Ohio State Buckeyes opponent breakdowns: Indiana

Opponents: Florida Atlantic | Cincinnati |

The college football season is still weeks away but anticipation is starting to build as the calendar turns from June to July and we are closing in on less than two months from the first kickoffs of the season.

Much has been made of Ohio State’s schedule this season with its lack of a Power Five non-conference opponent on it, but don’t let anyone convince you that this schedule does not pose more than its fair share of problems for a team that will be breaking in not only a new quarterback but essentially a new head coach as Ryan Day takes over for Urban Meyer as the Buckeyes look to defend their back-to-back Big Ten championships.

The lack of a P5 non-conference opponent may overshadow the fact that Ohio State has about as difficult of a crossover schedule as a Big Ten East team can have with games against Nebraska, Wisconsin and Northwestern and the schedule maker did this team no favors with a final two of Penn State and Michigan to wrap up the regular season in November.

In week three of the season, the Buckeyes play their first league game and first road game as they travel to Indiana. Ohio State has owned this series since the beginning with a 75-12-5 edge and a current win streak of 24 games (we don’t vacate games the way the NCAA does) and the Buckeyes have not lost to Indiana since the 1988 season.

While that makes for interesting conversation, it really has no bearing on what will happen this upcoming season as the Hoosiers are trying to find some footing in the nation’s most difficult division of college football.

Last Year: 5-7, 2-7 Big Ten East

The 2018 season got off to a great start for the Hoosiers as they ran off a 3-0 record in their non-conference schedule with wins over Florida Atlantic, Virginia and Ball State. There were a lot of hopes that this might be the year that things really started to turn around for the Indiana football program but that all came to a stop in week four when the Michigan State Spartans came to town and handed the Hoosiers a 35-21 loss, their first of the season.

Indiana bounced back the following week on the road with a trip to Rutgers in a game that ended up being closer than it needed to be, 24-17.

IU was sitting at 4-1 and needed to find two more wins on the schedule to become bowl eligible. The Hoosiers only won one more game, a home game against Maryland in November.

A schedule in the Big Ten East meant that Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State were all still waiting on the schedule and IU played both Penn State and Michigan close but could not get over the hump.

That would set up the season finale, a game at home against Purdue for the Old Oaken Bucket as a potential bowl play-in game but Purdue would get off to a 21-7 lead and the Hoosiers could not get any closer than a touchdown away and would come up short, 28-21 and miss bowl eligibility.