No. 3 Ohio State moved to 3-0 on this young Big Ten season on Saturday night with a less than convincing 49-27 win against Rutgers at Ohio Stadium. The Buckeyes appeared to be in total control of the game, and to be fair, never weren’t, with a 35-3 lead at halftime but allowed the Scarlet Knights to stay in the game more than anyone expected in the second half.
Following back-to-back primetime kickoffs, the Scarlet and Gray will travel to Maryland this Saturday for a mid-afternoon start time. Ohio State then returns home to host Indiana on Nov. 21 and it was announced on Monday that this game will kick off at 12 p.m. ET as part of the Big Noon Kickoff. The news was put out there by FOX’s Joel Klatt.
The Buckeyes and the Hoosiers have played 92 times in the two programs’ history but few of those meetings carried the hype that this contest potentially will. After a 3-0 start to the 2020 season, which includes wins against Penn State and Michigan, IU received its highest ever ranking in the AP Poll on Sunday, coming in at No. 10.
Of those 92 previous meetings, the Scarlet and Gray have won 75 times, completely controlling the series with Indiana. Ohio State has won each of the last 25 games against the Hoosiers with one tie in the last 27 meetings. The last win for IU against the Buckeyes was a 41-7 affair in Bloomington by Bill Mallory ‘s team over John Cooper’s Scarlet and Gray in 1988. Before defeating the Nittany Lions in the season opener, the win against OSU the year prior (31-10) marked the last time Indiana defeated a ranked opponent.
The first ever meeting between the two programs took place back in 1901. The 18-6 win by the Hoosiers marked the beginning of a four-game unbeaten run by IU to kick off the series between the two teams before the Buckeyes began to take control.
As expected, Ohio State is off to a perfect start to the season record-wise, winning games at home against Nebraska and Rutgers with a road victory against Penn State sandwiched in between. What is surprising is that the game against the Hoosiers in late November could be the Buckeyes’ stiffest challenge of the regular season.
For the Hoosiers to successfully set up this top-10 clash at Ohio Stadium in two weeks, IU must first travel to East Lansing and defeat Michigan State on the road this Saturday.
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Ohio State’s 2020 Football Schedule as of Nov. 9, 2020
Oct. 24 – Ohio State 52 Nebraska 17
Oct. 31 – Ohio State 38 Penn State 25
Nov. 7 – Ohio State 49 Rutgers 27
Nov. 14 – at Maryland; 3:30 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network
Nov. 21 – Indiana; 12 p.m. ET on FOX
Nov. 28 – at Illinois
Dec. 5 – at Michigan State
Dec. 12 – Michigan; 12:00 p.m. ET on FOX
Dec. 19 – Big Ten Championship Game
