Not exactly the ending hoped for by Buckeye fans, but the answer to the question if this Indiana team is for real is an unequivocal YES. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Brian Bayless)
Ohio State left too many points on the field and wasted a strong defensive effort, losing to Indiana in a battle of the nation’s top two ranked teams. The question now? Can they repeat last year’s playoff run.
Indianapolis, IN – Popular opinion a year ago: The Michigan loss turned Ohio State into a playoff beast and national champion.
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Already a popular opinion in the Ohio State locker room: They will be the last team standing again.
Because all the No. 1 Buckeyes needed to win the Big Ten championship on Saturday night, they reasoned, was to make one more play in any number of moments. Instead, they tripped all over themselves too many times inside the 10-yard line and lost 13-10 to No. 2 Indiana.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and basketball and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Every player that spoke with the media knew why they lost – lack of execution in too many key situations – but they weren’t about to accept it as defining their season. They talked about how last year’s experience can guide this team’s immediate future, how this doesn’t have to be the defining game.
“Same circumstances as last year,” safety and captain Caleb Downs said. “Go win the next game.”
Ohio State’s last two losses – Saturday night and in 2024 to Michigan – are like realities in parallel universes. Both cost them the Big Ten. Both were 13-10. Both times they failed to score in the second half. Both times they missed second-half field goals that would have tied the score.
“It’s a matchup game,” defensive tackle Kayden McDonald said. “We played to the end, came down to one play, gotta make the play. We didn’t. But, you know, next game we will.”
Ryan Day reacts after opting to go for 4th and short instead of kicking a field goal . Ruled a first down on the field, replay revealed that Julian Sayin’s knee was down a yard shy of the first down marker.
“We knew we were the better team,” left tackle and captain Austin Siereveld said. “We just didn’t go out and execute and compete at the high level that we’re capable of, and hopefully we see them again.”
The Buckeyes and the Hoosiers are headed for the College Football Playoff. Indiana, with its first outright Big Ten title since 1945, will be the No. 1 seed and play a quarterfinal in the Rose Bowl on January 1. Ohio State, which lost to Indiana for the first time since 1988, will learn its quarterfinal destination at noon Sunday of either the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve or the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Day.
“Just because we did it last year doesn’t mean he can do it again necessarily,” captain and wide receiver Brandon Inniss said. “We have to go do it on the field. We have to execute when the defense holds a team to 13 points. At the end of the day, it’s the offense’s fault. We know that. And we’re going to clean everything up.”
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Head coach Ryan Day saw last year’s team galvanized by the Michigan loss and a meeting of grievances a few days later. He said hard conversations are coming.
“This is not going to sit well with anybody – it’s going to sting,” he said. “We can’t let this game beat us twice, but we can use it as an opportunity to get better and grow from. But that’s only going to happen if we get to work and do it. It isn’t magically going to happen.”
Caden Curry gets an early big hit on an Indiana back, a preview of the defensive battle that would ensue in a surprisingly low-scoring game.
The national championship is the ultimate prize. Last Saturday’s 27-9 triumph at Michigan felt ultimate in the moment. How important, how motivating was a game against Indiana coming off last week with the knowledge that there is more ahead no matter the outcome?
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“We’ve got to go with the urgency every day to put us in that situation,” Downs said. “And sometimes you need a little bit more motivation.”
Now they have it.
The Hoosier defense pressured Julian Sayin all night long, challenging an O-line that has been excellent all season.
The offensive motivation will be to execute better inside the 10 and score touchdowns. The Buckeyes got there four times and scored only 10 points.
All seemed well on their first advance when Julian Sayin threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Carnell Tate for a 7-3 lead with 46 seconds left in the first quarter.
But success trended in the wrong direction from there. In the second quarter, Sayin was sacked for one of the five times he hit the turf on third-and-six from the seven. Jayden Fielding kicked a 30-yard field goal for a 10-3 lead.
In the third quarter, Sayin picked up a first down on fourth-and-one at the five until further review. The play was overturned because it was determined Sayin’s knee touched the turf before he reached the first-down line. Zero points.
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The final blow came on what had the makings of a fourth-quarter winning drive. Sayin led the Buckeyes 81 yards in 15 plays to the Indiana nine. On third-and-one, Sayin rolled right looking for running back Bo Jackson. He was covered, so Sayin threw to tight end Bennett Christian.
In a gutsy call on 3rd and 5 late in the 4th, Mendoza connects for a 33 yard reception, a literal dagger in OSU’s hopes for a Big Ten Title.
But Indiana, in another example of its ability to execute key plays, made a game-saving play when linebacker Rolijah Hardy reached around Christian and batted away the pass. The decision to send Fielding out for a 27-yard field goal attempt was easy with 2:56 left.
But instead of tying the score, Fielding pushed his kick wide left, ending Ohio State’s chance at a first Big Ten title since 2020.
“It’s a team sport, it’s not individualistic,” defensive end Caden Curry said. “We’re not just going to dog him for that. There’s more plays the defense could have made, there’s more plays the offense could have made, more plays on special teams we could have made. He’s not just one person that defines the game, so nothing’s wrong with Jaden. I’m not going to put it all on him.”
This will have to wait another year…!
While the Buckeyes didn’t make enough explosive plays or enough crucial ones, Indiana did. To be fair, Lorenzo Styles Jr. broke up a screen pass that led to a Davison Igbinosun interception to set up Tate’s touchdown. And Jeremiah Smith caught a 52-yard pass to set up Fielding’s field goal. But Indiana’s ability to be clutch was enough against a defense that bent some and only broke once for a touchdown.
If big-time players make big-time plays, as the saying goes, then the Hoosiers have big-time players in Louis Moore, Hardy, Fernando Mendoza, Elijah Sarratt and Charlie Becker.
Moore broke well on a pass over the middle by Sayin on Ohio State’s fourth play for an interception to set up a field goal for the game’s first points.
Hardy made the defensive play of the game on the almost-TD pass to Christian.
Mendoza’s first big throws were 51 yards to Becker to set up his 17-yard touchdown to Sarratt, a back-shoulder dart in the front right corner of the end zone. Then after Ohio State’s missed field goal, Mendoza threw 33 yards to Becker again on third-and-six to end Ohio State’s chances.
The play was reminiscent of Smith’s long catch from Will Howard to clinch the national championship victory over Notre Dame.
The Hail Mary fell into the hands of Jeremiah Smith on the deflection, but he was surrounded and gang tackled by a pack of hungry Hoosiers, ending the Buckeyes’ perfect season.
Mendoza, with those big throws and a 15-for-23 and 222-yard night might have done enough to win the Heisman Trophy. Sayin was 21 of 29 for 258 yards, but he lost.
The 2024 Ohio State team proved with its overall playoff run and in a tight playoff win over Texas and a holding off of Notre Dame in the final, that it could respond to adversity. This year’s team had none of that until Indiana took the lead with eight minutes left in the third quarter. They didn’t respond with any more points.
Curry is optimistic the Buckeyes will respond the next three weeks and play good football in the playoffs.
“It kind of wakes us up, and we’re going to realize what we need to get fixed,” he said. “I don’t think we had any weaknesses. I think we just made mistakes at big points of the game that hurt us badly. It can definitely fuel the fire, and it can push us to be better versions of ourselves.”
If that happens, last year’s run can be repeated. If not, like Day said, there’s no such thing as magic, only great practices and great game execution.
While the Buckeyes stood together as one on the field and sang “Carmen Ohio” after the game, left guard Luke Montgomery thought about the answer going forward to the night’s disappointment.
“Don’t let it happen again,” he said. “It’s a bad day when you lose at Ohio State. We’re not gonna let that happen again. We’re gonna win it all.”
The Buckeyes showed a little razzle dazzle with a backward pass to Brandon Innis, followed by an Innis to Bo Jackson cross field pass.
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