Ohio State took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards with relative ease. Miyan Williams capped the drive with an 11-yard touchdown run over left tackle on which he was not touched thanks to a massive hole opened by Nicholas Petit-Frere and Thayer Munford.
Indiana (2-5) struck back with a drive just as impressive. The Hoosiers used 15 plays to go 75 yards, the last a 7-yard pass from Jack Tuttle to a wide-open Payton Hendershot, who got away from Cody Simon in the end zone.
Tuttle was rocked by multiple Buckeyes just after he let the ball go and remained down. He was able to leave the field under his own power, but the IU coaching staff was forced to try two other quarterbacks with Tuttle apparently limited.
The Hoosiers converted four third downs — including three of at least seven yards — on the drive and overcame a pair of sacks, but nothing else went right for them in the first half.
Ohio State responded quickly with another 75-yard touchdown drive. This time the Buckeyes needed only five plays as C.J. Stroud hit Jaxon Smith-Njigba for 32 yards to start it and TreVeyon Henderson finished it with a 21-yard touchdown run.
He's a freshman, but all he does is score TDs.
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 24, 2021
That's TD No. 1⃣3⃣ for @OhioState star RB @TreVeyonH4. pic.twitter.com/VvfMPoHT6l
The Buckeyes got the ball back near midfield after a short punt and went right back to work. Stroud was three for three on the drive, including a 14-yard screen pass to Henderson on which he banged through multiple potential tacklers on his way to the end zone.
After a botched long snap on a punt attempt led to an Ohio State safety, the Buckeyes got the ball back at the Indiana 39. They needed only five plays to find the end zone again, this time on a 16-yard pass from Stroud to Chris Olave.
The offense had an even shorter field the next time it got the ball thanks to Garrett Wilson’s 20-yard punt return to the Indiana 30. Henderson went 17 yards on the first play, drew a personal foul for a late hit then scored from six yards out.
Ohio State tacked on one more touchdown late in the second quarter when Stroud hit Ruckert from 14 yards out.
That made it 44-7 with 31 seconds left.
Meanwhile, the Hoosiers could not do anything after their opening drive.
With Tuttle apparently injured, they tried Donaven McCulley and Grant Gremel at quarterback, but neither could get anything going as the Ohio State defensive line dominated. Tuttle also returned briefly at one point but the song remained the same on a rainy night in Bloomington.
Ohio State outgained Indiana 334-54 in the first half as Stroud completed 16 of 21 passes for 201 yards and three scores and Henderson ran for 81 yards on nine carries.
The Ohio State defense logged eight tackles for loss, including four sacks.
The first team stayed in the game for most of the third quarter, and Ohio State added another touchdown when Stroud connected with Ruckert again, this time from two yards out.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Noah Ruggles completed the scoring with a 26-yard field goal for the Buckeyes.
He completed 21 of 28 passes Saturday night for 266 yards and four touchdowns before giving way to Kyle McCord in the fourth quarter.
Ohio State went over 500 yards for the sixth consecutive games.
TreVeyon Henderson ran for 81 yards on nine carries while Miyan Williams added 60 yards on eight carries. With Master Teague III and Marcus Crowley unavailable, Isiah Pryor got most of the second half and finished with 48 yards on 11 carries.
The Hoosiers finished with 128 total yards, the fewest for an Ohio State opponent this season.
Since giving up over 500 yards in back to back weeks to Oregon and Tulsa, the defense has allowed an average of 259.5 yards in its last four games.
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