3 Takeaways from Ohio State's Week 12 Win

If Ohio State is going to reach the Big Ten Championship Game and potentially go on to the College Football Playoff, it likely couldn't have afforded a loss to Indiana on Saturday. The Hoosiers were the toughest team remaining on the Buckeyes' regular-season schedule, and as expected, they played a competitive game.

However, Ohio State held on for a 42-35 victory at Ohio Stadium to improve to 4-0 and continue its push toward the postseason. It was the Buckeyes' first game since Nov. 7, as their matchup against Maryland the previous week was canceled due to positive COVID-19 tests within the Terrapins' program.

Ohio State never trailed against Indiana, but the Hoosiers nearly came back from a 28-point deficit. And although the Buckeyes didn't score in the fourth quarter, they still had 607 total yards of offense with quarterback Justin Fields leading the way, as he passed for 300 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 78 yards and a score.

Because the Big Ten didn't start its season until late October, Ohio State has only three games remaining before it potentially takes part in this year's conference championship game.

Here are three takeaways from the Buckeyes' win on Saturday.

In Ohio State's first three games, redshirt sophomore Master Teague III and graduate transfer Trey Sermon had split carries out of the backfield. But on Saturday, most of the work went to Teague, who had 26 rushing attempts to Sermon's nine. And that led to the Buckeyes' biggest rushing day of the season thus far.

Teague ran for a career-high 169 yards and two touchdowns, each coming on consecutive possessions in the second quarter. He had a 41-yard touchdown run to give Ohio State the lead, then he scored from 2 yards out to push its advantage to 21-7 with 4 minutes, 32 seconds to go until halftime.

Through four games, Teague has six touchdowns, having scored at least one in every contest. His 26 carries were a season high after he had only 12 rushing attempts in two of the first three games.

"I feel like I got in a good groove," Teague said, according to Spencer Holbrook of Letterman Row. "I was able to make plays and help the team win, come to a victory. So I feel good about that."

Ohio State had a season-high 307 rushing yards in the victory, proving that utilizing Teague as the feature back leads to the best results. He should continue to get most of the work out of the backfield for the Buckeyes, as he's playing at a high level and has shown he's the best running back on their roster.

It wasn't a great day for Ohio State's defense. Indiana redshirt sophomore quarterback Michael Penix Jr. had a huge showing, passing for 491 yards and five touchdowns, four of which came in the second half to help get the Hoosiers back into the game.

Indiana cut Ohio State's lead to 42-35 when Penix connected with senior wide receiver Ty Fryfogle on a 56-yard touchdown pass with 10:26 to go in the fourth quarter. That gave the Hoosiers plenty of time to either force overtime or potentially take the lead, and they certainly had the momentum.

However, the Buckeyes came up with stops when they needed them most. Indiana had the ball at its own 7-yard line with 4:35 to go, but it went three-and-out and was forced to punt. The Hoosiers got the ball back at their own 22-yard line with 34 seconds remaining, but they ran out of time, losing the ball on a fumble on the game's final play as they tried to execute numerous laterals.

Although Ohio State came away with the win, things got much closer than it had hoped. And that's something the Buckeyes will likely need to improve on before potentially facing tougher competition in the postseason.

"We’ve got to figure out a way to close out games," Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said, per Mitch Stacy of the Associated Press. "This is kind of the second week now we let a team hang around a little bit, and we’ve got to get that fixed."

With the win, Ohio State is now by itself in first place in the Big Ten East. Indiana (4-1) and Maryland (2-1) are the only teams in the division with one loss.

That means the Buckeyes are in control of their own destiny, and as long as they win their final three regular-season games, they'll be heading to the Big Ten Championship Game. Each of those matchups are against unranked opponents, as they're set to play at Illinois this upcoming Saturday before playing at Michigan State on Dec. 5 and hosting Michigan on Dec. 12.

Currently, Ohio State would be facing Northwestern, which is 5-0, for the conference title on Dec. 19.

Even though the No. 3-ranked Buckeyes are playing fewer games than some of the country's other top teams (such as Alabama, Notre Dame and Clemson), they're proving that they should make the College Football Playoff and that they'll again be a contender for the national title. Ohio State has made the Playoff three times in the past six seasons.

Indiana entered its matchup at Ohio State as the No. 9 team in the country, and it currently sits at No. 12 in the AP Top 25 poll. So, it was an impressive showing for the Buckeyes to mostly control the matchup against the Hoosiers (especially early), and it should help them keep their momentum going into the rest of the season.