After surviving a close game on the road in Champaign last weekend, the Buckeyes return to Columbus to host the 3-1 Indiana Hoosiers this week.

The Hoosiers travel to Columbus after a tough loss against the Michigan Robinsons. In a game where defense was optional (and neither team chose to bring one), the Hoosiers were unable to stop a last minute Robinson drive.

The drive eventually resulted in a touchdown with 17 seconds on the clock to seal the 42 to 35 victory for that school up north. Losing in such a fashion has to be demoralizing for the Hoosiers, who fought their hearts out all game (including a game tying drive late in the fourth quarter) only to go down in the last seconds.

While the Illini had a bye and two full weeks to prepare for the Buckeyes, it is tough to see the Hoosiers bouncing back and putting up much of a fight after such a tough loss at home, particularly on the road against a team like Ohio State. If Indiana does come out fresh and gives Ohio State their best shot, more credit to them, but it still shouldn’t prevent Ohio State from getting the win.

With a weather forecast calling for a beautiful day in the ‘Shoe on Saturday, it will be a perfect day for the Buckeyes to shake out the cobwebs on offense. On defense, the secondary takes on the dynamic Hoosier passing attack.

Barring a repeat of last weeks performance, this game should be well in hand by halftime. My hope is that the adversity on the road last week will allow the Buckeyes to focus on the task at hand and take care of business like they should.

If the Buckeyes struggle in any way, there will be some serious question marks when Ohio State goes back on the road for the biggest challenge of the season (to date) at Wisconsin.

Before we start worrying about any future games, the Buckeyes need to take care of the Hoosiers, so join me after the jump for a look at this weeks game.

Ohio State’s offense vs. Indiana’s defense

The biggest question mark for the Buckeyes heading into this week’s contest is the offense.

In windy conditions that affected the passing game, against a defense that had two weeks to prepare, Terrelle Pryor and the offense struggled to consistently move the ball against Illinois.

Minus two big runs (66 yards, 35 yards) from Pryor in the first half, the offense only managed 112 yards rushing and 77 yards passing last week. Regardless of the weather conditions, you would like to see some more production than that.

Indiana’s defense should provide plenty of opportunities for increased productivity. The Hoosiers rushing defense is bad (108th nationally) and are giving up over 200 yards per game on the ground, including 227 yards to I-AA opponent Townson.

The pass defense isn’t much better for Indiana (47th nationally, 190 yards per game), so the Buckeyes should have no problems putting up better numbers than last week.

It would be nice to see the Buckeyes establish a little consistency on the ground against the Hoosiers. Unfortunately, no matter how well Ohio State does rushing the ball, it is doubtful that any lingering concerns will be erased given the quality of Indiana’s defense. However, improvement has to start sometime, and what better time than now.

The ground attack came on strong at the end of last season, and hopefully they can establish a similar pattern this year with the running attack getting better and better each week.

Speaking of last year, just for fun, here are side by side comparisons of the rushing stats through five games.

2010

Name	Att	Yrds	YPC	TD
Terrelle Pryor	54	373	6.9	3
Boom Herron	65	287	4.4	5
Brandon Saine	44	183	4.2	2
Jordan Hall	13	72	5.5	–
Jaamal Berry	15	177	11.8	1
Carlos Hyde	6	36	6	–

2009

Name	Att	Yrds	YPC	TD
Terrelle Pryor	55	298	5.4	3
Boom Herron	64	233	3.6	–
Brandon Saine	49	294	6	–
Jordan Hall	25	77	3

So while the numbers obviously aren’t the greatest, they are still better than last year through five games, particularly when it comes to touchdowns and yards per carry.

On top of that, Ohio State is still ranked 14th nationally rushing the ball with 234.8 yards per game. If the Buckeyes can continue to improve on the ground, just like they did last year, Ohio State’s offense will be in great shape by the end of the season.

As mentioned, Indiana would be an excellent opponent to start that improvement before a big test next week against Wisconsin.

Ohio State’s defense vs. Indiana’s offense

Ohio State’s defense, as usual, has been outstanding through five games this year. They are ranked in the top 20 nationally in scoring defense (11th), rushing defense (7th), passing defense (18th), and total defense (4th).

Last week, the Buckeyes faced a strong Illini ground attack (229 yards per game in the first three games) which they held to 119 yards.

This week, the Silver Bullets will tackle the 4th ranked Hoosier passing attack (348.3 yards per game).

The Hoosiers are led by senior quarterback  Ben Chappell, who has had an outstanding season so far, passing for 1370 yards and 12 TDs with only 1 interception through four games.

Chappell does not lack for targets, and he has completed ten or more passes to six different players, including the trio of Demarlo Belcher (#88), Terrance Turner (#1), and Tandon Doss (#2), who each have over 20 receptions (Doss had 15 receptions last week alone).

Indiana’s trio of receivers are tall (each 6’3″ or taller) and will present a formidable challenge for the Buckeye secondary that has struggled at times, most notably against Eastern Michigan two weeks ago.

The key for Ohio State will be pressure from the front seven to help out the DBs, who may still be going through some growing pains (particularly new starters like Ohrian Johnson and Christian Bryant). If Chappell doesn’t have time in the pocket, his ability to attack down field will be limited, which is the DBs best friend.

Luckily for Ohio State, Indiana’s ground game is less  intimidating than the passing attack (100th nationally, 106.75 yards per game) and like always, a one dimensional offense is easier to defend.

I don’t expect Ohio State to shut down Indiana’s passing game completely, but once inside the red zone (if they make it that far), Ohio State should be able to keep Indiana from scoring touchdowns more often than not due to the lack of a Hoosier running attack.

It will be a challenge for the defense this week, particularly in the secondary, but as always, they should be more than up to that challenge. If the defensive line is able to get consistent pressure (which they should), Ohio State will be in great shape.

If Ohio State’s offense holds up its end of the bargain, there is no reason why Tressel’s 100th win at Ohio State shouldn’t be a blowout.