The Indiana Hoosiers erased all but three points of an 18-point Buckeye lead in the final two minutes of the game, but their second onside kick attempt failed, and Ohio State held off their frantic comeback to stay unbeaten on the season, 52-49.
Ohio State (7-0, 3-0) came out on the winning end of a game with 101 points scored for the second week in a row, as Braxton Miller and Carlos Hyde once again combined to rush for over 300 yards, but the shoddy defense by the Buckeyes took some of the luster off the victory. OSU receiver Devin Smith caught two long TD passes from Miller, and Bradley Roby scored his second touchdown in as many games when he recovered a blocked punt in the end zone.
The OSU defense played their starting fullback, Zach Boren, at linebacker for the first time in his college career, and he led the team in tackles for the game with eight. They gave up 481 total yards, including 331 yards (and 35 points) in the second half. After the game, Roby called the defensive performance “embarrassing”, and his head coach acknowledged the obvious. “Spread offensives are really exposing us right now,” Meyer said. “We have got to get something fixed.”
- Saturday, October 13, 2012
Good teams know how to win games in a variety of ways. Two weeks ago, Ohio State went up to East Lansing and edged Michigan State in a classic Big Ten defensive slugfest. Last Saturday, in front of a nighttime crowd in Columbus, the Buckeyes blasted Nebraska with volleys of firepower from every angle. Scoring touchdowns in all three phases, Ohio State blew away the Cornhuskers 63-38 to move to a perfect 6-0 on the season. And after back-to-back impressive performances against solid conference opposition, it’s safe to say this is a good team.
As I watched Ohio State struggle through their lost 2011 season, I thought, for the sake of the future, it was best to fall on the sword right then and there.
And then there was one.