Film Breakdown: Ohio State football team's keys to victory over Indiana

As a former football coach who coached for 15 years, I watch a lot of film breakdowns of high school and college football. So, for a series of articles, I will give you my thoughts on watching the Ohio State football game live and then going back and watching it from the All-22 perspective. Here are my thoughts.

Under new Head Coach Curt Cignetti Indiana started the season 10-0. They have not had any wins against any top-25 teams, but they have been dominant. They have beaten their opponents on average by a score of 44-14. Offensively they are 22nd in the nation in total yards and 14th in scoring.

Defensively, they have been even better, checking in at ninth in total yards allowed. They have been one of the best-performing teams statistically so far this season, but again, they have zero wins against good teams.

Indiana's offense vs. Ohio State defense

Looking at the film, Indiana is running a traditional spread offense, but they are running it at a higher and more efficient level than most teams. Their ability to line up and mimic whether it is a pass or run and dictate that based on what the defense is doing is impressive.

Then, on top of it, they have a talented quarterback who is constantly making the right reads. Kurtis Rourke is having a great season after transferring over from Ohio. He has been efficient through the air, throwing 2,410 yards, 21 touchdowns, and completing 72% of his passes. He is efficient and delivers a good ball to his teammates promptly.

The play below is a great example of how good Rourke is playing as a quarterback. It is an action play, and he scans the field and throws the ball into a tight window against Michigan. This is a big-time throw by him.

The other big strength of the Indiana offense has been their offensive line. They have constantly done a great job keeping Rourke clean in the pocket and have done a good job creating rushing lanes for them to run the ball well.

Ohio State's defense is one of the best defenses in the country and they have stepped up and played extremely well after the Oregon loss. The biggest difference in the last month is how much they have diversified and changed up their looks. No longer are they playing stagnant and not moving around.

The Ohio State defense has brought a ton of different pressure looks and created different looks for offenses. Jim Knowles has revamped their defense on the fly, and it has improved greatly since the Oregon loss.

The other part of this equation is finally when Indiana played good defense in Michigan, they were slowed down and only scored 20 points in a victory. Rourke was sacked four times as Michigan was able to create pressure on him. Ohio State has an even better defense than Michigan, so they should be able to slow down this Indiana offense.

Ohio States offense vs. Indiana defense

The Indiana defense has probably been the most impressive of the two Indiana units. Of Indiana's 11 starters on defense, ten have come from the transfer portal as Curt Cignetti has done a quick rebuild for Indiana. They are an experienced group who know how to play football and know their roles well.

They have been particularly nasty stopping the run. They have only allowed 72 yards per game on the ground. That is the best in the country by seven yards per game. Now again, their schedule has been soft, but still, they have been a dominant bunch this year.

Aiden Fisher has been dominant all year for Indiana. The James Madison transfer is a tackling machine for Indiana. Any runs between the tackles he usually shuts them down down. He does a great job of getting off blocks and making plays along the line of scrimmage.

The other key player for Indiana is Mikail Kamara the James Madison transfer. He leads the nation with 51 pressures and he has ten sacks on the year. Both these players and the rest of the defense play well together, and it will be a huge challenge for the Ohio State offense.

In the clips below, Aidan Fisher makes two impressive plays. In the first play, he does a great job dropping in coverage and making a play on the ball thrown into his zone to create an interception. In the second play, he reads the run play and attacks downhill to make a tackle.

On the other hand, Indiana has not seen an offense like Ohio State. Ohio State has probably the best duo of running backs in the country in TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins. Plus, a talented wide receiver group led by Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka.

Will Howard has continued to play at a high level, especially with his accuracy. I am not sure if Indiana has the players on the outside to match up with Ohio State’s wide receivers. I suspect that Ohio State will attack Indiana’s corners because, on paper, they have an advantage there. The offensive line has played well, and they will need to continue this week for Ohio State to get the win.

Final thoughts

This is the third top-five match-up for Ohio State this year. Indiana has had an impressive season and deserves respect for starting 10-0, but if Ohio State is a legit National Championship team they should take care of business and get this win.

It wouldn't surprise me if it is a one-possession game because Indiana is well-coached and has good players, but looking at the film Ohio State should be able to get the win.