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Ohio State is not a team that needs any help to score points. Regardless of injury or circumstance, they're deep at every position and are loaded with playmakers all over the field. It's not uncommon that they explode for large outbursts of points, seemingly scoring at will as they march down the field on the ground or through the air.

Yet, Indiana's defense did themselves no favors in attempting to prevent it from happening on Saturday. Missed tackles, misaligned personnel, and a whole host of other issues characterized ultimately resulted in Indiana being on the wrong side of a 56-14 rout Saturday afternoon.

"I was disappointed in the explosive plays we gave up, especially in the run game," Allen said after the game on Saturday. "Just not enough hats to the ball, not enough guys making plays and finishing plays at the point of attack."

Simply put, the Buckeye offense had its way with Allen & Chad Wilt's defense all afternoon. Ohio State ran for 340 yards alone, accounting for more than half of their 662 total yards of offense. Seven different ball carriers found the endzone either by rushing attempt or reception, and Heisman candidate C.J. Stroud's 297 yards and five scores were more than enough to secure the result.

Ohio State could've scored a lot more than 56 points today. The only reason they didn't is that they chose not to.

"(We) didn't fit the run, obviously anything close to what's acceptable, so really disappointed in that regard," Allen said. "They're a talented football team, we have to have guys step up, and I just think we didn't execute."

Surprisingly candid, Allen would go on to say that although Indiana's plan to do was fundamentally simple in hopes of surrounding OSU ballcarriers with tacklers and finishing out plays, Indiana ultimately was unable to do so at an effective rate.

As simple as it sounds, how could a game plan that is predicated around following the ball not be more effective than it appeared to be on Saturday? Missed tackles have been a recurring issue for multiple weeks running, but in many cases Indiana still had guys in a position to make a play. Saturday, even that element was lost, with gaps opening left and right for Ohio State to scamper through for massive chunks of yardage.

Yes, they're Ohio State. The argument could be made that this should be expected. It was always going to be tough to contain Ryan Day's offense and keep them quiet for even a little bit, but that isn't the case. The Buckeyes did whatever they wanted to with the ball in their hands.

"To me, we got whipped up front," Allen said. "We knew they had a big, physical offensive line, but you have to win your gaps, you have to win with technique, and I just don't think we did a very good job of that.

"D-line has to play better, our linebackers have to fit better, they've got to finish tackles better, and to me it's the front seven, that's kinda what I put it on more than anything. Obviously, I haven't seen anything (on film), but just from seeing it in person -- too many creases, too many seams, too many loose fits. We're getting a little thin at linebacker, no question, but guys have to step up."

Redshirt senior linebacker Aaron Casey is one of the few remaining stalwarts that is still healthy as the season winds down. Chosen as the team's recipient of the George Taliaferro award and jersey number while donning the nickname "Ace," he's one of the leaders of Indiana's defensive unit, win or loss.

So, when asked if he was playing "pissed off" on Saturday, Casey didn't hold any punches.

"Yeah, I just really wanted to get after the ball," Casey said Saturday afternoon. "I wanted the defense to change the way we were doing things, going to attack their offense and not letting it come to us. I just wanted to get after them, not the other way around."

The tackling struggles didn't go unnoticed by Casey either, who was the only Hoosier to eclipse double-digit tackles on the afternoon. He, like Allen, cited poor execution and fundamental mishaps as elements that didn't go their way in the result.

"We gotta be more fundamentally sound when it comes to tackling," Casey said. "Swarming the ball, 11 hats to the ball, we need that every play.

"The intensity was high (to start), but as the game went on, I wouldn't say we let off, but it just wasn't clicking all the way for us."

For Casey and company, it hasn't been clicking for a majority of the season, and the trend continued as the No.2-ranked Buckeyes waltzed to their 10th and simplest victory of the season. Whatever Indiana has done in practice to combat the slide has come and gone, and the outlook doesn't get much more promising. Indiana's going to play this out because it's what they know how to do, and you'll be hard-pressed to tell a group of guys to stop playing the game they've loved for so long.

But as bowl eligibility officially slipped away on Saturday following Indiana's seventh straight loss, it may be time for Indiana to take a long, hard look in the mirror. Just two years ago, the Hoosiers marched into Ohio Stadium as the nation's 9th-best team and gave the Buckeyes everything they could handle.

What a different time that was.

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