Ohio State Football vs Indiana: Preview, predictions, TV channel and more

Thursday evening’s Ohio State vs Indiana game will mark the first Big Ten game of the year, and here’s everything you need to know.

In a extremely rare August Big Ten matchup as the preseason No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes will hit the road, heading to Bloomington, Ind., to face the explosive Indiana Hoosiers in what is considered to be a special edition type game.

Making it special is the appearance of ESPN’s popular college football show, College GameDay, hosted by Rece Davis, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard and Kirk Herbstreit.

Normally airing every Saturday morning before the slate of games, this year’s first appearance will come before the Hoosiers and Buckeyes face off on the Thursday before the first official weekend.

The Buckeyes have high expectations entering the 2017 season and are highly ranked yet again. The Hoosiers are coming off their second straight bowl game appearance and are continuing to build a solid and consistent program, despite being a couple years away from really making noise in the Big Ten.

The elephant in the room in this series, though, is the fact that the Buckeyes have won 21 straight meetings against the Hoosiers, dating back all the way to 1990, the last time the Buckeyes did not beat the Hoosiers. The asterisk in that game is that the meeting in 1990 ended up a 27-27 tie. I

ndiana’s last victory over Ohio State came back in 1988. The Buckeyes lead the overall series 72 wins to the Hoosiers’ 12.

Here’s how you can watch Thursday’s Ohio State vs Indiana game:

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Date: Thursday, Aug. 31
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
Location: Bloomington, Ind.
Venue: Memorial Stadium
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN

Keys to Victory

Despite the lopsided numbers in this series, the Hoosiers have played the Buckeyes extremely tough in recent history and have often found themselves within striking distance all the way until the end.

The same type of mindset applies for the Hoosiers in this season opener. Eliminating the fast start from Heisman Trophy candidate J.T. Barrett is critical for the Hoosiers. The crowd and atmosphere will be loud and proud in Memorial Stadium and if Indiana can stay close and keep the crowd vamped up, it could mean good things for the Hoosiers.

For the Buckeyes, taking care of the ball is priority number one. Ohio State is pretty stacked on both sides of the ball, but giving Indiana’s explosive offense more chances than they should could be detrimental for them. Getting quick stops and giving more opportunities to Barrett and company on offense will be an effective way to take the rowdy crowd out of the game.

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Prediction

On paper, the Buckeyes have the clear advantage- and despite the projected atmosphere and conditions, Ohio State should run away with this one. However, the last time the Buckeyes visited Memorial Stadium was back in 2015 when they were ranked No. 1 in the country. The game went down to the final possession and Ohio State escaped with a 34-27 victory.

Indiana is going to come out with a “nothing to lose” mindset, whereas the Buckeyes are beginning their quest to return to the College Football Playoff. Ohio State will have trouble getting adjusted to the early-season magnitude of this game and may even fall behind early.

The second half will be a different story as the experienced Barrett will be too much to handle for the Hoosiers. The Heisman hopefully will throw for two touchdowns and run for another as the Buckeyes escape Bloomington with another close victory.

Final Score: Ohio State 34, Indiana 24