Ohio State Football: Grading the Week 10 Win against Indiana

Saturday's 34-20 win over Indiana can pretty much be described as a predictable letdown game for Ohio State.

Although they got the win, the Buckeyes showed their youth by looking like a team that did not come ready to play right away.

The Hoosiers do deserve credit for playing well on the road as a team that had nothing to lose and kept things closer than they probably should have been.

But a win is a win, especially in November.

Here are the grades for OSU's sixth win of the 2011 season.

Quarterback: B

Considering how playing against Indiana's defense was an ideal chance for Braxton Miller to work on his passing, you can say he had a bad day.

But anytime you can break any sort of good record at Ohio State, you did something right.

Miller's 81-yard TD run in the first quarter set a record for the longest QB run in school history, something neither Troy Smith or Terrelle Pryor ever did, showing the type of runner he is.

He ran for 100 yards, but committed two turnovers. But more importantly, he saved a turnover late in the game by recovering a Boom Herron fumble deep in OSU territory late in the second half.

Miller does need some help from his WRs and the play-calling to give him shorter routes to throw to, or even any semblance of a safety valve would help as well. But without any doubt, he has made a lot of progress in the past month.

Running Backs: A+

It's a great day when two running backs rush for over 100 yards, and one of them is the third-string running back.

The injury to Jordan Hall opened up the door for Carlos Hyde, who didn't get carries in the past few games which raised some concern among fans that he would leave to make a statement for the future.

Herron, to put it simply, has been dominant since his return from suspension, much like Mike Adams has been since he also came back from suspension.

These two backs, along with Miller, ripped off massive chunks of yards which helped them put up 30-plus points for the second straight week.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: C-

Only one receiver, Chris Fields, had more receiving yards (26) than fullback Zach Boren, who had 25.

When that happens, the receivers are just not having a good day.

Corey Brown had two catches for just seven yards, and the unit as a whole struggled to get open.

At some point, they will need to get open because they can't expect Miller to run for 100-plus yards every game. He needs some weapons.

Offensive Line: C

The Ohio State offensive line had both a good day as well as a bad day.

Although they opened enough holes to allow OSU to run for 346 yards, they let a young Indiana defense sack Braxton Miller six times on the afternoon.

The group that protected Miller so well last week definitely had a letdown, as did most of the team to begin with.

But the injury to JB Shugarts might be concerning if he misses time, due to the lack of depth up front to begin with.

Defensive Line: B+

John Simon has been growing into a superstar right before our eyes, as he was dominant up front once again for Ohio State.

The junior had a sack and three tackles for loss which helped the Buckeyes front four control the line of scrimmage for most of the game.

Johnathan Hankins also played well and freshman Michael Bennett got a sack.

Like most of the defense, this group started slow and failed to live up to their level of play a week ago.

Linebackers: C

Andrew Sweat was second on the team on Saturday with nine tackles.

The other two starters at linebacker combined for only two total, which is part of the reason why the defense did not play as well as they could.

They did not keep up well with Indiana's zone-read offense and allowed Tre Roberson to make plenty of solid plays.

Defensive Backs: D+

Throughout the game, OSU's young secondary made multiple coverage mistakes, allowing little-known Kofi Hughes to have 147 receiving yards on the afternoon.

To have one receiver, the third man on the depth chart, torch any secondary is just poor in terms of execution and making an adjustment.

Travis Howard's interception at the end of the game kept this grade from being a failing mark. But to let a freshman QB get wide open looks against a secondary with the talent OSU has is simply unacceptable.

Special Teams: B-

Drew Basil continued his long streak of making field goals after his porous start to the season.

However, one of his kickoffs went out of bounds for the second straight week, this time on the opening play of the game.

Devin Smith did a solid job of returning kicks with Jordan Hall out with an injury and Jaamal Berry possibly suspended for the rest of the season.

The loss of those two players hurts in the kick return department, but it keeps players like Smith involved by giving them an opportunity to get the ball in their hands.

Coaching: C-

Obviously, there wasn't all that much to be proud of from a logistical standpoint as far as things that the team needed to improve on.

The passing game was non-existant again, as again it seems like the play-calling is forcing all-or-nothing deep routes in the hopes that completing a few will result in a successful passing game.

There were no screens, quick hits or short out patterns to build Miller's confidence through the air, things that are on page 1 of things to help out young passers.

And defensively, they failed to show the type of consistency that a Big Ten championship-caliber defense needs to have.

But in a game that is all about getting results, the team that needed to win won the game.

And when you get to November, that's all that matters.

Intangibles: B

This game on paper looked like the classic letdown, coming off a stunning win over Wisconsin that suddenly put Ohio State back in Big Ten title contention.

And it certainly was, as Ohio State fell behind 10-0 before waking up and playing.

To their credit, they outscored Indiana 34-10 the rest of the way and made plenty of good plays.

But they need to pick up their effort next week against a Purdue team that will be clawing to get into a bowl game and would love nothing more than to derail OSU's hopes of making it to Indianapolis next month.

They did it two years ago at Purdue, but this is a different team in a different time of the year that is facing a Purdue team that doesn't seem to have the weapons to pull off the upset.

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