At some point late in the second quarter, if it wasn’t clear before, the talent gap became apparent. Ohio State and Indiana were locked in a close game on the scoreboard, but it was clear that the Buckeyes had the Hoosiers on the ropes after the visitors committed just one too many errors to rebound from — notably,

But No. 2 Ohio State's 38-15 victory in front of 105,751 loud fans at Ohio Stadium was a struggle until two punt plays proved decisive. The Buckeyes capitalized on a fumbled punt snap late in the second quarter to take their first lead, and Caleb Downs returned a punt 79 yards for a touchdown early in the third quarter.

On the first stop, OSU went into the shotgun on fourth-and-inches at the 2 only to find out that slow-developing plays have a way of blowing up in short yardage. On the second stop, quarterback Will Howard forced a throw to Jelani Thurman, and it was intercepted at the 11 with the score tied 7-7.