What is the story about?
Indiana
finally reached the conference’s mountaintop on Saturday night with a 13-10 win over Ohio State in the Big Ten Football Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
It’s the Hoosiers’ first win over the Buckeyes and first Big Ten championship in several decades, coming in their first appearance in the conference title game in program history. Here’s a handful of numbers that stuck out from the victory:
13-10
- The final score, of course, was each team’s low in points scored on the season. Indiana’s previous low was the 20 it needed to fend off Iowa on the road in Kinnick Stadium and Ohio State’s previous low was the 14 it needed in Week 1 to knock off preseason No. 1 Texas.
222
- Passing yards for Fernando Mendoza, who completed 15 of his 23 attempts with one touchdown and a single interception. It wasn’t necessarily the gaudiest statline, but it proved to be enough against the sport’s toughest defense, statistically speaking.
126
- Receiving yards for Charlie Becker, who starred for the Hoosiers out wide hauling in six receptions including a 51-yarder to reach Buckeyes territory and help set up Elijah Sarratt’s go-ahead receiving touchdown and a 33-yarder on Indiana’s final drive to pick up another set of downs and flip the field. Buckeyes star Jeremiah Smith totaled eight receptions for 144 yards, including a last-ditch 46-yarder.
58
- Total rushing yards from Ohio State. Bo Jackson was able to pick up 83 yards on the ground for the Buckeyes but sacks (more on that later) lost almost 30 yards. Jackson’s 5.9 yards per carry was impressive, but he was outdone on the ground by Indiana’s duo of Roman Hemby and Kaelon Black, who combined for 121 yards on the ground and picked up 4 and 4.3 yards per carry, respectively. Indiana’s defensive front proved stout against an impressive Ohio State offense that hadn’t been held under 100 rushing yards since an October trip to Wisconsin and had gained triple digits in ten games during the regular season.
5
- Sacks on Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin. The Buckeyes’ offensive line had managed to protect him well for the majority of the season, but proved no match for a ferocious Indiana pass rush. The Hoosiers’ prioritization in the trenches has been perhaps the greatest investment under Curt Cignetti in terms of its impact.
1
- Big Ten Football championship trophy hoisted by the Hoosiers.
