read wrong,” Fields said. “I threw it to the seam when I was clearly supposed to throw it to the dig, so that’s on me.”
He would throw another interception later in the first quarter on a ball that Fields said was intended to be thrown away but was batted down.
Fields’ final interception would come in the third quarter as he was trying to find freshman receiver Julian Fleming while avoiding a sack.
“I just tried to force it in there. I was trying to do too much,” Fields said. “I saw Julian across the middle and I thought he was going to sit there for me and I guess the ball sailed on me when I got tackled, so I just have to improve on that and continue to get better.”
Indiana came into the game with 10 takeaways through the air, and leading up to the game, Fields said a lot of the interceptions had come by way of quarterbacks panicking in response to Indiana’s pressure.
“My job is to not panic and stay calm in the pocket and deliver the football to my receivers,” Fields said Wednesday.
Fields said that although he did not have his best game, the team was able to accomplish the most important task.
“Of course I made bad decisions, I ended up with three picks,” Fields said. “But we got the dub at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. I’m just glad we got the dub, we’re 4-0, so just going to go in and watch film tomorrow and continue to get better.”
Despite the uncharacteristic performance from Fields in turning the ball over, he increased his output to 13 passing touchdowns and 1,208 passing yards to go along with 3 interceptions on the season.
Head coach Ryan Day said that they had anticipated the game being “high-risk, high-reward” with the amount of blitzes the Hoosiers bring, but he said Fields was “really tough” against Indiana’s constant pressure.
“Overall, I thought he played really gutsy. He made some big time throws and they were blitzing,” Day said Saturday. “But certainly want to have those plays back, those interceptions back, but at the same time, you’ve got to be aggressive and you have to go at them.”
