No. 1 OSU holds off challenge from Indiana

The Buckeyes held off Indiana, 34-27, on Saturday and have now been top-ranked 101 times, matching Oklahoma for the most in the 79-year history of the media poll. But the Hoosiers made things hard for the defending national champions.

Howard sees the parallels between what’s happening at Indiana, which has only played in one bowl game (2007) in the last 20 years, and last season at UAB when the Blazers went 6-6 after nine consecutive losing seasons.

When Ezekiel Elliott attends the New York Athletic club in December, Buckeye nation will remember Zeke’s trampling of Indiana as beginning of his Heisman campaign.

Meyer said the inefficiency inside the 20-yard line boils down to a “variety of problems”, such as turnovers and penalties. The offense was a staggering 2-14 on third down conversions Saturday.

But for anyone who’s watched Ohio State play and not just checked its box scores this season, a different story has begun to unfold.

“I think everybody’s looking for exceptional”, Meyer said.

The Buckeyes’ next three opponents (Maryland, Penn State and Rutgers) are unranked and have struggled this year, but Ohio State has a lot of cleaning up to do. They lined up and said, ‘Hey, it’s to the boundary, let’s take it that way, and we just messed up.

“It’s a recurring theme this season, Jones can’t seem to fit the ball into tight spaces when the field is shortened inside the 20”.

The Spartans (5-0, 1-0 Big Ten) led 21-0 at halftime, but Purdue had the ball near midfield with a chance to tie or take the lead before David Blough threw incomplete on fourth down with about a minute to play in the game. Jones’ continued inconsistency guarantees Meyer will continue fielding questions about his quarterback decision.

Perhaps that’s because it wasn’t the first time this season the Buckeyes had found themselves on the ropes. But Urban Meyer’s next great weapon has looked decidedly human over the last month. On the last play, the snap to Diamont came on a bounce, and after Diamont chased it down, adjusted, and did a great job getting off a throw into the end zone, but it was knocked down and Ohio State survived IU’s upset bid. Each of those runs went for touchdowns and came at a time when the Buckeyes needed them.

Turnovers and a lack of scoring in the red zone inside the 20-yard line are two big concerns that still need to be addressed. The touchdown-in-the-red-zone rate is 33.8 percent (6-for-16). Elliott, who ran for 274 yards on 23 carries, had touchdown runs of 55, 65 and 75 yards.

However, when analyzing his performance in those three games, the numbers do not really jump off the page. West Virginia had committed just two turnovers in its first three games, but had five on Saturday.

“And how about those West Division standings?” He wants to put his foot on your throat.

Everyone is quick to praise the quarterback, but lost in the admiration for Jones is the fact that running back Ezekiel Elliott was an absolute superstar during Ohio State’s run a year ago. Georgia (4-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) plunged from eighth to No. 19 in the latest Associated Press rankings.

Still, the Hoosiers wouldn’t give in and Diamont would score on the keeper by going 79 yards down the field as he sprinted right through the Buckeyes defense. Of course, Northwestern will have to go on the road to Michigan this week before returning home to face the Hawkeyes.