Ohio State and Indiana Battle For The Big Ten Championship

For just the third time in college football history, the top two teams in the AP Poll meet in a conference championship. The last two such matchups were in the SEC. This year’s Big Ten Championship makes its own history. The top-ranked, undefeated, reigning national champion Ohio State Buckeyes face the second-ranked, undefeated Indiana Hoosiers.

Ohio State is looking to win its first Big Ten championship since 2020. If you remember, the Buckeyes’ inclusion in the game was controversial, as Ohio State had played only five games to that point, thanks to two COVID-related cancellations. The issue was that Indiana was 6-1, with that lone loss to the Buckeyes. Either way, the Hoosiers are looking for the program’s first Big Ten title since the Lyndon B. Johnson administration (1967).

These two programs are on opposite sides of the history of the Big Ten, and Ohio State hasn’t lost to Indiana in nearly three decades. The good news for the Hoosiers is that in both of those title game matchups between top-ranked teams, the number-two team prevailed.

Heading into championship weekend, the top two favorites to hoist this year’s Heisman Trophy are Julian Sayin and Fernando Mendoza. While there is a foregone conclusion that the winner of this matchup will end up winning the trophy, we would be remiss to forget that players like Jeremiyah Love, Jacob Rodriguez, and Diego Pavia are more than deserving. Either way, with the Heisman Trophy voting being restricted this year, primacy bias may play a role.

Mendoza has been incredible for the Hoosiers. Through 12 games, he has thrown for 2758 yards and leads the nation with 32 passing touchdowns. He has only five interceptions this year, but has faced a fair bit of adversity. Everyone knows how impressive that come-from-behind win was against Penn State, but Mendoza has only eclipsed 300 yards once this year. Mendoza has a dynamic duo of receivers in Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr., though both have been battling injuries. They should both be good to go against Ohio State, as they played last week.

Sayin’s season has been just as impressive. He has accounted for 3,065 yards and 30 touchdowns through the air in his first season as a starter. In terms of interceptions, Sayin also only has five. The most impressive part of his game is the fact that Sayin is completing 78.9% of his passes. He’s currently in line to break the single-season record.

Everyone knows that he has two elite receivers as well. Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate missed some time last month due to injuries, but the duo returned in the win over Michigan. Both scored touchdowns on routes that show they’ll be just fine.

Standing in the way of Sayin and Mendoza are a pair of top-tier defenses.

Ohio State lost eight defenders and a defensive coordinator from last year’s number-one defense and somehow got better. Thanks to six first-team All-Big Ten selections and a clean sweep of individual awards, Ohio State’s defense is the best in the country in scoring (7.8 points per game), passing (121.3 yards per game), and total defense (203 yards per game). On the ground, the Buckeyes are fourth, allowing just 81.7 yards per game.

It’s not just the Big Ten awards the Buckeyes are up for, either. Caleb Downs is a finalist for the Nagurski, Bednarik, Thorpe, and Lott IMPACT Trophies. Kayden McDonald, one of this year’s breakouts, is up for the Outland Trophy, while Arvell Reese is a finalist for the Butkus. When push comes to shove, the Buckeye defense has stepped up. Texas was the only team to get anywhere on offense. Since that game, Ohio State has held opponents to 191 yards per game. The unit has allowed just nine touchdowns in 12 games.

Indiana’s defense is no slouch, either. The Hoosiers are second in scoring defense, second in rushing defense, fourth in total defense, and 14th in passing defense. While Ohio State hasn’t allowed more than 100 yards on the ground in 11 games, Indiana has done so in 10. One of those was in that throttling of Illinois, where the Illini managed just two yards.

This is a disruptive defense. Four Hoosiers are in double-digits for tackles for loss, led by Stephen Daley, who leads the nation with 18. The pressure up front has opened up all kinds of opportunities for the secondary. Indiana has forced 16 interceptions, led by Louis Moore‘s five and Amare Farrell’s four.

These are going to be the best defenses either offense has faced to this point, and vice versa, naturally.

These ain’t your daddy’s Hoosiers. Indiana is a historically awful program and ranks toward the bottom in just about every list, whether you look at wins, losses, win percentage, etc. None of that matters with Curt Cignetti at the helm. With his infamous “I win, Google me” answer, Cignetti has… won. Since taking over as the head coach, the Hoosiers have lost two games. Given that those were against Ohio State in the regular season last year and Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff. It seemed like Indiana was going to be the best of the second-tier teams, beating those it should and losing to the “real” contenders. Last year, that was the case.

This year, not so much. In the only matchup against a team in the CFP conversation, Indiana went to Oregon and came out with a 10-point win. Illinois was ranked ninth when the Illini came to town, so Indiana welcomed them with a 63-10 beatdown. Other than that, it’s been mostly smooth sailing. Penn State showed signs of life, but Mendoza and Cooper hooked up in the back of the endzone for the play of the year.

Ohio State has been mostly untested, meanwhile. After taking down Texas in a 14-7 win at home, the Buckeyes methodically rolled through their schedule. Illinois was ranked when the Buckeyes beat it, as was Michigan. But no matter how good the win over the Wolverines felt, it wasn’t much of a test.

Of course, it could be less about “untested” as it is “Ohio State is just that much better.” Regardless, the fun begins this weekend in Indianapolis. After the Big Ten Championship, both of these teams will learn their fates with the final CFP rankings being unveiled on Sunday. It looks like both will get byes as two of the top four teams in the country. At worst, the loser will host a first-round matchup.

While the stakes aren’t as high as the ACC’s or Big 12’s title games, neither team is going to take the other lightly. Ohio State wanted to get back to the top of the Big Ten. Indiana wants to prove that it is one of the real contenders and finally take down the big, bad Buckeyes.