The most anticipated game of the college football season came down to a single foot. No. 4 Ohio State survived a gut-wrenching finish in Bloomington on Saturday, beating No. 5 Indiana 19-15 to snap the defending national champions’ 22-game winning streak — the longest active streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision — along with a 19-game home winning streak.
Ohio State vs Indiana (Credits: ESPN)
It was the first-ever top-five matchup in Memorial Stadium history, and it lived up to the billing in the most dramatic way possible. Trailing 19-15 with just over a minute remaining, Indiana quarterback Josh Hoover found a streaking Nick Marsh on fourth-and-4 from the Ohio State 27. The fireworks went off. But Marsh’s left foot came down out of bounds in the front corner of the end zone, the go-ahead touchdown was wiped away, and Marsh grabbed his helmet in disbelief. Ohio State took over on downs and knelt out the final 1:02.
“Kind of a wild game,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said afterward. “We had to win the game on defense at the end. The huge fourth-down play made it possible.”
Sayin’s Strike, Then The Injury Scare
Ohio State’s win was built on two massive fourth-down conversions. With 12:52 left, quarterback Julian Sayin hit Jeremiah Smith on a 38-yard touchdown strike on fourth-and-1 to stretch the lead to 19-7. The grab was the 39th career receiving touchdown for Smith, tying Michigan’s Braylon Edwards for the Big Ten record.
Earlier, Sayin had found Bo Jackson for a 2-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal with eight seconds left in the first half, giving Ohio State a 10-7 halftime lead — the first time Indiana had trailed at halftime of a home game under coach Curt Cignetti. The Hoosiers’ lone first-half score came on a 7-yard rushing touchdown from Turbo Richard.
But the victory may come at a steep cost. Sayin appeared to injure his right arm in the fourth quarter, left the game, and watched the final minutes from the sideline wearing a sling. “I don’t have a ton of details, but it looks like Julian will be out several weeks,” Day said. Sayin finished 15 of 29 for 235 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions for the second straight week, and backup Luke Fahey was pressed into duty to close it out.
Hoosiers Refused To Fold
Give Indiana credit: after Smith’s touchdown made it 19-7, the injured Hoover — who had hurt his own right shoulder in the third quarter but stayed in — answered with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Marsh and found Turbo Richard on the two-point conversion to cut it to 19-15 with 10:30 remaining.
Ohio State’s defense had forced two Indiana fumbles in the third quarter, including one that set up Connor Hawkins‘ 29-yard field goal, and held firm when it mattered most. Hoover finished 20 of 40 for 296 yards with one touchdown and one lost fumble — his first turnover of the year — but his last pass drifted just a touch too far left for Marsh to stay in bounds.
The result moves Ohio State to 6-1 (4-0 Big Ten) and ends Indiana’s reign as college football’s ironmen — their first loss in 666 days. It also avenges the Buckeyes’ defeat in last year’s Big Ten Championship Game. The Hoosiers (6-1, 3-1) now hit the road to face Michigan in Ann Arbor, while Ohio State must figure out life without Sayin — if only for a few weeks.
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Source: ESPN — read the full story there.
