A week after we praised Ohio State for being Ohio State in The Game, the Buckeyes decided to play very unlike themselves in a 13-10 Big Ten championship game loss to Indiana. The defense did well to hold the Hoosiers’ high-powered offense to 13 points despite Kenyatta Jackson being tackled seemingly on every play, but the OSU offense didn’t do normal things in the red zone, or even things that had been successful there more often than not. There were no C.J. Donaldson runs, no Lincoln Kienholz package, and no quick passes to take advantage of perimeter matchups. Instead, we got slow-developing routes out of heavy tight end packages, one lousy Bo Jackson rush attempt, a missed field goal, and an unfortunate slip on what otherwise would have been a first-and-goal. We got an attempted fourth-down conversion at a time the Buckeyes should have kicked and a shanked kick when the Buckeyes probably should have gone for it.

We break down a frustratingly preventable loss, check back on our picks to click, and review our score predictions to see how close we came (we did not come close). 

It was the end of a week full of distractions, and we’ll never know if they did or did not affect the team on Saturday, but after a brief detour to figure out who came the closest to predicting the final Big Ten standings, we followed our game breakdown by discussing Brian Hartline’s impending departure to the University of South Florida. We also touched on some of the coaching changes and the Penn State situation. Although we’re not recruiting guys, we also touched on some of the distracting National Signing Day activities that may or may not have also given the offensive coaches less time than they would have liked to work on some of the Indiana game details. 

Finally, we talked about Ohio State’s bowl destination to kick off the team’s 2025 College Football Playoff run. The Buckeyes are going back to the Cotton Bowl, where they’ll have a difficult first opponent, taking on the winner of Texas A&M and Miami. Both teams present challenges, and the reward for getting past the winner of that game will most likely be Georgia. We’ll have more on the next Ohio State game when an opponent emerges. 

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As always, thanks for listening! 

0:20 - Jayden Fielding gave Ohio State fans another missed field goal to discuss, but it shouldn’t have come down to what would only have been a game-tying kick. Our B1G title game breakdown. 

30:46 - Deciphering our Big Ten finishing predictions, the Penn State situation, Hartline to USF, and National Signing Day drama. 

54:04 - The College Football Playoff bracket is difficult for Ohio State but it could have been worse.