There has never been a game quite of this magnitude take place inside Memorial Stadium.
No. 4 Ohio State (5-1) and No. 5 Indiana (6-0) meet in the first top-five matchup the stadium in Bloomington has ever harbored, when the Hoosiers host the Buckeyes at noon on Saturday.
“This is all about giving our team the best chance to be successful and doing a great job as coaches,” Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said on Monday. “Both teams are going in, in my mind, 0-0, and I’m sure that’s how they’re approaching it too. All that other stuff is just noise and clutter.”
It’s a rematch of last season’s Big Ten championship game. It’s a battle between the two most recent national champions. One team holds a 22-game winning streak. The other has already lost once this season. Stakes are high, margins for error are small.
Someone must win, someone must lose.
A few positional matchups important to the result:
Indiana’s secondary vs. Jeremiah Smith, a generational talent at wide receiver
Indiana hasn’t hosted a team quite of the caliber of this Ohio State squad. No one, aside from Ohio State’s first six opponents, have competed against a player quite of the caliber of wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.
Through six weeks, Smith has caught 48 passes for 916 yards and 11 touchdowns. He’s averaging 19.1 yards per reception. Smith, in short, is an explosive-play machine.
He’s fast. He creates separation. He deludes defenders, and then eludes them.
He’s awesome. He’s perfect. The Hoosiers must react accordingly.
“There is no one like him right now playing at this level,” Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said about Smith on Monday. “We’ve got two really good (receivers). He’s a freak. We’re going to have to do a great job on him.”
Although no one can quite match the brilliance of Smith, Indiana has faced a stellar receiver earlier this season in Rutgers’ KJ Duff. Aside from Smith, Duff is the league’s leader in receiving yards, but Indiana’s secondary schemed and executed well enough to limit his impact.
Duff recorded four receptions for 78 yards, but no touchdowns against the Hoosiers. Indiana allowed few explosive plays through the air, especially late in the game, but prevented Duff from decimating the defense.
Smith is on another level, and will almost assuredly snag at least one or two highlight catches on Saturday, but it’s on the Hoosiers to ensure he doesn’t completely wreck the entire game.
“We're not going to let you beat us with your best people,” Indiana linebacker Isaiah Jones said. “We're not going to let you beat us with the guy that's been torching the rest of the country.”
No one has been able to stop Smith. Indiana probably can’t either, but if it can limit him and force the Buckeyes to pivot to a different approach, it becomes much more likely that Indiana maintains its streak of success in its own building.
Indiana’s championship coaching staff vs. Ohio State’s former NFL coordinators
Indiana won the national championship last season, in part because the Hoosiers had two of the most intelligent and adaptive coordinators in the country. Offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan and defensive coordinator Bryant Haines then returned to Bloomington, ensuring that what is amongst the best coordinator duos in college football remains intact.
It’s two of the best college coordinators in the country scheming against two former NFL coordinators. Ohio State defensive coordinator, Matt Patricia, won three Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots. Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith most recently filled the same role for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and before that, was the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.
Haines is scheming against arguably the best player in the country in Jeremiah Smith, and Arthur Smith is scheming to ensure his top receiver remains open down the field in spite of that. Patricia is scheming to put pressure on Indiana quarterback Josh Hoover, and Shanahan is scheming to relieve that pressure.
It’s a chess match. The smartest and most mentally changing matchup of the season for both sides. Indiana outwitted Nebraska last week, most noticeably when it hid receivers Nick Marsh and Charlie Becker within a heavy-set personnel package, leading to a wide open touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Ohio State, though, is a tougher test.
Either one of the best pairs of college coordinators will replicate the success they found in last year’s Big Ten championship game, or a pair of experienced NFL minds will create an advantage on the road.
One duo must win, one duo must lose.
Ohio State’s offensive machine vs. Indiana’s red-zone defense
In part due to the intelligence of Ohio State’s coordinators and the spectacular talent of Smith at receiver, the Buckeyes will almost assuredly traverse the field and threaten to score on multiple possessions.
It’s unrealistic to expect the Hoosiers to stop the Buckeyes in their tracks, but it’s critical that the Hoosiers ensure Ohio State stays out of the end zone. If Smith amasses 400 receiving yards but never reaches the end zone, Indiana can win. If he doesn’t surpass 100 yards through the air but scores four touchdowns, the Hoosiers run into trouble.
Ohio State might move the ball well, but it’s on Indiana to step up in the most meaningful moments and ensure that offensive progress doesn’t translate to points.
Nebraska outdueled the Hoosiers on third downs and in the red zone last week. The Cornhuskers converted on 10-of-19 third downs compared to Indiana’s 1-of-10 third-down conversion rate. Nebraska also scored on two of its three appearances in the red zone.
“You’re not going to win many games doing that,” Cignetti said about struggling on third down.
Cignetti certainly wants to see successful extensions of drives, but believes victory is still achievable even if those triumphs don’t occur as consistently as desired.
“Bottom line is win,” Cignetti said, “but if you’re good on third down, it sure helps.”
Until the final few drives, when it mattered most, Nebraska was better than Indiana. However, the Hoosiers have less wiggle room to work with against Ohio State and therefore must force punts and prevent touchdowns as much as possible.
Any amount of yards Smith and the Buckeyes could gain only hold meaning if those yards actually become points. Even if Smith scampers 85 yards down the field in one play, if Indiana stands strong in the red zone and forces a field goal, the Hoosiers survive to see another drive.
Improvements in this aspect of the game must take place if Indiana is to achieve the same result at home against Ohio State as it did on the road against Nebraska a week ago.
A massive matchup with national, perceptional implications
Indiana won the national championship last season, but Ohio State received the higher ranking and is favored to win on Saturday.
Either Indiana prevails and reinforces the staying power of its ascension to the top of the sport, or Ohio State reclaims its crown as the king of the conference.
The season isn’t over for the loser. The quest for success isn’t finished for the victor.
To the perception of the hierarchy of the Big Ten and beyond, though, this game is as meaningful as any. More meaningful than any game played in Memorial Stadium prior to this point.
