Written by Mike Furlan

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In his preview, Furls asked the question: Hoosier Daddy? He answers it in the recap - OSU is your daddy. In his latest, Furls breaks down the complete and utter mismatch that was Saturday's Buckeyes game. Furls talks about the contest, grades the positions, grades his predictions, and pays homage to the Prognosticator of the Week from the Swerbs Blurbs College Sports Bar message board forum. 26 days 'till Michigan. If Indiana was hoping to measure the progress of their program from this game, I am not sure that they got the answer they were hoping for.  This looked an awful like the Indiana team that comes to Columbus and gets its teeth kicked in every year.  There is a very distinct difference between this year's beating and every other's; this Indiana team is very young, so there is hope for Hoosier fans.

Kellen Lewis is the real thing.  He can run, throw, and throw on the run.  With some coaching and development, he has the potential to develop into everything that Drew Tate was supposed to be.  They are going to have to get that kid a running back though.  Lewis only weighs 180 lbs (soaking wet) and if he continues to be the Hoosier's leading rusher, bad things will happen.

The Hoosiers offense was everybit as inefficient as I said that it would be.  They were able to make some plays, but they were unable to sustain anything of substance.  Had it not been for a special teams miracle the Hoosiers would have been shut out.  I don't think Tiger Woods can make a golf ball spin like that opening punt, and the Hoosiers jumped on the opportunity and put some points on the board.  As I said in the Michigan State wrap, with field position like that a good team scores a touchdown, a mediocre team scores a field goal, and a bad team turns the ball over (MSU does all kinds of perverted things with the ball in that situation).  That is exactly what the Hoosiers are this year, mediocre.  That is a quantum leap from where they are every year!  Congratulations on your 44-3 pounding!

The one sided stats may actually say more about how uneven this match up was.  The Hoosiers allowed nearly 540 yards (77 yards less than Notre Dame last year!) and gained 165.  The Buckeye's defense looked stout, allowing a mere 7 yards rushing and forcing 2 intercetions (dropping 2 others).  The final score was 44-3, but it could have been much worse.  The Buckeyes could run or pass at will and featured an exceptionally balanced attack, throwing for 270 yards and running for 270 more.  If the Buckeye's had pressed, they could have had three 100 yard rushers (Pittman 105, C.Wells 65, M. Wells 62).

Grading the Positions:

Quarterback:  A.  After a slow start Troy really turned it on.  Smith missed on his first four attempts, but finished the game by completing 15 of his last 19 attempts.  Smith added two tremendous throws to this impressive game.  The scramble-toss to Ginn for a touchdown and the perfect pass to TE Jake Ballard.  Smith is going to make some NFL team very happy next year, he keeps showing that he can make EVERY throw.

Wide Receivers:  A.  Hartline gets an A+ for his special teams hit, WR's arent supposed to do that.  The downfield blocking was exceptional.

Running Backs:  A.  Everyone produced and no one put the ball on the ground.  The RB's nearly broke several of those runs for long TDs and demonstrated an explosiveness that really has not been there this year.  Sometimes you forget how fast Maurice Wells is.

Offensive Line:  I.  I cannot give them a grade.  There is not sufficient talent in Indiana for the O-line to actually block.  I will give them credit, they did avoid the stupid procedural penalties and that is a plus.

Defensive Line:  B+.  Lots of sacks, but there were several missed tackles.  Any decent play that Indiana made started with a missed tackle on the D-line.  These missed tackles turned a statement making defensive performance and made it merely "impressive."  Several sacks from the DE's saves the grade here, but the linebackers were not as lucky.

Linebackers:  C+.  The linebackers just were not impressive.  Lots of bad angles and missed tackles.  Will two other linebackers PLEASE step up and perform?  I have no idea.

Secondary: A++:  Antonio Smith was an ANIMAL, he recorded a sack and had 13 other tackles.  I wonder if he can play linebacker?  Andre Amos, a freshman, and Malcolm Jenkins, a sophomore, continue to show us that the future of the Ohio State secondary is in good hands!

Special Teams:  A.  You wouldn't know it by watching this game, but Thigpen was leading the NCAA with a 37 yard per return average.  Indiana finished the game averaging 16 yards per return (Thigpen had 2 returns for 38 yards).  Add in a 50 yarder by Aaron Pettrey and all of a sudden you don't miss Josh Houston as much.  

Coaching:  B.  The coaching staff really needs to do what they can to get the starters out of these games sooner.  I understand that they are walking a fine line between keeping these guys sharp, but they really need to be exceptionally careful.  The Buckeyes national title hopes could be dashed in just one torn ACL.

Grading the Grader:

I said, "Don't be surprised if...   

1 "The Buckeyes pitch a shut out. Indiana runs a primitive run option offense and they do not have any ANY homerun threats. Their best chance to score will be on a kick off return."  --- Well the Buckeyes were a physics defying bounce away from that shut out.  Had the Hoosiers not been lucky enough to get that punt to kick out of bounds at the one, the Buckeyes would have had their shut out.  A.

2 "The Buckeyes pull in four quarterback induced turnovers, either fumbles or ints. Freshman quarterback, playing in front of 105,000 fans? Against a defense with more team speed than he has ever seen before? Good luck with that."  --- Lewis was much more composed than I expected.  All together, the Buckeyes collected 2 turnovers (ints) and dropped two others.  C.

3 "The Buckeyes record 7 sacks or more. The Hoosiers offensive line is young and vulnerable. They are starting two freshman on the left side of the line. Good luck with Quinn Pitcock and Vern Gholston. Additionally, the Buckeyes should be able to do this without a lot of blitzing leading us back to the whole "int" thing."  --- Buckeyes recorded 4 sacks today, about 50% of what I forecasted.  I failed and that is a credit to Kellen Lewis' mobility.  F.

Props to the Prognosticator of the Week:  Me, AGAIN!

He fella's it is time to start doing your homework.  It is lonely for me at the top.  I had a four point differential after predicting a 45-0 final.  Additionally, I predicted that this game would be as rough on the Hoosiers as Jim Tressel felt like making it and that was just about right.