Ohio State vs. Indiana

By Tony Gerdeman

It's that time of year again. It's the Big Ten's version of the Washington Generals versus the Harlem Globetrotters.

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Not only is that kind of harsh, but it's also an exaggeration. Ohio State only has a record of 63-12-5 against the Hoosiers. Included in that is 22 of the last 25 for the Buckeyes. Whereas the Generals beat the Globetrotters only once, in 1971.

Indiana seems to be nearing the verge of no-longer being mentioned with Illinois when people talk about the bottom of the Big Ten. There won't be a bowl for Indiana this year, but next year they could have a shot.

Yes, the Hoosiers are 4-2 right now, but they've done exactly what they were supposed to have done up to this point, and that is expected to continue. Wins against Central Michigan, Nicholls State, Kentucky and Illinois doesn't exactly scream "Motor City Bowl".

There has definitely been a coaching and philosophy upgrade for Indiana, compared with last year and pretty much the thirty or forty years before that. Hoosier Head Coach Terry Hoeppner has his players believing in the system, and why not, they're winning and he makes it fun for all involved.

He is also trying to instill tradition where there has never really been any. Imagine being married for 40 years and then hearing a Journey song and telling your wife, "This is our song from now on." It takes a while to stick. (Especially Journey.) That's exactly what Hoeppner has done this season. He had a three-ton piece of limestone brought into the stadium and they dubbed it "The Rock".

Hoeppner's rationale? "I felt that this program needed a unique identity, something that the players and fans could relate to."

Everybody can relate to limestone!

When Indiana Has The Ball

They move it. Mostly through the air, though. They are 38th in the country in total offense. They pass for 253 and rush for 157. They have really only had two good games running the football, however. And those came against Kentucky (305 yards) and Illinois (205 yards.)

One of the huge keys for the Hoosier offense has simply been the shear number of offensive plays. Last week at Iowa, they held the ball for over 40 minutes and had 101 offensive plays. Compare that with the 41 offensive plays that the Buckeyes had last week.

When Indiana moves the ball against the Buckeyes, it'll be via the quarterback., and Hoosier quarterback Blake Powers has been everything Terry Hoeppner could've hoped for. Powers has thrown 20 touchdowns, but has somewhat tempered that with seven interceptions. Still, as much as Indiana has been throwing it this year, interceptions are going to happen.

In the Big Ten, Indiana is throwing the ball around 44 times per game. Blake Powers main target has been 6'7" redshirt freshman wide receiver James Hardy. Hardy is second in the nation in receiving yards per game with 124. He's also fourth in receptions per game at 7.67. Both of those numbers are even better in conference play. Hardy has 29 catches in their three Big Ten games to this point for an average of 159 yards per game. He has eight touchdowns this season, six coming from inside the 10 yard line. If they get down there, Ashton Youboty and Malcolm Jenkins will need to be ready for the fade.

Powers looks for Hardy long and short, and usually finds him in both places. There are several other very capable receivers on this team, including two other redshirt freshmen. James Bailey, at 6'2" is more of the possession-type, as evidenced by his 9 catches last week for 65 yards (including a 20 yarder for a touchdown.) Marcus Thigpen is the other freshman of note. He has a 74 yard touchdown catch to his credit.

With Tyler Everett out, there will be some shuffling in the secondary. Freshman cornerback Malcolm Jenkins will start at cornerback again, and will continue to improve. We could see freshman Jamario O'Neal perhaps getting some time at strong safety and Donte Whitner moving down to nickelback. Coach Tressel has even dodged questions about Ted Ginn playing some defensive back this week. Brandon Mitchell may end up with the start if the Buckeyes open in the nickel as he was the first one off the bench when Everett went down last week.

Running the ball for the Hoosiers will be the tandem of starter Chris Taylor and backup Yancey Washington. Taylor is a 6'0" 220 pound sophomore with nice power and decent speed. In fact, in his last two home games (Kentucky and Illinois), Taylor has eight carries of 20 or more yards. Taylor is a boom or bust type of guy. Against Kentucky he had 176 yards rushing. Against Illinois he had 132. In their four other games, Taylor has only averaged 38 yards per game, while only getting a few less carries.

Backing him up is Hoosier lifer Yamar Washington (who is finally a senior). It only seems like he came in with Antwaan Randle El. Washington is only averaging 3.5 yards per carry this year, so don't really expect him to exceed that this Saturday.

As a unit, Washington and Taylor are only averaging 4.3 yards per carry, and that's mainly on the strength of two games. The Buckeyes should be able to play a nickel all game and not really miss the extra tackler--especially if Bobby Carpenter keeps getting to the quarterback.

The Buckeye defensive tackles have been doing such a great job stopping anything run up the middle and keeping blockers off of the linebackers that it's been pretty easy pickings for Hawk and Co. this year. Battling the Buckeye defensive line this week will be a veteran offensive line for the Hoosiers. They've all started before this season and they've all started each game this season. Hoeppner has them in sync with what he's trying to do. They are giving up two or three sacks per game, but as much as the Hoosiers have been throwing, that's not to be unexpected.

The Hoosiers don't use their tight ends very much. Blake Powers does look for junior tight end Matt O'Neal in the red zone, however, as evidenced by his two touchdown catches early in the season.

Freshman place-kicker Joe Kleinsmith is only 2-4 on field goals for the season and 22-24 on extra points. Punting the ball for the Hoosiers will be junior Tyson Beattie. He's averaging around 42 yards per kick with a long of only 55 yards. The Buckeyes have a chance to return some punts this weekend, as Beattie has only forced seven fair catches out of his 37 punts.

Junior receiver Lance Bennett is the only return threat to this point. He has had an 86 yard kickoff return this year.

When Ohio State Has The Ball

Expect to see more of what you saw last week against Michigan State. The Buckeyes will continue to have success in the I formation and change it up whenever the whim arises.

When the Buckeyes are running the ball well out of the I formation, the play action pass becomes Troy Smith's best friend. You saw that last week with the two touchdown passes to Santonio Holmes.

The Hoosiers have nine total sacks on the season, so Troy Smith should have as much time as he could possibly want to look for a first or second receiver. It may also allow the Buckeyes to throw more with more receivers on the field. No, Smith hasn't thrived in that situation, but it may allow him to progress a bit.

Defending the pass for the Hoosiers will be a couple of talented sophomore cornerbacks Tracy Porter (5'10") and Leslie Majors (5'9"). The Hoosiers only have four interceptions on the season, two of them are Porter's.

Santonio Holmes will be given time to get open, and he will. The responsibility for the help over the top will come from junior free safety Troy Grosfield. Grosfield initially came to Indiana as a kicker. Yep.

Indiana is allowing 200 yards passing per game, and if the Buckeyes don't reach that total, it's because they were too busy running for 300 yards to worry about throwing.

Getting the overwhelmingly vast majority of carries for the Buckeyes will be Antonio Pittman. Do not be surprised if he exceeds all of his career-highs this week. Although he probably has a better chance of besting his high of 171 yards rushing and <i>a</i> touchdown than he does of getting more than 28 carries.

In fact, several Buckeye running backs could set career-highs this week. Brandon Schnittker could top 13 yards and Maurice Wells could top the 32 yards he got against San Diego State.

The two Indiana linebackers that will be in double-digits in tackles will be John Pannozzo and Kyle Killion. They are going to have a very busy day tackling the ball and whomever may be carrying it. And they may even be topped by strong safety Will Meyers. Meyers is currently tied with Pannozzo for the team lead in tackles with 40.

The front four trying to slow down the Buckeye running game is not a big one. It seems as though Terry Hoeppner is trying to go with speed over size right now. The problem is that the speed isn't quite there yet. The main guy to watch out for is senior defensive end Victor Adeyanju. He is 6'4" 275 pounds and is as big as their interior guys. He is also tied with John Pannozzo for the team lead in sacks with three.

Buckeye right tackle Kirk Barton should be back this week, so he and left tackle Doug Datish may have a little bit of a test on their hands. The other starting defensive end is 6'3" 255 pound Ben Ishola. He has two sacks. They are not the most prolific sackers, but they are veterans, so if Barton can't go all game and freshman Alex Boone has to step in, it may make for interesting television. Unless, of course, you're in the stadium.

The Buckeye special teams continues to be a strength (when a ball is coming off of a Buckeye foot, anyway). Expect the muffings from last week to be corrected, or else it will begin to jeopardize playing time for those back there.

How It'll End Up

Troy Smith will have another good day passing with a solid completion percentage and yards per attempt. Again, the biggest passing plays will come from the play action because the Hoosiers will not be able to contain the Buckeye running game. Who knows, Troy Smith may not even get booed this week.

Antonio Pittman will rush for two hundred yards and let's go on the record saying he scores three times this weekend.

Blake Powers will have to throw the ball fifty-odd times because there will be no running game for the Hoosiers this week. And if Chris Taylor doesn't bust one of his 20 or 30 yard runs, the Hoosiers could very well end up with negative rushing yards. Since the Buckeyes won't have to respect the running game, they can just come after Powers all day long.

Bobby Carpenter may continue to steal A.J. Hawk's accolades.

Do not be surprised if James Hardy gets behind the defense at least once for a big gain.

It could end up being the most raucous crowd in Bloomington in decades. There are going to be 15,000-30,000 Buckeyes in the stadium and the Hoosier fans in the stadium have been challenged by Terry Hoeppner to help the Hoosiers win the game. Football has become fun for the Hoosier fans again, and they are going to be loud. Initially.

Let's just be glad there is no "Cream Out".

Ohio State 38 - Indiana 14

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