CHICAGO- The Ohio State football schedule is unlike anything that the players on the roster have seen before. For the first time since 1976, the Buckeyes will open the season on the road against a Big Ten opponent, Indiana.
Tom Allen has a pretty big game to begin his career as the head coach for the Indiana Hoosiers. With the Hoosiers not scheduling a conference game to begin the season since 1982, he is calling this Ohio State/Indiana game, “the biggest opening in the history of Indiana football.”
With that added pressure, Allen wants his players to feel that heading into fall camp.
“Everybody knows, they know who we are playing,” Allen said. “It's a tremendous motivation to have that kind of a game to start your season and creates a tremendous sense of urgency.”
For Ohio State, the Indiana game brings a sense of urgency on the defensive side of the ball. The Buckeyes head to Bloomington to face an offense that was third in the Big Ten last season, averaging 426 yards per game. Also, the passing offense, led by quarterback Richard Lagow was second in the conference, averaging 273.8 passing yards per game.
Despite knowing what kind of offense Indiana will bring, defensive lineman Tyquan Lewis said that the defensive game plan, especially up front, is not likely to change based on a particular offense.
“You can't shy away from what we have been doing when we play a game against them,” Lewis said. “It is definitely going to be challenging coming fresh out of camp. Still going to have those few tweaks because you never know what you are going to get the first couple of weeks. You never know because teams are still trying to find their identities.”
On the offensive side of the ball for Ohio State, it is a whole different storyline. In the offseason, the Buckeyes hired former Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson to be their offensive coordinator. However, according to center Billy Price, that aspect of the game does not matter much.
“Everybody is trying to hype it up against the Coach Wilson vs. the world type aspect, but, again, it’s Ohio State against Indiana,” Price said. “You are in the college football business and instead of wearing their respective colors; you are wearing our respective colors.”
A Wilson-led offense is something that is very familiar to the Buckeyes. In the past five seasons that he has coached against Ohio State, the Indiana offense has put up 20 or more points in four of those five games, including a 49 point showing in 2012, Urban Meyer’s first season.
Even with Wilson on the Ohio State sideline, Price feels that his team has not gained much of an advantage.
“You don’t walk in there just because you’ve got one of their old coaches expecting to win,” Price said. “He’s got a job to do and he is going to put the offense into the best possible position to score points and win the game and that’s what we are looking forward to.”
Allen knows what it is like to coach his team from fall camp right into a conference game. When he was an assistant coach at Ole Miss in 2013, the Rebels started its season with a 39-35 win over SEC East opponent Vanderbilt.
However, after Indiana started the 2016 season with a 34-13 win over Florida International, Allen recognizes the difference in matchup.
“Our guys just have to understand that the opponent is just a whole lot different than who we opened up with a year ago,” Allen said. “I just still think that, as you schedule, as you go through and create your plan to get ready, it’s all the same. It’s just the next big game at Indiana.”
As Ohio State goes into fall camp on July 27th, Price knows that his team has a big one to start, especially with the primetime slot and the national audience.
“The stars are going to be aligned for another great atmosphere to play in, especially in Bloomington,” Price said. “It’s going to be tough.”
