Mostly Buckeyes: Indiana

Woody had Michigan State. Earle had Wisconsin. Cooper had Illinois. And Tressel had Purdue. Each had a B1G team that should not give the Buckeyes problems, but often did. For Urban Meyer, that team is Indiana.

Unlike all the prior coaches, Meyer has not lost to Indiana, but that's not to say we didn't try. Check out the scores from the first 5 meetings and Vegas line:

2012 - Ohio State 52, Indiana 49 (Ohio State -18)

2013 - Ohio State 42, Indiana 14 (Ohio State -34.5)

2014 - Ohio State 42, Indiana 27 (Ohio State -34.5)

2015 - Ohio State 34, Indiana 27 (Ohio State -22.5)

2016 - Ohio State 38, Indiana 17 (Ohio State -28)

Some of you may be nodding at this point, while others may be wondering how can a 21 point win be troubling? It's this - there isn't a single cover in those first five meetings. There is some disconnect between Vegas and the Buckeyes when it comes to the Hoosiers. In many of those games, Indiana had 3rd quarter leads. The streak was finally broken in the opener of 2017 when Ohio State won 49-21 and covered the 21 point spread (in a prediction that will go down in infamy).

Usually, the Hoosiers have a high tempo offense and a suspect defense. This year it is the opposite. IU's pass defense and total defense numbers are better than Ohio State's, and the rushing defense and scoring defense are almost equal. They've held 3 opponents to 17 points or less. Granted those foes were Rutgers, Ball State, and Virginia, it is still improvement. But now they get to meet Dwayne Haskins.

On the other side of the ball, the Hoosiers have one of the most accurate passers in the nation in QB Peyton Ramsey. He's completing 71% of his throws, which is impressive. But if Chris Fowler wants to criticize Haskins for short throws, he should take a look at Ramsey. While Haskins is completing 70.7% of his passes, the average attempt goes for 9.6 yards. Ramsey's, meanwhile, go for 6.1 yards. IU dinks and dunks down the field, but unlike Ohio State, their WRs have almost no yards after the catch. Despite such short throws, Ramsey has 5 INTs, so either those are longer throws or he sometimes makes bad decisions on his short ones.

Indiana comes into the game 4-1 with their loss to Michigan State 21-35. Even though they've won 4 of 5, they have only outscored their opponents in one quarter, winning the second quarter by a margin of 66-14. Withstand that 15 minutes and you should be fine.

Yes, we are coming off an emotional win last week, and last year we [deleted] the pooch v. Iowa after beating Penn State. But that was on the road, this is at home. I think the coaches and players still have that Iowa result fresh in their minds. And the way Trace McSorley tore up our defense to the tune of 461 yards by himself, will have our coaches and players focused on improvement. I know we are a bit banged up, but we have sufficient depth for this opponent. As for the offensive side of the ball, I don't see IU's improved defense causing us much problem. I think Haskins will stretch the field more than he did v. the Nittany Lions and it will look more like Oregon State, Rutgers, and Tulane.

Vegas has Ohio State favored by 25 (down from 27) with an over/under of 64.5. Despite Indiana being 5-1 ATS v. Urban, I think you go with the 1, not the 5. I like the Buckeyes at home to cover and I like the under (barely).

Schaef Says: Ohio State 49, Indiana 14.

Year to date: S/U 5-0, ATS 3-2, O/U 4-1.

Bonus: Perhaps the greatest moment in this rivalry, at least for Buckeye fans.