History gets another turn this Saturday when No. 4 Ohio State heads to No. 5 Indiana for a noon kickoff in Bloomington, a rematch that has been sitting on the Buckeyes’ calendar for 10 months.
The stakes are loaded before the ball is even snapped. This is a Big Ten championship game rematch, a meeting of the last two national championship-winning programs and another chance for both teams to strengthen their position in the conference race and in College Football Playoff seeding. FOX will televise the game nationally from Memorial Stadium.
Ohio State has not forgotten how last season ended. In the 2025 Big Ten title game, then-No.
2 Indiana beat No. 1 Ohio State 13-10 in Lucas Oil Stadium, a result one Buckeye described on the 97.1 The Fan postgame show after the Maryland win as, “This is a get back game,”
That loss carried extra weight because of what it meant for Indiana, too. The Hoosiers snapped a 30-game losing streak against Ohio State and had not beaten the Buckeyes since 1988. They also finished a remarkable run by bringing the school’s first national championship back to Bloomington after the program spent more than 13 decades with a reputation as one of college football’s losingest.
Now the teams are back in range of another postseason collision. Ohio State enters at 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten, while Indiana is 6-0 and 3-0. The winner will keep itself squarely in the hunt for the conference title game and the playoff picture.
Ryan Day said after Ohio State’s win over Maryland that he already had one eye on Bloomington.
“We're seeing the energy week in and week out,” Day said. “We know what we can be.
The challenge is can we do it every single week? And so we've got a big challenge next week on the road.
We have played in two really good environments already (at Texas and Iowa). We're going to play in a great environment next week.”
Julian Sayin had one of his tougher outings in last year’s title-game loss to Indiana. He threw for 264 yards and a touchdown to Carnell Tate, but also tossed an interception that led to an Indiana field goal and was sacked five times.
He knows the Buckeyes are walking into a serious test.
“Obviously, we have a very good opponent,” Sayin said. “For us, it's just about how can we keep improving this week and how can clean up the mistakes that happened (against Maryland). We just have to keep getting better and keep improving because it is obviously a big matchup and going into next week.”
Ohio State defensive tackle Eddrick Houston said the team has been waiting for this one from the start.
“Since the beginning of the year,” Houston said. “They took something from us that we really wanted.
That was one of our goals last year, and they took it from us. So it's time to go to their place and handle business.
“Everybody just needs to do their job. We don't need to try to go out of our way and make plays that might just come to us. We need to do our job, follow the game plan and play physical.”
Tight end Luke Roberts echoed that same edge.
“They definitely took something away from us, and one of our goals last year that we wanted to execute. We're going to use that as motivation obviously going into this week. It's going to be a tough environment, but we're looking forward to it.”
The trip to Indiana also opens a demanding final stretch for Ohio State. The Buckeyes are idle the weekend of Oct. 24, but this game begins a six-game home stretch to close the regular season. Every opponent left on the schedule owns a winning record, and four are currently ranked: Indiana at No. 5 in the AP poll, USC at No. 19 in the AP poll, Northwesten at No. 25 in the AP poll and Oregon at No. 25 in the coaches poll.
In Other News...
Ohio State Just Turned Up The Heat On Two Committed 2027 Targets
A Maryland weekend at Ohio State turned into more than just another recruiting stop, as the Buckeyes used the visit to push harder with a pair of committed 2027 prospects. Linebacker James Conrad and running back Kingston Allen both left Columbus with scholarship offers from Ohio State, adding two more names to a class that has already started to draw national attention well before the cycle gets serious.
Conrad, who is committed to Buffalo, picked up his first Power 4 offer from the Buckeyes, while Allen, a Wisconsin pledge, added Ohio State to a growing list of programs chasing him. Both are highly regarded players with strong high school rsums, and the Buckeyes are now firmly in the mix even before either one has reached the point where most recruiting battles really take shape. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Suddenly Faces A Tougher Indiana Test Than Expected
Indiana has quietly put itself in a better position than many expected heading into its Big Ten meeting with Ohio State. The Hoosiers are mostly healthy, with tight end Andrew Barker the only long-term injured starter, and theyve also gotten a lift from the returns of defensive end Daniel Ndukwe and A.J. Harris. Those reinforcements have helped stabilize a defense that looks a lot sturdier than it did earlier in the season.
Ohio State, meanwhile, is carrying a longer injury list into the matchup, with issues along the offensive line and among several receivers and defenders. For a Buckeyes team that usually expects to dictate terms, that matters because it can complicate both protection and depth in a game where every healthy body counts. Indiana may still be the underdog, but it suddenly has the kind of availability edge that can make a November road test far less comfortable than projected. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Faces A Bigger Test Than Fans Might Think
Indiana coach Curt Cignetti knows exactly what is waiting for his team when it lines up against No. 4 Ohio State, and he spent part of the buildup acknowledging just how difficult the assignment is. With Ryan Day on the sideline and Jeremiah Smith driving the offense, the Buckeyes bring the kind of firepower and consistency that has made them one of the most reliable powers in the College Football Playoff era, and Indiana is treating the matchup like the kind of test that can expose almost any weakness.
Ohio State also appears to be getting healthier at the right time, with several starters expected back after sitting out the previous game, while Indiana recently regained defensive back A.J. Harris. That sets up a game with more than enough talent on both sides to make things interesting, but the larger question is whether Indiana can withstand the Buckeyes long enough to turn it into the kind of contest Cignetti believes it needs to be. [Read more 🡒]