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Late interception
seals Buckeyes win
yahoo sports
COLUMBUS—It’s reached a point where the Indiana Hoosiers just need a
break to go their way.
Tre Roberson had another strong game but was picked off with 4:07 left
to kill a potential tying drive as Ohio State pulled out a 34-20
victory against Indiana on Saturday.
“Even though it wasn’t out of hand, we needed something good to
happen,” first-year coach Kevin Wilson said of his young team’s hopes.
“We needed to make a play. We needed a little help, but I thought the
ice was a little thin. They were able to knock us out at the end.”
The KO came in the form of Travis Howard’s interception at the Ohio
State 28 with just over 4 minutes left. The Hoosiers (1-9, 0-6 Big
Ten), who lost their seventh in a row, trailed just 27-20 and were
moving the ball. They had a second-and-1 and a partisan crowd of
105,195 was on edge on a crystal-clear day at Ohio Stadium.
Roberson took the blame.
“I was trying to get it to (the medium receiver),” said Roberson, who
rushed for 70 yards and completed 11 of 21 passes for 174 yards and a
score. “But it was a bad ball by me. It was all my fault.”
Howard was lying in wait for the pass over the middle.
“I locked eyes with the receiver and the quarterback,” Howard said. “I
was just, like, ‘There’s no way he’s going to throw that pass.’ I was
able to run over there and make a great interception.”
Moments later, Carlos Hyde added a clinching score on a 2-yard run and
the Buckeyes (6-3, 3-2) had their third win in a row to remain in solid
contention in the Leaders Division despite an 0-2 start and a season
fraught with suspensions and the possibility of NCAA sanctions.
The Buckeyes, despite three backs over 100 yards each, badly needed the
turnover.
“That was the one thing that you keep staring at, looking out there:
Man, we’ve got to get a turnover. We’ve got to get a turnover,” interim
coach Luke Fickell said. “It wasn’t until the very end of the game that
we came up with it.”
Three Buckeyes topped 100 yards rushing: Dan Herron with 141 yards and
TD on 14 carries, Hyde with 105 on 15 and quarterback Braxton Miller
with 105 on 14 with two touchdowns. It was the first time Ohio State
had three runners over 100 since 1989. The Buckeyes totaled 346 rushing
yards on 46 attempts.
It was another learning experience for the young Hoosiers.
“We didn’t need to play perfect to beat those guys,” Wilson said. “But
we did need to play up to our potential.”
The Buckeyes took leads of 20-13 and 27-20 in the third quarter, the
first when Herron danced outside to cover the last 15 yards before
edging inside the left pylon to make it 20-13. Miller helped the
Buckeyes regain the lead when, on third and goal at the Indiana 20, he
raced up the middle through a gaping hole on a draw and faked out the
last defender, Mark Murphy, who never got a hand on him.
In between, Roberson had tossed a spot-on 34-yard scoring pass to Kofi
Hughes to knot it at 20.
Down a touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter, the Hoosiers came
right back and had second and 3 at the Ohio State before a false start
helped kill the drive. Mitch Ewald, who had converted two earlier
attempts, ended up wide left on a 40-yard field goal try.
Indiana had grabbed a quick 10-0 lead. Ewald kicked a 35-yard field
goal on the Hoosiers’ first possession. Three plays later, Miller was
sacked by Bobby Richardson and he fumbled, with Jeff Thomas recovering
for Indiana at the Ohio State 41. Stephen Houston then scored on a
5-yard run.
But the Hoosiers were undone by the one big play that didn’t go their
way.
“We’re growing every week,” Roberson said. “We’re getting better every
week. It was a good game offensively and defensively. But we didn’t
come out with a win.”
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