Ohio State Football: Positive takeaways from win over Indiana

On Saturday the #3 Ohio State Buckeyes held off the #9 Indiana Hoosiers, 42-35. Despite some sloppy play on both sides of the ball, there are far more positives than negatives regarding this Ohio State team, let’s talk about them.

Perfection is the expectation when it comes to Ohio State football. One loss is one too many, and even a close game is unacceptable to the Buckeye faithful. It is completely reasonable to be worried about some parts of the team, such as pass protection and the secondary, but let’s get past that for a moment and focus on the positives.

Justin Fields doesn’t have to play perfectly for Ohio State to win.

While Fields was still able to throw for 300 yards, two touchdowns, and run for 78 yards and a touchdown, it will be the three interceptions that will be remembered. All three were the result of poor decision making by Fields.

However, even with his struggles, the offense did fine. Master Teague ran for 169 yards and had two scores and Trey Sermon added 60 yards. Even though the offense scored just one touchdown in the second half, OSU still came close to their season average of 46.3 points-per-game and did so against a top-20 defense.

Master Teague has emerged as the primary RB.

Say goodbye to the 50/50 split between Master Teague and Trey Sermon. After Saturday’s performance, Teague has solidified his spot as the Buckeyes’ primary RB with 169 yards and two scores on 26 carries. Teague’s first touchdown run was a 41-yard burst, he had good blocks, hit the open holes, and showed his speed. Master’s best trait is his toughness, 153 of his 169 yards occurred after contact, according to Pro Football Focus.

Ohio State’s run defense is great.

Living in the shadows of the secondary’s woes is the run defense’s success. As a team, Indiana rushed for -1 yards against the Buckeyes. Ohio State now joins Wisconsin as the only teams in the Big Ten allowing fewer than 100 rushing yards per game.

The Buckeyes forced Indiana to solely rely on moving the ball through the air, but unfortunately, Indiana is pretty good at that. Even though Indiana QB Michael Penix Jr. was able to throw 491 yards, consistent pressure was brought.

Ohio State doesn’t have to play another ranked team until the postseason.

It’s easy to be discouraged after a close win where mistakes were made. But, let’s take a step back and remember this was a top ten win, against a team that will likely be playing in a New Year’s Six Bowl. Next up on the schedule is Illinois, Michigan State, and Michigan.

Those three teams have a collective 5-9 record and are nowhere near being top 25 teams. The most likely ranked team to next play the Buckeyes are the Northwestern Wildcats, who are 5-0 and leading the Big Ten West.

Stay positive, Buckeye fans. Some improvements unquestionably need to be made, but Ohio State is still a top-four team and has a legitimate shot at a National Title in 2020.