My two cents: Indiana's problems run deeper than a missing quarterback

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — It would be easy to point out the obvious difference between Ohio State and Indiana on Saturday. The Buckeyes had their ultra-talented redshirt freshman quarterback in the lineup, and the Hoosiers didn’t.

The problem is, that only accounts for a small part of the canyon-wide disparity in talent that was so obvious in the 51-10 shellacking laid on the Hoosiers by No. 6 Ohio State. The Buckeyes have delivered subtle messages the first two weeks that they were a legitimate playoff contender, and they delivered that message loud and clear in person at Memorial Stadium.

The other message? Indiana isn’t good enough right now. Not even close.

“This team we just played, there’s about eight teams in the country that look like that and I’ve coached against them in two leagues (the Big Ten and SEC),’’ Indiana coach Tom Allen said. “I can say with eyewitness eyes that that’s one of them. They are very good.

“It was a rough day for the Hoosiers. We’ve established a standard on how we are going to play, and we weren’t good enough today.’’

That’s all good and well, but the big problem is that when you’re an underdog like Indiana, you have to bring maximum effort to have a chance. They didn’t do that.

You have to tackle when you have the chance, and they didn’t do that, either.

And on offense, you have to make big plays when you have the chance, and the Hoosiers failed over and over in doing that, as well.

Up and down the line, the Hoosiers were awful, and they knew it.

“The effort wasn’t where it was supposed to be, and I think it showed,’’ Indiana senior linebacker Reakwon Jones said. “When one person missed a tackle, they were getting too many yards after the tackle. People should be getting put on the ground when first contact is made. We didn’t do that.’’

How bad was it? In this horrific 25-game losing streak on the field to Ohio State that dates back to 1988, there isn’t a single loss in that streak worse than this one. The 41-point deficit was matched only once, in 2006 in a 44-3 loss in Columbus.

There are three huge concerns after this game, the quarterback play, the tackling on defense and the attitude the Hoosiers brought to this game for 60 minutes.

Let’s take a quick look at all three:

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Peyton Ramsey (12) is sacked by Ohio State Buckeyes defensive end Tyler Friday (54) during the third quarter at Memorial Stadium . Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

It’s clear that Peyton Ramsey is not Michael Penix Jr.

One of the biggest reasons why Michael Penix Jr. subplanted Ramsey as the starter in fall camp is because he has a rifle for an arm and he can make all the throws. The out route? No problem? The deep ball? Bring it. With a flick of the wrist, the ball is there.

Peyton Ramsey, a good kid who’s smart and will fight you to the end, doesn’t have that kind of arm. Not even close. And it kept Indiana buried in a hole all day.

The struggles were there literally right from the start, because it was clear that this was a game plan built for Penix and the only way to beat Ohio State was going to be to hit some big throws on them.

On the first two series — both three-and-outs — the Hoosiers went with deep-pass calls from offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer on third down. On the first one, slot receiver Whop Philyor had a step on his defender up the right sideline, but Ramsey missed him. The second series, Nick Westbrook had broken free but Ramsey’s pass hung in the air too long and it was knocked away.

It’s just conjecture, of course, but maybe Penix makes those throws.

“Those two three-and-outs early in the game really hurt us. We wanted to take our shots, and I need to be better on those when those opportunities present themselves,’’ Ramsey said. “They came out and punched us in the mouth and really knocked us out of our rhythm.

“To play the way we did was very disappointing, but it’s a new week and we still have a lot of opportunities going forward.’’

For the day, Ramsey was 19 of 33 passing for only 162 yards, a paltry 4.9 yards-per-attempt average. Sure, he was pressured often by Ohio State’s mighty pass rush, but he missed some targets and had a horrible interception late in the third quarter.

It was 44-10 at the time, so it’s not like the outcome was in doubt, but after an impressive drive all the way down to the Ohio State 7-yard line, Ramsey threw a lazy changeup in the left flat. It was intercepted by Damon Arnette and returned 96 yards for a score.

Maybe it’s just putting lipstick on a pig, but doesn’t a 44-17 loss sound a bit better than 51-10? It would have stopped us all from poring through the record books for “worst loss ever’’ data.

Ohio State Buckeyes running back Master Teague III (33) carries the ball past Indiana Hoosiers defensive back Khalil Bryant (29) to score a touchdown during the third quarter at Memorial Stadium . Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

More horrible tackling by Indiana’s defense

After the season-opening win against Ball State, Allen and defensive coordinator Kane Wommack were livid over IU’s poor tacking and vowed to fix it.

Well, it was even worse Saturday.

Granted, J.K. Dobbins is a big, strong running back who’s probably going to be a first-round pick this year in the NFL Draft, but still, there were many times that Indiana had a body on him but didn’t wrap up and bring him down.

He broke tackles on his 56-yard touchdown run, and did so on several others, as well. So did Master Teague, his backup, who slipped from the grasp of a few Indiana defenders on his 40-yard touchdown run. Dobbins and Teague combined for 299 yards on just 32 carries, a whopping 9.3 yards per carry.

Even quarterback Justin Fields bought time for himself by shedding tackles, both on throws and on scrambles.

“It was a huge disappointment,’’ Allen said. “The bottom line is you have to run the ball on offense and stop the run on defense and we didn’t do that.’’

Emotion and attitude were lacking, and that can never happen

You would think it would be easy to be sky-high and well-prepared when Ohio State comes to town, but Indiana was a mess between the ears, and it showed early. There were too many bowed heads and hands on hips early, and there seemed to be a lot of guys who weren’t prepared to match Ohio State’s intensity.

It’s one thing to not be able to match talent, but not matching emotion and intensity should never happen.

“I think we just got off to a bad start and people started hanging their heads,’’ said tight end Peyton Hendershot, who led the Hoosiers with four receptions for 70 yards and a 49-yard touchdown on a trick play. “(The loss) is good to show us where we are, and it makes you practice harder during the week. Maybe we were complacent because we were 2-0 and just beat a team 52-0.’’

Really? That can certainly never happen.

This Hoosiers team has the potential to be bowl-game better, but there’s still a lot of stuff to clean up. Playing hard should never be one of them.

“A lot of people are disappointed,’’ Jones said. “We need to be very critical of ourselves in the film. We’ll get it addressed and we’ll get it fixed.

“I started seeing it in the third quarter or so, and I kept telling guys to keep their heads up and keep playing. That’s not what we do here. We don’t blink, and we continue to play. That’s my plan, to go in Monday and get this stuff addressed.’’

Yep, that’s true. The sun will indeed come up tomorrow, and there’s a lot of season still to go.

And it’s the Hoosiers who will get to pick their direction.

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