Indiana had chances to turn Saturday’s Top-5 showdown into one of the biggest wins in program history. Instead, the Hoosiers walked away from Memorial Stadium with a 19-15 loss to Ohio State, a physical, low-scoring battle that looked a lot like last year’s Big Ten Championship Game - only this time the Buckeyes were the ones standing tall.
That makes the result sting even more in Bloomington. It was the first Top-5 matchup ever played at Memorial Stadium, and Indiana had multiple openings to seize control down the stretch. Ohio State helped keep the door cracked with mistakes, but the Hoosiers never took full advantage.
Still, there were individual bright spots for Indiana even in defeat.
Safety Amare Ferrell was all over the field. He broke up a pair of passes early against Jeremiah Smith, then came up with a second-quarter interception on a deflected ball that helped set up Indiana’s first touchdown of the day.
Ferrell wasn’t finished there. He picked off Julian Sayin again in the third quarter, giving Indiana life while the offense struggled to get much going.
It was the second multi-interception game of his career, with the first coming on November 2, 2024 against Michigan State.
Tobi Osunsanmi also kept making life miserable for Ohio State’s offense. The Kansas State transfer was relentless off the edge, finishing with 2.0 sacks and 2.0 tackles for loss.
Even when he didn’t get Sayin to the turf, he was repeatedly in the backfield disrupting the quarterback’s timing. With Ohio State’s offensive line dealing with injuries, Osunsanmi made them pay.
He now leads the Big Ten with 7.0 sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss on the season.
But the loss also came with a few clear trouble spots for Indiana.
The biggest one was missed opportunity. The Hoosiers had a real shot to win this game, especially as Ohio State gave them openings late.
Instead, Indiana was undone by penalties, turnovers, missed field goals, and drives that stalled once the Buckeyes’ territory came into view. It was the kind of game where one clean sequence could have changed everything, and the Hoosiers never found it.
Kicker Nico Radicic had a rough afternoon as well. He missed two field goals against Ohio State, with a 32-yarder in the second quarter bouncing off the left upright and a 55-yarder in the third quarter falling short.
Those misses mattered. Radicic was one of the nation’s top kickers last season, but this year has been a different story.
He has now missed three field goals in 10 tries, and he also missed an extra point earlier this season against Rutgers.
And with the loss, a couple of Indiana streaks came to an end. The Hoosiers’ 22-game winning streak is officially over after a run that included a 16-0 season and a historic National Championship last year before Indiana opened the 2026 campaign 6-0. The defeat also snapped IU’s 19-game home winning streak and gave Curt Cignetti his first home loss at Memorial Stadium, with the previous setback there coming against Michigan State in November of 2023.
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Indiana Loss Now Comes With An Officiating Debate Fans Can't Ignore
Ohio States 19-15 win over Indiana did more than snap the Hoosiers 22-game winning streak. It also left plenty of people around the game sorting through a night filled with flags, frustration and a few calls that immediately became talking points, including a roughing-the-passer penalty on Jermaine Mathews Jr. and a missed pass interference whistle involving Jeremiah Smith.
For Indiana, the loss was already hard enough with Julian Sayin exiting because of a right arm injury, but the officiating chatter only sharpened the sting of a game both sides saw marked by multiple penalties. When a tight contest ends with that much second-guessing, the result is hard to separate from the debate that follows, and this one figures to linger well beyond the final whistle. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Let Ohio State Slip Away For Three Brutal Reasons
Saturdays loss to Ohio State at Memorial Stadium had the kind of shape that can linger for a while in Bloomington. Indiana had enough moments to keep the game within reach, but the offense never found a steady rhythm, and the 19-15 finish reflected how many chances slipped away in a matchup that felt there for the taking.
Josh Hoovers day never really settled in, as Indiana finished with an inefficient passing performance and little help on the ground. The second-half turnovers mattered, Nico Radicics missed field goals loomed large, and the running game never provided the balance the Hoosiers needed, leaving plenty of reasons to wonder how different this one might have looked with just a cleaner stretch of execution. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana May Have Changed Ohio State's Entire Season
Ohio States 19-15 win over Indiana did more than snap the Hoosiers 22-game winning streak. It also left the Buckeyes dealing with a major quarterback concern after starter Julian Sayin went down with a right arm injury and was replaced by true freshman Luke Fahey.
Ryan Day said Sayin will be out for several weeks, which immediately changes the tenor of Ohio States season and adds another layer to the aftermath of a game Indiana had been aiming to survive with its streak intact. For a Buckeyes schedule that still includes USC, Oregon, Northwestern, Nebraska and Michigan, the injury could end up mattering far beyond a single close win in Bloomington. [Read more 🡒]