Indiana vs OSU Game Thread - 8/31 @ 8:00ET on ESPN

[colonel06 1,948]

You called Ohio State getting 35 Wayne-they covered that!


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[colonel06 1,948]

Yeah, that was cool, right!!


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[Crimson and Cream 5,905]

What a gross half. Went from fun to just straight depressing. 

[HoosierAloha 30,102]

Saw this coming towards the end of the half. We played dumb making mistake after mistake. You can't do that and win.

[WayneFleekHoosier 50,539]

Watching Dakich announce this game from the sidelined mirrored my emotions. He was hype in the first half. Just said, basketball season is around the corner and Kilroys will be jumping tonight anyway. He's a typical Indiana football fan. Knows who we are, always hoping we will be better.


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[reconmkd 4,711]

Still plenty of work to do: running game, adjustments, take care of the ball.....


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[WayneFleekHoosier 50,539]

I like Ellisons running style.


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[LIHoosier 27,597]

Game has turned into the Tom Allen ride along. Wonder if they'll start singing karaoke.

[rebelhoosier848891 9,588]

We are competitive again--but need to turn it up if it is going to be a breakthrough season. Certainly could go bowling again....hope the injuries were not severe. Night all!


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[TXHoosierDaddy 1,375]

Anyone know the latest on Westbrook? Got injured first play. Was really surprised to see him on special teams and was looking forward to seeing him opposite Cobbs. 

[lucel15 3,052]

My reaction tomorrow. Lot to read and talk about especially the Lagow haters. 

[TXHoosierDaddy 1,375]

6 hours ago, Iugradman said:

We could have used him out there. Missing a 1k yard receiver hurt the offense.

Yeah don't get why you would put one of your top returning receivers on special teams. That's pretty dumb. Makes me think we are thin there when we shouldn't be. 

[GnarlyNormEllenberger 1,462]

A few thoughts on this one:

-Game looked familiar to several others in recent history. Competed for 2.5 quarters, then the wheels fell off. Maybe somewhat similar to @Michigan State in 2015? It's frustrating because I was equally proud and disappointed within the same game.

-Disappointed in our second half defense. They looked tired. Those crossing patterns killed us. We didn't shake off our blocks and away they went. Some poor angles here and there. Dobbins started bouncing off our D-Line and turned 1-2 yard gains into much more. We just couldn't stop them. At all. Of course, there were A LOT of plays ran last night. And it was against the #2 team and an good offense. That being said, I still think our defense is better than what it showed in that second half. It needs to be for us to have success this year.

-Our O-Line... bless their hearts. They tried. But they couldn't generate any semblance of a running game and that made our offense extremely one-dimensional. They're inexperienced and it showed. Fortunately, this was probably their most difficult test of the season, so improvement should be forthcoming. They're not as bad as it looked last night. We've still got some talent up front with Cronk and if we could get Knight healthy...

-I thought Lagow played about as well as you could ask him to play. He made a lot of good throws last night and had to make them quickly because he had VERY little time in the pocket. His timing and precision on several passes were very impressive. He showed good chemistry with several players, which is very promising. Still needs to cut down on his turnovers because they are absolute killers. But folks, he had to drop back more than 70 times last night and the defense knew we had to pass. It could have been worse than two interceptions and a fumble. We didn't lose because of Lagow.

- Enjoy Cobbs this year. He's a pro.

-Impressed with our other receivers, too. Hale looked big and strong out there and showed why he had a good fall camp. Timian was great in the slot. And Ian Thomas showed he's headed for a breakout year as a pass-catching TE. Hope Westbrook is okay, but receiver is one spot where we look pretty good.

-MISCELLANEOUS: Our RBs were put into a tough spot and they struggled as expected. Not sure how fast Ellison is coming along in pass-protection and what-not, but I like his talent and size... Good to see Ramsey out there at QB for a bit. I thought he performed admirably considering the circumstances. I like that it looks like he'll get some run this year because he's the front-runner for QB next year... Not sure what to think of OSU as a national contender. Their secondary is inexperienced, for sure. The D-Line is as good as advertised. Wilson is definitely good for their offense... Gameday atmosphere looked special. It was nice for Bloomington to be at the center of the college football world for one night, despite the score.

FINAL THOUGHTS: As proud as I was of this team through 2.5 quarters, the end of the game left me disappointed. As previously stated, the wheels came off. I'm not sure if that ever happened last season, so I kinda view that as a bit of regression. I thought we had better depth than that, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. But Ohio State is as talented of a team we'll play this year. I still think we're more than capable of being a bowl team and a good season is more than possible.

[hsrtxp 1,400]

Went to the game last night. Atmosphere was great. Best I've seen without a doubt. Still too many Buckeyes in our stands. They are just so smug. As the IU fans left more and more kept creeping down into our section and getting louder and louder. We stayed to the end and cheered our Hoosiers on.

 

All in all it went as I suspected. We hung with them through 2.5 quarters but then it came apart. They run too deep and we aren't deep enough. Doesn't make it feel any better.

 

Lagow has improved. Significantly. I have an OSU buddy who text me towards the end of the game and said he wished they could have our QB. I told him I wished we had there line, either one.

 

I came away still excited about CTA and this years team. I'm looking forward to watching them grow over the season.

 

That game is over. Onward and upward.

 

Go Hoosiers.

 

 

 

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[Stuhoo 87,632]

Offensive line. Defensive line. Running back. 

Otherwise, we had 'em!!        

[TXHoosierDaddy 1,375]

They just wore us down on defense. It didn't help that we couldn't sustain drives on offense due to being so one dimensional. The run game is still a big question mark but there was nowhere to run. The Ohio State D-line dominated on that front. 

I was impressed with Lagow and the receivers. Thomas, Timien, Cobbs made difficult plays and Lagow was precise with his passes even when he was pressured. The one downside still is Lagow's mobility. When the pocket collapses he doesn't have the ability to keep the play alive and either takes a sack or make a bad decision. I was really impressed with Ramsey too. Obviously his passing needs to improve but he brings a new playbook on offense with his ability to run. I wouldn't mind seeing him get a series each game especially.

Defensively we were really good in the first half. I liked the game plan of making Barrett throw. We had a good push on the d-line but Ohio State pushed the tempo and wore us out in the second half with the run game. A little disappointed with the depth on defense but this obviously will be one of the tougher tests.

The biggest head scratcher to me was Westbrook being on special teams. There goes an offensive weapon and a hit to the depth at wide receiver (still have Cobbs who is a stud, Timien, Hale, Thomas). The injury looked like an ACL but we will see today or tomorrow I'm sure. 

[Sota Hoosier 450]

Absolutely loathed the way we closed the game.  They are more talented and incredibly deep but we got worn down and looked defeated well before the game was over. Can't have that.

That said, I'm still encouraged. I'd put our receiving corps up against anyone in the country even without Westbrook, (of course he gets hurt on the very first play of the game, classic IUFB). They made the OSU secondary look like children for a lot of the game and especially Cobbs, my god what a beast. Loved the improvement of Thomas and Timien too.

I'd like to see Ellison as RB1 against UVA. If we get the running game going at all we will score a hefty amount of points.

I think defense will be okay and can right the ship against these lesser opponents before the gauntlet of conference play starts.

Let's go out and kick the sh*t out of UVA, FIU, and GSO before heading to PSU.

Side note - so awesome to have Bloomington and IUFB showcased like that. It took me awhile to get acclimated since we've literally never seen this happen before. Our stadium looked great and even though it didn't end well I'm sure a lot of students and fans had a blast and hopefully made them want to come back for more.

[TXHoosierDaddy 1,375]

2 minutes ago, Sota Hoosier said:

That said, I'm still encouraged. I'd put our receiving corps up against anyone in the country even without Westbrook, (of course he gets hurt on the very first play of the game, classic IUFB). They made the OSU secondary look like children for a lot of the game and especially Cobbs, my god what a beast. Loved the improvement of Thomas and Timien too.

 

Cobbs has the look of a 1st round draft pick. Big, athletic, physical and great hands. And without Westbrook I don't know what the depth looks like now at WR. 75% of the completed passes went to Cobbs, Hale, Timien and Thomas. An outstanding starting lineup but not sure what's behind them. Allen better learn from this that you don't put one of your best players on special teams! You should have enough options there with guys who aren't contributing elsewhere. 

[JSHoosier 22,150]

I'll be the first to admit I was far from a Lagow fan last season, I would've benched him due to inaccuracy and horrendous decision making.  He did look improved, his throws were more on target and for the most part made better decisions.  There were a few times when he tried to evade a sack and forced an ill advised "pass" when he should've just threw it out of bounds in the first place, so still some things to improve on.

Offensive line, oof.  They won't face many D lines as good as that, but they still have a long way to go.  Running backs had no rushing lanes and only maintained pass protection for a couple seconds.

Defense wore out but looked solid early.  Lack the depth and some of the top end talent to beat a team that good.

[Lebowski 3,215]

The front five have to get better.  Otherwise it's going to be a long season.  Without a running game typically means you lose by three or four touchdowns against teams like OSU.  (More like four or five touchdowns if I'm being honest.  IU's D played fantastic for 2.75 quarters!  The big plays were essentially the gut punch that sucked the air out of them.)  Ramsey in the game seemed to balance the offense and force OSU's D to play against the run.  I wasn't sure why they didn't bring him in more, especially in the 2nd half.  Bringing him in the first half created some match up issues or at least that what it looked like to me.  I could be wrong though.  In the second half OSU's D just pinned their ears back and said, 'I dare you to run the football because here's our pass defense and we're set up and ready to defend your passing game.'  Lagow played his heart out but this team won't win games without a running game, and Ramsey in the game helped the running game last night.  He's no starter but a nice complement to the offense that needs to add a wrinkle to defenses like OSU.  

Westbrook on special teams, fail.  Last year he averaged 4.5 catches a game. 

IUFB heads to Charlottesville, VA next week!  Give 'em hell!

Edited September 1, 2017 by Lebowski