Welcome to our first Buckeye preview since the move from NDNS!
Ohio State at Indiana
8pm Eastern/6pm Central (BTN)
Before last week’s matchup with Nebraska it seemed to us that the Buckeyes were a talented, flawed team in search of an identity or a signature win. We realize that a lot of fans and players considered the win over Sparty to be that defining moment, but for some reason it didn’t quite click for us.
The thrashing of Nebraska in prime time, on the other hand, showed us the Buckeye team we expected when Urban was introduced as head coach back in November: a team that could outscore anybody and wouldn’t let off the gas until the clock read triple zeroes.
For the team to be undefeated at this point is pretty amazing, even though ultimately this season is kind of a soft opening for the true beginning of the Urban Era next year. (Our editorial stance is the AP championship is incredibly unlikely and ultimately meaningless.)
So the Fightin’ Buckeyes of the Olentangy roll into Bloomington for a matchup with the Hoosiers. While they are 2-3, it could be argued that they put up a lot more fight in their losses than anyone expected. They put a scare into Sparty last week before ultimately collapsing, but have the second-rated offense in the B1G, for the love of Archie.
Unfortunately for the Hoosier faithful, their defense is not so good. This game seems (to us) to be setting up as a shootout much like that which we saw last week.
Our guaranteed* prediction: Ohio State 56, Hoosiers 27
* – If any of our predictions are wrong, you’re guaranteed to get your money back.
Now we’ve written as many previews as we did at MotSaG. A little embarrassing.