How two stalled drives cost Ohio State in Big Ten title loss to Indiana
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INDIANAPOLIS — Ohio State football twice moved inside the 10-yard line during the second half, positioning itself to move ahead of Indiana.
What happened at the cusp on the end zone decided the Big Ten championship game’s outcome.
The Buckeyes combined for 151 yards and used nearly 15 minutes of game clock over consecutive drives, but left without any points, defining sequences in a 13-10 loss to the Hoosiers that cost them their first conference title in five years and a shot at a perfect season.
“This is a major lesson for this team,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said, “that it can come down to one play or two plays or three plays to decide a game like this. We have to be more efficient across the board.”
The first of the two long-sustained drives ended at Indiana’s 5-yard line when a sneak by quarterback Julian Sayin on fourth-and-1 was ruled short.
At first glance, Sayin had moved the pile, and officials signaled a first down, but a replay review determined his knee hit the turf short of the line, overturning the call and handing possession to the Hoosiers late in the third quarter.
“For the most part, our sneaks have been pretty good for us,” Day said, “and we felt like we’ve been pretty good at it, but we didn’t execute this one.”
The sneak followed a sprint out by Sayin on third-and-1. His pass to wide receiver Jeremiah Smith fell incomplete.
The Buckeyes had another crack at a go-ahead touchdown when they reached Indiana’s 9-yard line on their next possession.
Facing a third-and-1 late in the fourth quarter, the Buckeyes went out in heavy personnel, using a package that featured three tight ends along the line and another in the backfield.
Sayin faked a handoff, rolled to his right and fired a pass to tight end Bennett Christian in a corner of the end zone. While Christian had slipped past linebacker Rolijah Hardy as he dragged across the field, it was not enough separation. Hardy recovered to break up the pass.
“I tried to fit it in there,” Sayin said, “and they ended up batting it away.”
Sayin said his first read was running back Bo Jackson, who released into the flats, but was picked up by a linebacker.
“I thought the defender was too close,” Sayin said, “so I moved on.”
Day had no issue with his decision to target Christian.
“I don’t think Julian could have done anything different on that play,” Day said.
Instead of going for it again on fourth down, the Buckeyes sought to tie the game at 13 apiece only for kicker Jayden Fielding to pull his 27-yard field goal attempt wide left.
A torn adductor in his right hip nagged him throughout last season, including contributing to two missed field goals in a loss to Michigan, but Fielding had been almost perfect this year, making 15 of 17 attempts during the regular season and missing just once from within 50 yards.
The Buckeyes had settled for a field goal in the red zone earlier in the second quarter and twice at Michigan last week. No defense in the Football Bowl Subdivision has also been better than Indiana this year at preventing touchdowns while inside its 20-yard line,
The attempt felt close to automatic.
“It was sort of a chip shot,” Day said, “get the thing tied up, and let’s go. We were struggling down there in the red area, so let’s get the thing tied up and see if we can get the ball back and kick a field goal to win the game.”
The missed kick by Fielding instead returned possession to Indiana, which ran off most of the 2:48 left to preserve their win and leave the Buckeyes to scrutinize the late sequences.
“When it doesn’t work, you always got to look at it,” Day said, “and second-guess it for sure.”
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Email him at jkaufman@dispatch.com and follow along on Bluesky, Instagram and X for more.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State stalled in red zone in Big Ten title loss to Indiana
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