IU's bowl hopes gone after 42-14 loss to Ohio State

COLUMBUS, Ohio — For the sixth consecutive season, IU will not go to a bowl game.

Before the season, junior running back D’Angelo Roberts thought IU was a bowl-caliber team.

“I mean absolutely,” he said. “Nobody says to themselves, ‘We’re not going to be a bowl team.’”

Ohio State (11-0, 7-0) killed the Hoosiers’ (4-7, 2-5) postseason hopes with a 42-14 thrashing in Columbus. All of IU’s 14 points came in the fourth quarter.

The last time IU went bowling was 2007.

Since then, the program has gone 21-50 (.296 winning percentage). No other Big Ten team has a worse record in that stretch.

“This is definitely not the season I predicted,” senior wide receiver Kofi Hughes said. “Or our team hoped for.”

The possibility of a bowl game was never discussed with the team, IU Coach Kevin Wilson said. Wilson, in his third year at IU, is 9-26.

“I’ve never talked about being a bowl team,” he said. “Never said it to them. We talk about constant improvement and getting better every day.”

At the end of the third quarter Ohio State led 35-0.

Before the fourth quarter, IU had been outscored 93-3 in the previous seven quarters of action.

Despite being almost equal in total yardage, IU had 442 total yards versus Ohio State’s 471, the game was never in doubt.

“Indiana got most of their yards in the second half,” Buckeye linebacker Ryan Shazier said, who had a game-high 20 tackles.

After giving up 554 rushing yards to Wisconsin the week before, the IU run defense struggled again.

The Buckeyes had 311 yards on the ground, 218 of which came in the first half. Ohio State did not have any three-and-outs during the game.

Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller racked up 144 rushing yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 11.1 yards a run.

His running back, Carlos Hyde, contributed 117 yards and two touchdowns of his own. In IU’s 11 games this year, it has allowed 12 players to run for over 100 yards.

“The real difference – their ability to run the ball and our inability to run the ball,” Wilson said.

IU averaged just 3.1 yards per carry against the Buckeye defense.

The offense was without starting running back Tevin Coleman. He missed his second straight game with an ankle sprain.

Having no viable rushing attack, both of the sophomore quarterbacks, Nate Sudfeld and Tre Roberson, had trouble scoring.

“They’re in a really funky situation,” Hughes said. “A lot of quarterbacks couldn’t handle it and they’ve handled it well all season.”

In the first three quarters, IU got inside Buckeye territory on eight separate drives. They had no points to show for it.

IU must turn its attention to Purdue when the Old Oaken Bucket is up for grabs.

“Probably the biggest rivalry I know of,” Roberts said.

Follow reporter Evan Hoopfer on Twitter @EvanHoopfer.