START YOUR BUCKEYEGROVE.COM PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP TODAY!

How long has it really been since the Indiana Hoosiers have beaten the Buckeyes? Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer had just left Ohio State has a grad assistant and had taken his first positional coaching position at Illinois State back in 1988. Defensive Coordinator Greg Schiano was going into his first coaching job, an assistant position at Ramapo high school in New Jersey. And Wide Receivers coach Brian Hartline was getting ready to celebrate his second birthday.

So, it has been a long time.

Streaks do come to an end and this Ohio State team does not want to be the team that sees Ohio State's 23-game winning streak (sorry NCAA, we don't vacate games like you do) since a 1990 tie against the Hoosiers come to an end. During that streak the Buckeyes have outscored the Hoosiers 824-343, or for the math majors out there, the average margin of victory during that time has been just around three touchdowns per contest.

This will be the 7th time that Indiana has taken on Ohio State with Urban Meyer at the helm and credit goes to Indiana, the Hoosiers have put some points on the board against the Buckeyes in all of those games. In four of the six games, Indiana has broken the 20-point margin and has played the Buckeyes within one score in 2012 and 2015.

Indiana has been much more successful in Bloomington (Ind.) than in Columbus (Ohio) during that recent stretch and fortunately for the Buckeyes, Saturday's game will be at Ohio Stadium. But, in one of those weird twists of fate, 10 of Indiana's 12 wins all-time in this series have happened in Columbus with the Hoosiers only winning twice, ever, in front of their home crowd back in the state of Indiana.

Will we see a tired, fatigued and disinterested Ohio State team who still has their minds in State College (Pa.) this week? We really won't know that until the game starts, but what we do know is that the Buckeyes hold significant edges at many positions and we will take a closer look at that as we go to the Tale of the Tape.

For a good portion of the game against Penn State, the Ohio State offensive skill positions were stuck in a low gear as Penn State's pressure kept the Buckeyes off balance. But when the Buckeyes finally had to turn it on, Dwayne Haskins played his best ball under big pressure and willed the Buckeyes to the win. His 270 passing yards on the night may be a little deceptive when you look at plays like the 47-yard touchdown pass to Binjimen Victor not being a deep pass and much of that yardage coming after the catch, but it all counts the same. K.J. Hill has done nothing to weaken the claim (made by me) that he is potentially the top receiver in the league. Parris Campbell led the Buckeyes with seven receptions and his decision to come back one more year has truly paid off in a big way for Campbell and for the Buckeyes. Last year against the Hoosiers, the Buckeyes passed for 304 yards and Campbell led the way with 136 yards, 74 coming on a short pass with a long run, making up for a bad drop in the end zone earlier in the game. The Hoosiers appear to have shored up a few things in the back end since last year but will be facing a much more diverse and skilled passing game this week. Ohio State really could put up some big numbers but that might be limited by Ohio State if the desire is to really focus on getting the run game going during the month of October.

Indiana certainly has not been tested against many great throwing teams this season to date, with only one game against a top-40 passing offense (Ball State - 33rd). In that game the Hoosiers did pass the test by only allowing 143 yards on 50-percent passing and zero touchdowns via the air in a convincing 38-10 win. IU does have five interceptions on the season, spread out amongst five different players, so there is not that one guy that you will try and avoid each game. The secondary is filled with upperclassmen and many of the names are familiar to Ohio State fans. Safety Jonathan Crawford is a big player at 6-foot-2, 196-pounds and he is the only one of the Hoosiers to take his interception back to the house with a pick-six. Both corners are 6-foot corners, with A'Shon Riggins and Andre Brown Jr. so the Buckeyes are not going to have a small corner to pick on. The issue that Indiana may face in the secondary will all tie to the play of the front seven and getting pressure on Haskins. Any secondary will eventually lose coverage if a quarterback is given unlimited time to scan the field. Will the rest of the Hoosiers defense be able to assist the secondary by forcing Haskins to make quick decisions? IU sacked Brian Lewerke of Michigan State three times and Artur Sitkowski of Rutgers twice.