COLUMBUS, Ohio — Mikail Kamara’s hands stayed on his hips, his feet glued to Ohio Stadium’s 6-yard line. After several seconds spent watching Ohio State’s celebration, the redshirt junior defensive end exhaled a deep breath, his shoulders dropping to their normal level.
No. 5 Indiana football, in its biggest test on its biggest stage, found itself trailing 28-7 in Saturday’s game against the No. 2 Buckeyes in Columbus, Ohio.
On the ensuing drive, Indiana fifth-year senior receiver Myles Price jumped up and down three times, his arms swinging in evident frustration. Price, the target of sixth-year senior quarterback Kurtis Rourke’s errantly low screen pass on 3rd and 11, saw an opportunity go to waste.
So did the Hoosiers (10-1), whose dreams of an undefeated regular season and a trip to the Big Ten Championship game ended in uncompetitive fashion, 38-15, to Ohio State (10-1) on Saturday afternoon.
Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said postgame the Hoosiers simply didn’t play their best. Unfortunately for Indiana, some 105,751 fans bore witness to it inside Ohio Stadium. Perhaps more importantly, so did millions of viewers on Fox — and the College Football Playoff committee.
The Hoosiers, however, don’t believe their performance was indicative of the team they truly are — a sentiment defensive coordinator Bryant Haines told his unit in the locker room.
“Coach Haines described it as an uncharacteristic game from us,” junior linebacker Aiden Fisher said after the game. “A lot of mistakes that we made today, we don’t usually make. And credit to Ohio State, they played a really good football game.”
Indiana’s defense faced an Ohio State offense Cignetti described as “loaded,” headlined by a pair of star receivers in freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith and senior standout Emeka Egbuka.
Buckeyes fifth-year senior quarterback Will Howard went 22-for-26 passing for 201 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, while senior running back TreVeyon Henderson and junior ballcarrier Quinshon Judkins combined for 104 yards and one touchdown on 23 carries.
Still, Indiana’s defense kept Ohio State to 316 total yards, the Buckeyes’ second-lowest output this season. Cignetti added he was pleased with his team’s defensive performance.
But Cignetti said the Hoosiers’ offense and special teams needed to carry their respective shares.
Indiana posted 151 yards of offense, its worst mark by 95 yards. Dating back to the second half of the Hoosiers’ 20-15 victory over Michigan on Nov. 9, Indiana’s offense has gained just 169 yards over its last six quarters. After an opening drive touchdown, Indiana failed to score on its next seven full possessions.
Ohio State’s defense entered Saturday ranked second in the country, allowing only 250.8 yards per game while leading the Big Ten with 35 sacks. The Buckeyes made life difficult for Rourke, who was sacked five times and completed only 8 of 18 passes for 68 yards. His 44% completion rate is the worst of his career across 46 appearances.
Rourke said the Hoosiers had seen Ohio State’s blitz packages on film, but he feels he needs to do a better job of calling out the blitzes before they come. The 24-year-old Rourke added he was upset with himself for missing a handful of opportunities.
The loss is a chance to grow, Rourke said, but it’s also a lesson that leaves a painful blemish on the Hoosiers’ resume.
“You’ve got to be close to perfect to beat a team like this,” Rourke said. “We’re going to have a chance to play a lot of similar teams like this, so knowing we can’t have these mistakes and we’ve got to be on our game for the whole game is a learning opportunity.”
Indiana’s offensive mistakes were compounded by blunders on special teams.
With less than two minutes to play in the first half and the game tied at 7, Indiana senior punter James Evans trotted out for his second attempt of the day. He botched the snap, lost 23 yards and was dropped at his own 7-yard line. Ohio State scored three plays later, putting the Hoosiers in a 14-7 halftime deficit.
Indiana received the kickoff to start the second half — but instead of regaining momentum, the Hoosiers went three-and-out. Evans’ punt chased Ohio State sophomore returner Caleb Downs back to his own 21-yard line, but he made a few defenders miss and stormed past several others en route to a 79-yard touchdown.
Once tied at 7, Indiana lost touch with Ohio State after three plays apiece on offense and defense and two fatal snaps on special teams.
“We’ve got to capitalize on special teams,” seventh-year senior running back Ty Son Lawton said postgame. “Special teams kind of killed us.”
The Hoosiers were in the center of the college football landscape Saturday. The sport’s top two pregame shows, ESPN’s College GameDay and Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff, were both in attendance. Indiana, already facing questions about its strength of schedule as it hasn’t played a team with more than six wins this season, had an opportunity to quiet any doubts.
Instead of capitalizing, Indiana crumbled — though Cignetti felt the performance had more to do with Ohio State’s brilliance than anything else.
“I think maybe pressure of the moment was the wrong term,” Cignetti said. “Maybe it was the ability of the opponent.”
And for the first time in Cignetti’s first season as Indiana’s head coach, the opponent proved too much to overcome — especially with a barrage of self-inflicted wounds pinched in.
Follow reporters Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) and Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and columnist Jhett Garrett (@jhettgarrett) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
