What They’re Saying Following Ohio State’s Win At Indiana

Local and national pundits react to the Buckeyes’ 54-7 victory over the Hoosiers on Saturday.

Ohio State won its 27th straight game over Indiana with a 54-7 victory in rainy Bloomington on Saturday night.

The Buckeyes were led offensively by quarterback C.J. Stroud, who threw for 266 yards and four touchdowns, as well as a defense that held the Hoosiers to just 128 yards of total offense and scoreless after their first drive of the game.

With that said, local and national college football analysts shared some of their thoughts on the game, and BuckeyesNow has compiled some of the best reactions below:

Bill Bender, Sporting News

“Ohio State left little to the imagination in a 54-7 blowout against Indiana in a rematch of last year's instant classic. The Buckeyes led 44-7 at halftime. 

“C.J. Stroud passed for 266 yards and four TDs. Stroud has 18 TDs and one interception in Big Ten play, and freshman TreVeyon Henderson (9 rushes, 81 yards, two TDs) continues to be a home-run hitter in the backfield.

“Ohio State remains the team to beat in the Big Ten. There isn't a signature victory on the resume and Penn State's nine-overtime loss to Illinois took some shine off Week 9. Still, the this looks like the nation's best offense.”

David Cobb, CBS Sports

“On a weekend when it felt like many College Football Playoff contenders decided to sleep in a little too long, No. 5 Ohio State made a point to anybody who thinks it isn't ready to get back in the conversation.

“The Buckeyes cruised to an easy 54-7 win over Indiana and quarterback C.J. Stroud reentered the Heisman conversation by throwing for 266 yards and four touchdowns. It was the fifth straight win for the Buckeyes, which have found their rhythm since their Week 2 loss at home to Oregon.”

Justin Holbrock, NBC4

“Heisman finalist. That’s what C.J. Stroud will be if he continues to play at this level. The redshirt freshman threw for 266 yards and four touchdowns in only three quarters of action completing 21 passes on 28 attempts.

“He now has 1,699 yards, 18 touchdowns and only three interceptions through six games and ranks in the top 10 in just about every major passing category.

“Aside from being comfortable, shoutout to the offensive line for helping make that possible, Stroud is also not committing freshman mistakes and hasn’t thrown a pick since OSU’s win over Tulsa in Week 3.

“Stroud had a season-best 75% completion percentage against Indiana and that type of efficiency is a huge reason why the Buckeyes scored six touchdowns on their fist six possessions giving them a 44-7 halftime lead.”

Bill Landis, The Athletic

“It is difficult to describe the level to which Ohio State’s offense is feeling itself right now. And it’s all deserved. It’s hard to imagine there’s a more confident bunch in the country. You saw it in that moment — no fretting when a touchdown was taken off the board, no panic from Stroud as he confidently delivered a ball into the end zone on third-and-long when something short of the goal line still would’ve gotten the job done and prolonged the drive.

“Right now, it’s simple enough to say that when this offense gets the ball, it knows it’s going to score. Ohio State is back to being Ohio State, its normal, dominant self in the Big Ten. This offense, though, is something different. It’s to the point that we should be able to fast forward about 10 weeks and get this offense on the field against Georgia’s defense. That matchup feels increasingly inevitable by the week.”

Tom VanHaaren, ESPN

“Quarterback C.J. Stroud has 14 touchdown passes over his last three games since taking the week off against Akron. He has led the offense and has looked more and more comfortable doing it each week.

“The Buckeyes have scored 51 or more points in each of the past four games this season. The offense is looking more like the typical Ohio State offense we're used to seeing and is primed for its matchup with Penn State. The Nittany Lions have struggled with a hurt Sean Clifford at quarterback and the Buckeyes are trending up in all aspects.

“The way Ohio State is playing right now, the team has a real shot at a potential berth in the College Football Playoff.”

Phil Harrison, Buckeyes Wire

“Of course, you know about TreVeyon Henderson and C.J. Stroud, but there’s plenty of young talent besides those guys just waiting in the wings.

“This game got out of hand early, and we saw guys like running back Evan Pryor, wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., and quarterback Kyle McCord still going toe-to-toe with an Indiana squad that’s still an FBS team that has played with teams like Michigan State and Cincinnati. And the success continued even still.

“That’s before we even talk about receiver Emeka Egbuka, defensive end Jack Sawyer, or quarterback Quinn Ewers. This Ohio State team is going to be at the top of the college football world for some more years still.”

Stewart Mandel, The Athletic

“Ohio State team has now won its past four games 59-7, 52-13, 66-17 and 54-7. Poor Indiana, which took the Buckeyes to the wire during its glorious 2020 season, got buried Saturday under a steady avalanche of long TreVeyon Henderson runs and C.J. Stroud touchdown passes. 

“Stroud looks much more confident and poised than he did against Minnesota and Oregon in his first two career starts. It’s going to be a lot of fun watching the Buckeyes’ (6-1, 4-0 Big Ten) three big divisional games coming down the stretch.”

Michael Marot, Associated Press

“The Buckeyes have been steamrolling opponents since a Week 2 loss to Oregon — and the trip to Bloomington was no problem. They scored 30 points — in the second quarter — and have won five in a row by an average margin of 41.6 points. It’s the second half of the schedule that poses the real obstacle to Ohio State.”

-----

Be sure to check out our new message boards, Buckeye Forums. We'd love to have you part of the conversation during the season.

-----

You may also like:

Ohio State Remains At No. 5 In Coaches, AP Poll After Win At Indiana

C.J. Stroud Credits Faith, Teammates For Lifting Him Out Of Early Struggles

Doing The “Dirty Work” Pays Off For Jeremy Ruckert In Win Over Indiana

Ohio State Blasts Indiana in Bloomington

What We Learned From The Buckeyes Win Over The Hoosiers

Major Takeaways from Ryan Day's Indiana Postgame Press Conference

-----

Be sure to stay locked into BuckeyesNow all the time!

Join the BuckeyesNow community!
Subscribe to the BuckeyesNow YouTube channel
Follow Andrew on Twitter: @AndrewMLind
Follow BuckeyesNow on Twitter: @BuckeyesNowSI
Like and follow BuckeyesNow on Facebook!