Indiana suffered its first loss since 2024 on Saturday afternoon, falling to Ohio State 19-15. It was a hard-fought game between two evenly-matched teams, as reflected by the the fact that the Hoosiers fell just one spot in the latest AP Poll.
Because of how winnable the game was, fans and media alike have spent much of the last two days trying to figure out who to blame, particularly for Indiana's final offensive play. After struggling for most of the day, Josh Hoover threw a ball that was good, but not great, to Nick Marsh, who caught it with his feet out of bounds to effectively end the game.
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It's a painful play to revisit, even as I sit here thinking about it Monday evening. But was that really what cost Indiana the game? Not really.
I was critical of the passing game on Saturday because the accuracy issues predated the Ohio State game. Indiana punted four times, in addition to the two field goal tries, because drives kept stalling out when Hoover missed passes. Any one of these could have ended in the touchdown that would have won the game for the Hoosiers.
Then there are the missed field goals. Radicic missing an easy one had an immeasurable impact on the game. Had he converted from 32 yards out, Indiana's final drive wouldn't have had to end with a shot at the end zone. The drive could have been planned around just getting into Radicic's normally consistent range.
It's not fair to blame Radicic for the miss from 55-yards, but it's another play – more so than the Hoover's last pass – worthy of a closer look.
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After the Nebraska game, I questioned whether Cignetti had lost some of the aggression that made last year so special. The decision to kick down six from well beyond Radicic's career-long only makes me worry more.
Because Radicic had never really given us reason to think this was in his range, I struggle with calling this the "safe" call from Cignetti. It's kind of just a head-scratcher.
I watched Indiana's offense on Saturday, like everyone else, so I do understand lacking confidence in execution on a crucial fourth down play. That said, there are going to be other high-leverage plays this season that the offense will need to execute on, so they may as well practice now.
With how much Indiana has struggled to run the ball the last few weeks, the staff may have felt somewhat handcuffed in play-calling, which could have impacted the decision. The defense was also playing well, making a turnover feel less threatening in that scenario.
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Saturday's result, though, demonstrates that offenses have to make plays to win games. Whether it's Hoover settling down and making passes that he's capable of making, or Mike Shanahan retooling the run game to get Lee Beebe Jr. and Turbo Richard some better looks, it's not a problem Indiana can shy away from.
I don't pretend to have an answer, but taking a step back from Saturday makes it clear that the loss has more to do with issues that have been plaguing Indiana's offense well before the Buckeyes got to town. If Indiana can clean these things up and string together more scoring drives, there will be no reason to litigate single incompletions.
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