THE PERTINENT INFO
When: Saturday, November 21, 2020
Where: Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
TV: Noon // FOX
Announcers: Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft
This will be the 94th time Ohio State and Indiana have faced each other in football. If the teams shared home field advantage evenly, this would be the 47th time for the Buckeyes to host. However, things aren't even and this will be the 62nd game of this series played in Ohio.
The Buckeyes hold a 76–12–5* advantage in the all-time series and are 48–10–4* as the home team. To put that in perspective, Penn State has played in Columbus 20 times and the Nittany Lions have seven wins. That's only three less than the 7 wins Indiana has been able to accumulate as the visiting team since 1912.
Tom Allen's team defeated Michigan State, 24-0, last week and enters this contest with a 4–0 record.
Below, you will find some interesting facts about the teams, key offensive player stats, coach information, and team stats.
THE LAST TIME...
- Ohio State played IU in Ohio Stadium was 2018. The Scarlet and Gray won 49-26.
- The Buckeyes played a ranked Hoosier team was 1993...Ohio State won 23-17
- Ohio State played on November 21st was 2015. Michigan State came to town and beat Urban Meyer's squad 17-14 on a cold, rainy, windy and miserable night.
- A Big Ten team beat the gridders from Columbus in Ohio Stadium was the Michigan State game mentioned above.
- The Buckeyes lost to Indiana was 1988, 41-7.
- The Scarlet and Gray lost the fourth game of the season was Oct. 2, 2004. Unranked Northwestern stunned No. 7 Ohio State 33-27 in OT.
ON THE HORIZON
- A victory will earn the Buckeyes the program's 940th all-time and its 460th win in Ohio Stadium*.
- Tuf Borland is three stops away from 200 career tackles.
- Pete Werner is three shy of 150 career tackles.
- Justin Fields is 313 yards away from passing Craig Krenzel for 11th on Ohio State's career passing yards list.
- Fields is five touchdowns away from passing Troy Smith (68) for 4th on the program's all-time TDs accounted for list.
- The Buckeyes are going for their 20th straight regular-season win. The longest active streak in the country.
*NCAA sanctions be damned.
LET'S GO STREAKING
- The Buckeyes have a 19-game regular-season winning streak.
- Justin Fields has thrown a TD pass in 17 consecutive games.
- Garrett Wilson has broken the 100-yard receiving mark in three straight games.
- Ryan Day is 14–0 against Big Ten opponents.
- All of Day's conference wins have been by double digit margins.
- Ohio State has defeated the Hoosiers in 25* straight games.
- Justin Fields has completed at least 20 passes in four consecutive games.
*NCAA sanctions be damned
GET TO KNOW INDIANA
- Indiana University is located in Bloomington, IN.
- The university was established in 1820.
- Indiana is in its 135th season of playing football.
- A bulldog named Ox was mascot of the football team between 1959 and 1965.
- The Hoosiers started playing football in 1887, but didn't get their first win until 1891.
- The football team is 4–0 in 2020.
- This is the first time since 1969 that IU has been ranked in the Top 10.
- The victory over Michigan State in East Lansing marked the program's first win in Spartan Stadium since 2001.
- The Hoosiers have six Top 10 victories in school history.
- Since 2010, Indiana is 53–74 (.417).
- Saturday will be the first time the Hoosiers have had a regular season Top 10 match up in program history. Second overall, In 1968, No. 4 Indiana played in the Rose Bowl against No. 1 USC.
- Notable alumni are Mike Pence (US Vice President), Isiah Thomas (NBA Hall of Fame) Mark Cuban (Dallas Mavs owner), Jane Pauley (CBS This Morning), Jimmy Wales (co-founder of Wikipedia).
INDIANA IN MUSIC AND FILM
Michael Jackson and his numerous siblings are the most famous musicians from the Hoosier State. Besides his role as Gomer Pyle, Jim Nabors was also famous for performing Back Home Again in Indiana before the start of the Indianapolis 500. John Cougar Mellancamp's Small Town is based on his hometown of Seymour, Indiana.
There are more musical references to Indiana, but we'll end with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers' Mary Jane's Last Dance has the line "But she grew up tall and she grew up right, With them Indiana boys on an Indiana night."
A family tradition for many families, including my own, "A Christmas Story," took place in the fictional town of Hohman, Indiana. As many of you know, the Parker's house is located on the west side of Cleveland.
"Hoosiers" starring Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey and Dennis Hopper is about the Hickory High School basketball team. The story is loosely based on the Milan High School squad that won the 1954 Indiana state title. In 2007, Stephen Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," was selected for the National Film Registry. The movie is set in Indiana and has references to Indianapolis, Muncie and Ball State.
Although "Indiana Jones" goes by the name of the Hoosier state, Dr. Henry Walton Jones Jr. did not get his nickname from the 19th state. From fandom.com: "While still in the crib, Henry's parents introduced him to an Alaskan Malamute puppy named Indiana.[4] The two quickly bonded and the dog was a friend and companion throughout the earliest decades of Jones' life."
Not included on this list are Rudy and Knute Rockne: All American. Why? Because like Notre Dame, those movies are overhyped and ass.
TODAY'S TRIVIA QUESTIONS:
- How many times has a ranked Ohio State team played a ranked Indiana team?
- Since 1952, how many times have the Hoosiers defeated the Buckeyes in Columbus?
- When was the last time Ohio State lost when the fourth game of the season was played in Ohio Stadium?
Answers at the bottom of today's article.
OFFENSIVE LEADERS | ||||
JUSTIN FIELDS | 908 YDS // 11 TD // 0 INT | PASSING | MICHAEL PENIX JR. | 1,070 YDS // 9 TD // 3 INTS |
MASTER TEAGUE III | 211 YDS // 4.5 YPC // 4 TD | RUSHING | STEVIE SCOTT III | 319 YDS // 3.6 YPC // 5 TD |
GARRETT WILSON | 344 YDS // 14.3 YPR // 2 TD | RECEIVING | TY FRYFOGLE | 424 YDS // 17.7 YPR // 4 TD |
DEFENSIVE LEADERS | ||||
TUF BORALND /// PETE WERNER | 16 | TACKLES | MICAH McFADDEN | 30 |
TOMMY TOGIAI | 3.0 | SACKS | TIAWAN MULLEN | 2.5 |
MARCUS HOOKER | 1 | INTERCEPTIONS | JAYLIN WILLIAMS | 3 |
SPECIAL TEAMS | ||||
GARRETT WILSON | 10.7 YPR | PUNT RETURNER | REESE TAYLOR | 11.0 YPR |
DEMARIO McCALL | 14.0 YPR | KICKOFF RETURN | JACOLBY HEWITT | 15.0 YPR |
DRUE CHRISMAN | 41.6 | PUNTING | HAYDON WHITEHEAD | 41.7 |
1 | EDGE | 8 |
THE COACHES
Ryan Day
- 19–1 (.950) at Ohio State
- 19–1 (.950) overall
Day's hometown is Manchester, NH. He attended Manchester High School and attended college at New Hampshire. Day has been in coaching for 19 years and is Ohio State's 25th head coach.
Last season, Ryan Day and the Buckeyes outscored their opponents 656-192. That is an average victory of 47-14.
After 20 games with Day as head coach, Ohio State is beating teams by an average score of 48-16. He has the program record for points scored after his first 20 games with 964. The Buckeyes are outscoring their opponents by a whopping 641 points under Day.
Ryan Day and Urban Meyer are the only coaches in program history to start their careers with 16 straight consecutive victories. Meyer won 24 straight between 2012 and 2013.
Tom Allen
- 22–20 (.524) at Indiana (5th year)
- 22–20 (.524) overall as a college head coach (5th year)
- 13–18 (.419) against Big Ten opponents
Tom Allen was born in New Castle, IN and attended college at Maranatha Baptist University and Indiana.
Allen started his coaching career at Temple Heights High School (FL) in 1992. He bounced around several high schools until he landed at Indianapolis' Ben Davis HS. Allen started as a defensive coordinator in 1998 until taking over the head job in 2004.
In 2007, Allen made the leap to coaching at the collegiate level. Wabash hired him as a defensive backs and special teams coach. Following stops at five different schools, Allen eventually landed at Indiana as its defensive coordinator in January of 2016. After Kevin Wilson resigned on December 1, 2016, Allen was named Indiana's head coach.
In the history of IU football, only three coaches reached 20 wins faster than Allen. Who were those coaches? James Homes (1898-1904), James Sheldon (1905-13) and Ewald Stiehm (1916-21). Allen is taking the program to places it hasn't been in over a century.
CLIFF CLAVEN'S LITTLE KNOWN FACTS CORNER
- 1......Ohio State leads the nation in Team Passing Efficiency (136.4).
- 3......touchdown receptions for Jeremy Ruckert this season.
- 5......TD passes for Fields against Rutgers.
- 8.......number of Maryland football players who had COVID.
- 10.....games in which Justin Fields has rushed and passed for a touchdown.
- 10.....straight road wins over AP ranked teams for the Buckeyes.
- 11.....touchdowns and incompletions for Justin Fields this year.
- 12.....in 12 B1G games, Justin Fields has 1 interception.
- 14.....consecutive conference wins for Ohio State.
- 16.....night game victories for the Buckeyes in Ohio Stadium.
- 17.....straight wins for OSU over Big Ten AP ranked opponents.
- 18.....times Ohio State has finished a season with at least 11 wins.
- 19.....consecutive regular-season wins for the Scarlet and Gray.
- 22.....straight home wins for the Buckeyes.
- 24.....consecutive wins over Indiana.
- 25.....Ryan Day is the program's 25th head coach.
- 34.....victories for the Buckeyes when GameDay is at the game.
- 35.....true road game victories for the Scarlet and Gray since 2012.
- 38.....the number of Big Ten titles the football team has won.
- 40.....points scored by Day's teams in 26 of his 45 games as head coach.
- 46.....returning letterman are on the 2020 roster.
- 48.....number of times Ohio State has been at the site of College GameDay.
- 51.....B1G wins for the Scarlet and Gray since 2014.
- 52.....TD passes thrown by Fields.
- 55.....yards Sevyn Banks ran on his scoop and score against Nebraska.
- 84.....Buckeyes selected in the first round of the NFL Draft.
- 87.....Consensus All-Americans.
- 90.....this will be the 90th time Ohio State has played in a night game.
- 99.....this is the 99th season the Scarlet and Gray have played in Ohio Stadium.
- 151...the number of years The Ohio State University has been in the education business.
- 300...Fields has thrown for over 300 yards in five of his last eight games.
- 459...victories for the Buckeyes in Ohio Stadium.
- 511...yards per game for Ohio State, best in the conference.
- 607...offensive TDs by the Scarlet and Gray since 2012, best in the nation.
- 632...receiving yards for Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson this year.
- 906...times Ohio State has been ranked in the AP poll.
- 927...number of official wins for the program (we know it's actually 939).
OFFENSE | ||||
46.3 | 4th | POINTS FOR | 33.8 | 33rd |
208.7 | 26th | RUSHING OFFENSE | 95.3 | 118th |
302.7 | 20th | PASSING OFFENSE | 267.5 | 40th |
511.3 | 13th | TOTAL OFFENSE | 362.8 | 89th |
.581 | 5th | 3rd DOWNS | .390 | 74th |
.833 | 69th | RED ZONE | .826 | 72nd |
DEFENSE | ||||
23.0 | 33rd | POINTS ALLOWED | 19.3 | 17th |
131.7 | 35th | RUSH DEFENSE | 111.0 | 18th |
224.3 | 50th | PASS DEFENSE | 209.8 | 37th |
137.1 | 60th | PASS EFFICIENCY DEFENSE | 117.5 | 24th |
356.0 | 33rd | TOTAL DEFENSE | 320.8 | 19th |
.389 | 52nd | 3rd DOWNS | .333 | 25th |
.909 | 104th | RED ZONE | .556 | 3rd |
SPECIAL TEAMS | ||||
7.2 | 66th | PUNT RETURN | 11.0 | 30th |
11.4 | 120th | KICKOFF RETURN | 15.0 | 114th |
31.9 | 120th | NET PUNTING | 38.7 | 61st |
MISCELLANEOUS | ||||
+1.0 | 12th | TURNOVER MARGIN | +2.0 | 2nd |
7.0 | 82nd | PENALTIES | 5.8 | 51st |
6 | EDGE | 12 |
TODAY'S TRIVIA ANSWERS
How many times has a ranked Ohio State team played a ranked Indiana team?
Answer: Twice. Ohio State won 23-17 in 1993 and 21-7 in 1944. Both games were played in Ohio Stadium.
Since 1952, how many times have the Hoosiers defeated the Buckeyes in Columbus?
Answer: Once. In the 37 games played in Ohio Stadium since 1952, the Buckeyes are 35–1–1. Earle Bruce and his 1987 Buckeyes fell 31-10 to Bill Mallory and Indiana. In 1959, the teams battled to a 0-0 tie.
When was the last time Ohio State lost when the fourth game of the season was played in Ohio Stadium?
Answer: October 6, 1990. John Mackovic's Illinois team beat John Cooper and the Buckeyes 31-20.
You Might Like
The Losing Effect: That Team /// Wisconsin
Did you know? In this series, Indiana has kept Ohio State scoreless twice. However, the Hoosiers did not win those games as the contests ended in scoreless ties in 1959 and 1929.