No. 3 Ohio State started its 2023 season off on the right foot with a 23-3 win over Indiana, though it wasn't the most convincing triumph. While the Buckeyes were never in danger of losing, the explosive offense associated with the Buckeyes under Ryan Day apparently didn't make the trip to Bloomington, Indiana, on Saturday.
Things started well enough. After forcing a three-and-out from Indiana on the game's opening possession, the Ohio State offense went 80 yards in 11 plays to jump to a 7-0 lead. The Buckeyes spread the ball around to seven different players during the drive and it felt like we were in store for a rout -- which never actually materialized.
Ohio State managed only one more touchdown drive in the game as Indiana's defense did an excellent job of keeping everything in front of it and the Buckeyes failed to finish drives. Ohio State reached the red zone four times but had to settle for field goals on two of them.
Kyle McCord finished the game with 239 yards passing and no touchdowns. Stud receivers Emeka Egbuka and Marvin Harrison Jr. were mostly invisible, finishing with a combined five receptions for 34 yards. Instead it was Julian Fleming (six receptions, 58 yards) and Cade Stover (five catches, 98 yards) having the most success in the passing game. On the ground, Chip Trayanum led the Buckeyes with 57 yards rushing while Miyan Williams finished with two touchdowns.
The Hoosiers struggled to move the ball all game. Brendan Sorsby started the game at quarterback and rotated in and out with Tayven Jackson. Neither performed well, combining to complete nine of 21 passes for 82 yards. Things weren't much better on the ground where the Hoosiers rushed for 71 yards on 33 carries. In the end, the Ohio State defense held Indiana to 2.8 yards per play.
It's Ohio State's 28th consecutive win over the Hoosiers, who have not beaten the Buckeyes since the 1988 season.
Here are the primary takeaways from Saturday's season opener.
1. So much for the Ohio State QB battle
Leading up to the game, Day's story was that nobody had won the job and he was sticking to it. McCord would start against Indiana, but he and Devin Brown would see playing time. Technically, Day did not lie. McCord did start and Brown did play, but they did not play nearly the same amount.
Brown saw limited action. In his lone series before garbage time, the Buckeyes went three-and-out. McCord took every other snap until the final minutes when Brown came in to wrap things up and completed one pass for a loss of 2 yards. He also finished with -3 yards rushing.
What's surprising is that while McCord wasn't bad, it's not like he was lights out. It'd be one thing if he played so well that the Buckeyes decided to ride the hot hand, but that's not what happened. McCord completed 20 of his 33 passes for 239 yards and an interception. It's enough to make you think the situation is settled, but the Buckeyes don't want to say so publicly.
Odds are Devin Brown will play more next week, but only because the Buckeyes are playing Youngstown State. That's the kind of game that should see everybody on the two-deep getting snaps.
2. Ohio State offensive line didn't look great
On the one hand, Ohio State didn't allow a sack. On the other, Indiana finished with five tackles for loss. While the Hoosiers weren't overly disruptive in that sense, you didn't see much domination from the Buckeyes up front. Ohio State averaged only 4.6 yards per carry in the ground game, and while Chip Trayanum averaged 7.1 yards, his success had more to do with dodging tacklers than wide-open lanes. The rest of the team finished with 86 yards on 23 carries (3.7 per). Day said before the game we should expect a more "old-school" approach from the Buckeyes offensively, but I don't think he truly meant 3 yards and a cloud of dust.
They got away with it against Indiana, but it's hard to imagine the same performance working against tougher opponents like Notre Dame, Penn State and Michigan.
3. Ohio State defense wasn't disruptive
Maybe it's nitpicking, but while the Buckeyes defense was outstanding overall, you'd like to see more chaos. They finished with six tackles for loss but only one sack. Given Ohio State's talent on its defensive line, you expect better. Granted, Indiana wasn't exactly dropping back very often; it attempted only 21 passes in the game as its offensive game plan seemed centered more on keeping from being blown out than trying to win the game.
Also, while the Buckeyes might not have blown up a lot of plays, they didn't get blown up, either. Outside of one 24-yard reception by Cam Camper, the Hoosiers only had three plays of greater than 10 yards the rest of the game and were held to 10 first downs. They were forced to go three-and-out four times.
4. Indiana's defense will give them chances in games this year
There aren't a lot of silver linings in this one, and while moral victories aren't fun to celebrate, it wasn't all bad for the Hoosiers. It's not like Ohio State's offense struggled because it was making mistake after mistake. The Indiana defense had something to do with it, too.
Linebacker Aaron Casey was everywhere, finishing with 11 tackles, and transfer defensive end Andre Carter finished with two of Indiana's five tackles for loss. The secondary also did a great job keeping Harrison and Egbuka in check. It looked like a defense that will help the Hoosiers stick around in plenty of games this year, assuming its offense figures things out.
Based on what I saw today, that might not be the best assumption.
