There is a tremendous amount of excitement surrounding Ohio State’s upcoming game with Indiana because the usually lowly Hoosiers will be coming into Ohio Stadium as one of the top five teams in the country, with Ohio State at No. 2. There is a feeling in the football world that this is a rarity. While that is true, the Buckeyes and Hoosiers met as highly ranked teams as recently as 2020, when Ohio State was ranked No. 3 and IU No. 9. For this edition of Reprint Thursday we look back at that game, played in Ohio Stadium against the backdrop of the pandemic.
The game proved to be worthy of a top-10 matchup with the Buckeyes jumping out to a 35-7 lead early in the third quarter before holding on for dear life and a 42-35 victory. The Hoosiers had two possessions to try to tie the game up or even win it in the final 4:39 but were unable to close the gap.
“I thought the start of the game was ridiculous,” OSU coach Ryan Day said. “The energy that we came out with was as good as I’ve seen all year. We played really, really well in the first half. We really dominated.
“But then we gave up some big plays and let them back into the game. We have to figure out a way to close out games. This is the second game in a row now where we let a team hang around a little bit, and we have to get that fixed.”
Indiana was led in the game and the final surge by quarterback Michael Penix, who was 27 of 51 passing for 491 yards and five touchdowns.
Ohio State was led by Master Teague, who had 26 carries for 169 yards and a pair of scores. The final margin of victory was provided by Shaun Wade, who returned an interception 36 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter to make the score 42-21.
The following stories are reprinted from the Nov. 28, 2020, issue of Buckeye Sports Bulletin
