Buckeyes Continue To Roll
COLUMBUS, OHIO – Junior running back Tevin Coleman’s 90-yard touchdown run gave Indiana a 20-14 with 7:17 remaining in the third quarter, but No. 6 Ohio State responded with 28 consecutive points to pull away to a 42-20 lead. Coleman added a 52-yard touchdown with 1:13 to make the final score 42-27 in favor of Ohio State.
Coleman’s game-high 228 rushing yards made him Indiana’s all-time leader in a single season with 1,906 yards. The previous record was 1,805 held by Vaughn Dunbar and was set in 1991.
Jalin Marshall returned a punt 54 yards for the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter and then added three late insurance scores to carry the Buckeyes past Indiana 42-27.
OSU trailed the Hoosiers 20-14 after Coleman sped 90 yards. A week after rushing for 307 yards, Coleman went for his 228 yards on 27 carries for three scores for the Hoosiers (3-8, 0-7).
IU’s last chance at a tying score ended with Tyvis Powell picking off a pass from Zander Diamont with 4:25 left, deep in Indiana territory. Marshall caught two more scoring passes after that to pad the lead before Coleman rumbled 52 yards for a score with 1:13 left.
“We kind of (had) them where we want them, 4 minutes to go in the `Shoe and it’s 28-20,” Indiana coach Kevin Wilson said. “We were trying to make a play and came up short.”
On IU’s second possession of the second half, Coleman took a simple handoff, bounced outside and streaked down the left sideline. The 210-pound junior was pulling away from two Ohio State defensive backs over the last 50 yards, too.
A crowd of 101,426 at Ohio Stadium sounded more like 426.
But that all changed late in the quarter after an anemic 35 minutes by Ohio State when Marshall took a low, line-drive punt, avoided an early tackle and then sidestepped punter Erich Toth for the 54-yard return.
Marshall scored on a 6-yard shovel pass, made a one-handed grab of a 15-yard Barrett pass to swell the lead to 35-20 with just over 4 minutes left, then added a 54-yard catch-and-run.
Then Diamont, who completed 11 of 27 passes for 114 yards, helped turn the tide with a 53-yard scramble that set up Coleman’s 2-yard touchdown. The Buckeyes then turned the ball over on their next three possessions and, suddenly, it was a game.
Ohio State, ranked No. 6 in the latest College Football Selection Committee poll, moves to 10-1 overall and 7-0 in the Big Ten. The rivalry game with Michigan stands in the way of a perfect Big Ten season, to which Ohio State has already wrapped up an appearance in the Big Ten championship game Dec. 6 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Indiana wraps up the 2014 campaign in the battle for the Old Oaken Bucket against Purdue. Kick-off is set for noon at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 29.