Ohio State redshirt freshman quarterback Julian Sayin (10) calls out to his team during the game against Indiana Saturday. The No. 1 Buckeyes lost to the No. 3 Hoosiers in the Big Ten Championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium. Credit: Sandra Fu | Managing Photo Editor
With 2:48 remaining and a Big Ten title on the line, Ohio State trailed the Indiana Hoosiers 13-10, but surely not for long.
Jayden Fielding lined up for a 27-yard field goal that Buckeye Nation considered a chip shot for 3 points that would tie the game.
The ball, however, sailed wide left of the goalpost, and with it went any chance Ohio State had for victory. In the end, Ohio State suffered its first loss in 371 days, and Fielding’s miss reflected a theme that carried throughout much of the game at Lucas Oil Stadium: When the game mattered most, the Buckeyes could not deliver.
“When it works, it’s good,” head coach Ryan Day said. “When it doesn’t, then you want to take it back.”
Under the lights and a crowd of more than 68,000 fans Saturday night, the Buckeyes lost their No. 1 ranking and the Big Ten Championship, losing 13-10 to No. 2 Indiana, felled by an offense that buckled under relentless pressure and a defense that struggled to contain Indiana’s attack.
“I don’t think we had any weaknesses,” defensive end Caden Curry said. “I think we just made mistakes and [lost] big points of the game that kind of hurt us badly. And I feel like it can definitely fuel the fire,”
Julian Sayin was sacked five times and suffered multiple tackles for a loss. The usually poised quarterback looked hurried and pressured, throwing an interception on his second attempt of the night—a pass meant for Brandon Inniss—and finishing with just one touchdown, a 9-yard strike to Carnell Tate with 46 seconds left in the first quarter.
When Sayin did have time, he found a lifeline in Jeremiah Smith, who made eight catches for 144 yards, including a 52-yard jolt that briefly woke up a sleepy Buckeye offense.
Ohio State converted on only 4 of 11 third downs and failed on both of its fourth-down attempts, including one with 1:34 left in the third quarter when Sayin appeared to get a first down on a 2-yard rush that was overturned.
Ohio State managed 58 rushing yards, compared to Indiana’s 118, averaging just 2.2 yards per carry. Bo Jackson led the game on the ground with 83 yards on 17 carries, nearly matching his season average of 86.5 yards per game.
“We were one block away,” Austin Siereveld said. “One gap, one run, whatever you want to call it. We were one big play away to hit them, and just didn’t happen.
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza picked apart the nation’s toughest defense, throwing for 222 yards, including a 51-yard bomb at 10:09 of the third quarter that flipped momentum. The Hoosiers’ 340 total yards were the most Ohio State allowed all season.
A 17-yard touchdown with 8:02 left in the third quarter gave Indiana the lead for good, silencing the scarlet-and-gray sections of Lucas Oil Stadium.
For three months, Ohio State looked inevitable. Against Indiana, they looked vulnerable.
The loss has little impact on the Buckeyes’ playoff hopes, although they will fall out of the top spot. What it does primarily is serve as a wake-up call that the play on both sides of the ball must improve for them to be competitive moving forward in their quest for a national championship repeat.
“The season’s not over,” Day said. “[We’ve] got a lot of football ahead of us, and hopefully, we can use this as a way to get better as we head into the playoffs.”
