Buckeyes blow out Hoosiers in second half

Freshman Dobbins stars in season opener

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

For one half Thursday night, the Ohio State Buckeyes looked like the team that lost 31-0 to Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl, their most recent game. In the second half, especially in the last 20 minutes, they looked like the No. 2 team in the country.

Ohio State routed the Indiana Hoosiers 49-21 in the season opener at Memorial Stadium, overcoming a 21-20 deficit in the third quarter with three touchdown passes by J.T. Barrett.

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Star of the game: J.K. Dobbins became the sixth true freshman to start his first game for the Buckeyes. He set a single-game freshman rushing record, rushing for 181 yards on 29 carries.

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Play of the game: Eight seconds after Indiana took a 21-20 lead, J.T. Barrett threw a 74-yard touchdown pass to Parris Campbell, who earlier in the quarter had dropped a long pass in the end zone. The Buckeyes went back on top for good.

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Best overturned play: Wayne grad Robert Landers returned a fumble for a touchdown, but the play was overturned when it was ruled that Indiana quarterback Richard Lagow's arm was moving forward when he lost the ball.

Best comeback: Barrett completed 10 of 21 passes for 95 yards in the first half. In the second half, he rallied. He finished with 304 yards passing, completing 20 of 35 passes.

Top receiver: Parris Campbell caught six passes for 136 yards.

Big picture: The Buckeyes have now won 22 straight games against Indiana. That doesn't include the 2010 win that was vacated. The Hoosiers haven't won a game in the series since 1988.

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Ohio State needed a strong performance in this one because they’ve got a much tougher game next week at home against Oklahoma. Ohio State at least saw what it needed to see for one half.

FIRST-HALF RECAP

The Buckeyes found themselves in a dogfight at halftime.

Indiana took a 14-13 lead thanks to 278 passing yards and two touchdown passes by Richard Lagow.

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Dobbins was the offensive star for the Buckeyes. He rushed 107 yards on 15 carries.

Sean Nuernberger kicked two field goals for Ohio State. Antonio Williams scored on a 1-yard run to cut the deficit to one point with 5:17 to go in the second quarter.

Lagow, who completed 24 of 38 passes, threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Ian Thomas in the first quarter and an 8-yard touchdown pass to Simmie Cobbs in the second quarter.

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