Ohio State Football: Takeaways from Buckeye win over Indiana

The Ohio State football team beat the Indiana Hoosiers 23-3 on Saturday afternoon in Bloomington. Here are three takeaways from the game.

Even though it wasn’t pretty, the Ohio State football team took care of business on Saturday afternoon with a 23-3 victory over Indiana. The defense led the way as the Hoosier offense wasn’t able to get anything going.

But the Ohio State offense left much to be desired. They were clunky and it looked like they were not in any form of continuity amongst each other. With three weeks to go before the big game in South Bend, the Buckeyes better figure out some things on the offensive side of the ball. Here are three takeaways from the game.

 No 1.) The Ohio State offensive line needs to play better.

Anybody with two eyeballs could see this, but the offensive line did not play well yesterday. Specifically at left tackle, Josh Simmons got tossed around in both pass protection and the running game. It was visible that Kyle McCord did not trust his blocking, often throwing check-downs before routes down the field could open up.

If Ohio State can’t figure out the offensive line quickly, it doesn’t matter who is playing quarterback, the offense will struggle. And with the Notre Dame game looming, this is an alarming situation.

No. 2) Sonny Styles looked good in his starting debut.

Sometimes the Ohio State coaching staff doesn’t like to put young, talented players on the field over veterans. This wasn’t the case yesterday as safety Sonny Styles saw the majority of snaps at his position. And it showed.

Styles finished with four tackles and 1.5 tackles for a loss, but he seemed to be in on every play as I saw No. 6 around the ball all day. His presence on the field was felt, and that’s great to see from this super-talented second-year player.

No. 3) Running game looked a lot like last season.

The rushing attack looked a lot like it did last year from Ohio State. Most of that has to do with the poor offensive line play as the backs were often met in the backfield from Hoosier defenders. But especially in short-yardage situations, Ryan Day was predictable in play calling and the results were iffy at best.

Chip Traynum looked solid, like last season. Treveyon Henderson had his nice moments. But overall, it wasn’t good enough for a top-three-ranked team in the country. They need to rush the ball better in the upcoming weeks.