Defensive End Caden Curry flexes after bringing down an Indiana running back in the Big 10 Championship game. The Buckeyes fell 13-10 to the undefeated Indiana Hoosiers. Credit: Liam Ahern | Sports Photo Editor
For many Hoosiers, there are few songs more meaningful than “Back Home in Indiana.”
“From the fields I used to roam, when I dream about the moonlight of the Wabash, then I long for Indiana, my home.”
Native-born Hoosier Caden Curry seemed to embody the song as he came back to his home state and into Lucas Oil Stadium, the same venue where he won back-to-back state championships with Center Grove High School.
On that turf in the Big Ten Championship, Curry made it clear what home meant to him: two crushing sacks, seven total tackles, and the only standout performance on a Buckeye team that was otherwise average in its 13-10 loss to Indiana.
Head coach Ryan Day acknowledged the importance of Curry’s play.
“I thought the guys played really, really hard today, and certainly he led the way,” Day said.
Curry’s excellence showed on the first play of the game when he burst past a blocker, lowered his left shoulder, and drilled Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza into the turf.
It was a hit that left the previously rowdy Hoosier crowd silent and it set the tone for the day to come for the defensive end.
Curry wasn’t just disruptive; he was unavoidable, slicing into the backfield, chasing down plays in space and flashing the relentlessness that made teammates describe him as the “motor” of the Silver Bullets.
The Hoosiers tried to evade him, but the senior would not be denied. In the first half he tallied two sacks, five pressures, and a pass deflection on third down in the red zone to force Indiana to settle for a field goal.
But even with Curry’s dominance, the Buckeyes went into the locker room clinging to a 4-point lead.
Ohio State soon found itself in unfamiliar territory, as it trailed going into the fourth quarter. They didn’t look like the well-oiled offensive machine of the regular season and their iron defense was bending under Indiana’s offensive momentum.
Only one thing remained consistent: Curry’s unwavering play.
“He’s been like that all year and that’s the player he’s become,” Day said about Curry’s tenacity. “I thought the defense played hard and gave us a chance to win and he was a big part of that.”
He continued to disrupt Mendoza in the pocket. He dropped back in coverage and ran step-for-step on third down with tight end Riley Nowakowski to take away the quarterback’s first read and kill another Hoosier drive.
In the end, his efforts alone couldn’t pull the Buckeyes out of their funk, but he proved a defensive anchor that helped hold a Hoosier offense averaging 44.6 points per game to just 13.
“I don’t care how good I played; we still lost,” Curry said. “It’s not an individual sport.”
