IU Coach Kevin Wilson didn’t want his team to make the game, the arena or the opponent any bigger than it already was.
Wilson wanted the Hoosiers to play as hard as they could, communicate as well as they could and address any mistakes that arose.
But there were just too many mistakes.
“We prepared to come out today and just play hard and see if it was good enough, and except for the mistakes, it would have been a close game,” Wilson said. “Still don’t know if we could have gotten over the hump without those mistakes, but it was good to see us go toe-to-toe and play good football.”
IU (3-2, 1-1) suffered its first Big Ten loss Saturday to No. 2 Ohio State, 38-17.
The Hoosiers took the first lead of the game, 3-0, capitalizing off an early Buckeye fumble to set up a field goal, but then allowed 17-straight points and could only knock the lead down to seven points from there.
Ohio State (5-0, 2-0) and its high-octane offense sputtered at times early in the game, but was able to make the most of two gifts that led to two touchdowns the Buckeyes may not have been able to score otherwise.
The first was a fumble by junior quarterback Richard Lagow that was recovered at the IU 9-yard line by Ohio State’s Jalyn Holmes. The second was a botched kick coverage that allowed Parris Campbell to return an IU kickoff 91 yards to the 6-yard line.
Campbell’s return came after Lagow hit senior wide receiver Mitchell Paige for an 18-yard strike for a score with just over a minute left in the half.
What could have been a 7-point deficit for IU at the half turned into 14.
The Hoosiers would score on their opening drive of the second half to cut OSU’s lead to seven again, but the Buckeyes countered with a touchdown drive of their own, and IU failed to score again the rest of the game.
“They have a great defense, they’re going to be tough for anybody the rest of the year,” Lagow said. “But, that was on us, as well as them just being good. We didn’t hit a couple plays, they made a couple plays.”
After three straight three-and-outs, the Hoosiers were given a short field after freshman cornerback A’Shon Riggins intercepted a pass from OSU quarterback J.T. Barrett and returned it to the Buckeye 13-yard line.
The Hoosiers reached the 4-yard line before failing to convert on a 4th-and-1, losing two yards in the process.
IU did not record a first down the rest of the game, and, in fact, did not record a first down in the second half after the touchdown drive that opened the second half. Over the course of the game, the Hoosiers only converted six of 17 third down attempts, hurt by a rushing offense that amassed just 99 yards on 40 attempts.
That’s less than 2.5 yards per carry.
Defensively, the Hoosiers did allow 290 yards on the ground, as Barrett, junior H-back Curtis Samuel and freshman running back Mike Weber combined to average 5.8 yards per carry and make up for a passing game that didn’t surpass 100 yards. But overall, IU kept an offense that averaged 576.2 yards per game entering the contest to just 383.
Ohio State only put together three scoring drives that required them to rack up more than 33 yards. But, IU’s offense was only able to do the same twice, and an inability to keep the chains moving consistently and avoid mistakes mean the Hoosiers head back to Bloomington with a loss.
“Those mistakes haunted us,” Wilson said. “That’s why we don’t have the W.”
