BLOOMINGTON, Indiana -- Ohio State’s season may hinge on what happens at cornerback this weekend, and the two Buckeyes at the center of it know exactly what is at stake.
Jermaine Mathews and Devin Sanchez are walking into Saturday with plenty to defend and even more to prove. Indiana’s passing game has been built around Charlie Becker and Nick Marsh, and Ohio State’s best-case outcome is simple: its cornerbacks win those matchups and leave no doubt about the offseason hype around them. The other outcome would drag the conversation in the opposite direction fast.
Whatever unfolds inside Memorial Stadium will feel like the clearest test yet for a room that calls itself “Best in America,” or “B.I.A.” for short.
Time to show it.
“(They’re) a team with two good receivers, and we’ve got good cornerbacks,” Sanchez said. “So it’s gonna be a hard-fought game.
We’re expecting to play four quarters just like them. Just going out there and expecting that the ball’s gonna come our way.”
Mathews has traveled a longer, rougher road to get here. He arrived as a top-50 prospect and Tim Walton’s first recruiting win in the 2023 class, a Cincinnati native with confidence to spare and a style that made it clear early he wasn’t afraid of the moment. For his first two seasons, he was mostly a backup - but one who kept showing he could answer whenever Ohio State needed him.
Last season brought a steadier stretch of play, but the postseason left a mark. Against Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game, all four passes his way were completed for 48 yards and the touchdown that decided the game. A few months later against Miami, he allowed four more catches on four targets.
“I think I left a lot of plays out there,” Mathews said. “I just want to make sure I make the plays I’m supposed to make.”
That late-season stretch mattered more than everything else. When nearly 62% of the yards a corner gives up in a whole year come in two losses, that’s what follows him into the next season.
“(It was) not to my standard last year at the end,” Mathews said. “Really can’t do anything about it. Just move on.”
Sanchez’s story has been more about expectation turning into frustration. The former five-star recruit flashed enough as a freshman to make Year 2 feel like the step where everything might click. Six games into the season, he’s been solid, but not yet the force many expected.
His numbers tell the story: 35 targets, 19 completions, 227 yards, two touchdowns and five pass interference penalties, which puts him eighth in the country among defensive players in penalties.
That’s not ideal against a passing game that clearly knows how to draw flags.
“It was just a little grabby at times. Some people can say it’s ticky-tacky, but at the end of the day the flag’s still thrown, and I’ve gotta fix it.
“It’s me knowing I’ve gotta play the opposing team and the refs.”
That wasn’t a deflection. It was Sanchez recognizing what needs to change before it gets worse.
Mathews, meanwhile, has answered after last year’s finish with a much cleaner start. He’s been targeted 35 times and allowed 22 catches for 165 yards. He has regained the steady outside presence Ohio State has counted on, while also handling work in the slot with Jay Timmon s recovering from an injury.
Sanchez still has the tools that made him such a hyped recruit in the first place. He looks the part, and his best snaps this season have shown he can be tough to separate from and even tougher to turn into something explosive.
Ohio State has still played like a defense with the numbers to back it up, allowing a nation-best 4.8 yards per pass attempt. No receiver has topped 100 yards against the Buckeyes. And the last time they faced a receiver duo considered elite, Texas’ Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo combined for 10 catches, 71 yards and one touchdown on 12 targets.
That was good. It wasn’t enough for what’s ahead.
Sanchez said anything like six catches between the two corners would not meet the standard.
“No, that’s not a good day,” Sanchez said. “Six catches, I don’t think, is a good day for anybody.
You live with it, whether it happens or not, but I think six catches is not a good day. Just knocking the ball down more and limiting it to two or three catches for however many yards that would be.
“I don’t think it’s bad, but it’s not to my standard, and it’s not to the standard of the corners here.”
Ohio State needs more than a decent performance from its corners because Indiana’s passing game is concentrated almost entirely through two weapons. Becker and Marsh have combined for 59 catches, 1,057 yards and 14 touchdowns on 82 targets. That’s 63.4% of the catches, 73% of the yards and 73.7% of the touchdowns on 62.1% of the targets.
Take those two away, and you take away the Hoosiers’ air game.
Mathews and Sanchez both have a shot to leave Saturday looking different than they do now. Mathews can show he has fully turned the page from those postseason struggles. Sanchez can begin proving that all the talk about his ceiling wasn’t just talk.
Together, they could strengthen the case that Ohio State has its best cornerback tandem since Jeff Okudah and Damon Arnette in 2019.
Now they just have to back it up.
“Me and Jermaine have to win our one-on-ones outside. (We) know that if it’s a tight game, the ball’s gonna come out there to us.
All respect to them. Outside of Jeremiah, they’re probably the two best receivers in the Big Ten.
So we have to go out there and win knowing the ball’s gonna come to us.
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