Indiana football deserves playoff berth, but concerns arise after Ohio State loss

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Indiana coach Curt Cignetti and running back Ty Son Lawton agreed there was a clear turning point in Saturday’s 38-15 loss to No. 2 Ohio State.

With about 11 minutes left in the second quarter, the fifth-ranked Hoosiers led the Buckeyes 7-0, setting up a decisive 3rd-and-1. But before the ball was intercepted, Ohio State defensive back Tylake Williams knocked Indiana right guard Bray Lynch off his post and to the ground. Indiana left tackle Carter Smith applauded after he lifted Lynch off the turf and Lynch signaled for a first down. Everyone thought it was a penalty in Williams’ favor.

However, the referees canceled the game due to a penalty for a false start.

“Williams gets away with one, Tylake Williams, because he obviously jumped,” Joel Klatt said on FOX. “You can see the shy grin on his face. Do you see this? He was like, “I got away with one.”

They announced it was Indiana tight end James Bomba, but official statistics from Ohio State and Indiana attributed the penalty to Lynch. That pushed the Hoosiers back to 3rd-and-6, and Ohio State sacked Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke for an 11-yard loss.

“It looked like they were offsides, which would have given us a first down,” Cignetti said. “But we were called for a penalty. I’m not sure they made the right choice. … From that point on, I’m not actually saying that the game would have been different that time – that’s not what I’m saying at all – that’s where the game really changed. It was around that moment.”

“That’s when everything went downhill,” Lawton said.

After an Indiana punt, Ohio State scored five plays later to tie the game 7–7. Indiana went three-and-out on its next possession, ending with another sack. With 1:47 left in the half, Indiana punter James Evans dropped the snap and recovered a turnover on downs, bringing Ohio State to Indiana’s seven-yard line. Three plays later, the Buckeyes scored three times to lead 14-7 at halftime.

Early in the second half, Indiana’s offense went out of control and then had another deadly special teams error. Evans’ punt was returned by Caleb Downs for a 79-yard touchdown, giving the Buckeyes a 21-7 lead. Indiana could be more competitive if not for the disastrous special teams performances, but the bigger problem going forward is its offense.

The Hoosiers entered Saturday’s game averaging 453.2 yards per game and ranked second nationally in scoring at 43.9 points per game. Against Ohio State, he finished with a season-low 151 yards, 2.6 yards per play and 15 points. Indiana took an early 7-0 lead against Ohio State, driving 70 yards, but finished with 0 total yards in the second quarter, 36 in the third and 62 in the fourth.

“We couldn’t protect the quarterback,” Cinetti said. “We had communication errors in pass pro. Every time we stepped back to pass, something bad happened. It felt like we had been in that end zone to our left for nine years. It was like a nightmare.”

Indiana’s second-worst performance in those categories came in its previous game against Michigan, when it finished with 20 points, 246 yards and 4.4 yards per play. Through the first nine games of the season, Indiana had seven games with over 400 yards of total offense and four games with over 500 total offense. It also scored over 30 points in all nine games and scored over 40 points seven times.

Ohio State sacked Rourke five times and pressured him throughout the day. This resulted in his worst performance of the season. Rourke completed just 8 of 18 passes for 68 yards, no touchdowns and no errors. This marked his lowest completion percentage at 16.3% and his fewest passing yards of the entire game at 138. It was also his first game without a touchdown pass.

Rourke said he needs to do a better job of recognizing where blitzes are coming from and where to go with the ball, as well as protecting the ball when hit. But he rejected the idea of ​​Indiana giving up any part of its offense after Saturday’s game because he trusts the scheme and his teammates.

“You have to be close to perfect to beat a team like that, and we’ll have a chance to play a lot of teams like that,” Rourke said. “So realizing that we can’t make those mistakes and we have to be in the game throughout the game is a learning opportunity. But now you need to be able to move on and not have any more learning opportunities.”

Some of this decline was to be expected. Ohio State is by far the best defense Indiana has ever faced, and Michigan has every reason to be the second-best. Both have NFL talent on the defensive line, and Indiana played both games without starting left guard Drew Evans, who is out for the season with an Achilles injury.

Indiana used the quiet count against Ohio State for the first time all season, although it had used it in practice before. Cignetti said the Buckeyes’ blitz was something Indiana hadn’t seen or practiced before the game. But that didn’t mean the Hoosiers would pull it off.

“I think you chalk it up to the noise and having to keep a quiet count – the center couldn’t hear – and the speed at which they do it compared to our scout team, the pressure of the moment, our guys just didn’t respond very well,” Cignetti said. . “Sometimes we missed tasks, sometimes there were mistakes in communication, sometimes we were beaten physically, but it wasn’t pretty.”

“I thought we could handle this at our normal pace based on the reports we received. Some of the linesmen could hear, but the center couldn’t. We had to shut up. It wasn’t a problem. We got the ball back.”

Lawton said Ohio State rotated its linebackers to the point where Indiana thought the blitz was coming from one side, but then it came from the other side. He also believes Indiana’s crowd noise in practice is louder than the fans at Ohio Stadium, but Ohio State was able to time Indiana’s silent count.

“I don’t think (the noise) affected us at all, but I feel like Ohio State picked up on our quiet rhythm and jumped on it every time. So I feel like that affected us in that part,” Lawton said.

“I was on the sidelines telling them I thought we could just hold off (the quiet count) for another second or two. … Because our quiet rhythm, they caught our quiet rhythm. So it was easy for them to jump over the rig. I don’t think that… (the noise) probably ever affected us. We had a false start once or twice, but I don’t think it affected us in that aspect, but rather that they knew when we were going to intercept the ball because of the silent score.”

Rourke and the offensive line played well all season, to the point that Rourke entered the Heisman Trophy conversation, and the line ranked 17th nationally in run blocking and 30th in pass blocking. But Saturday’s loss to Ohio State shows Indiana still has the ability to compete with the best teams in the country. However, this shouldn’t knock Indiana out of the College Football Playoff, and early projections say it won’t, assuming it takes care of business against Purdue.

ESPN still gives the Hoosiers a 97.7% chance of making the playoffs. CBS And Athletic gave Indiana the No. 9 seed in the final bracket, setting up a road game against No. 8 Notre Dame in the first round. ESPN placed the Hoosiers in 11th place and they faced No. 6 Penn State on the road.

If any of these matchups come to fruition (and several other situations are also possible), Indiana will have to make a few key changes. At the top of that list is his ability to handle a rough road and a strong defensive line, two things the Hoosiers will face at Penn State or Notre Dame.