Ryan Day called it, didn’t he? Ahead of the Indiana clash, he fired up the Buckeyes fanbase with words that held weight. “We’ve gotta make sure we’re sending a message.” And boy, did the Buckeyes deliver. November 23, 2024, a date Indiana Hoosiers will never forget. Just the way Ryan Day predicted. The Buckeyes smashed the field, made a strong and clear statement, and made it clear who runs the Big Ten.

Yeah, a college football analyst and an Indiana alum, Pat McAfee, just made it clear. “Justin Frye, the offensive line coach, who I think is an Indiana guy during the skill sessions, gave a speech about how, you know, normally, the loudest in the room is the one that’s the worst in the room. Someone’s quiet that you need to worry about. That was a direct shot at Cignetti.”

We all remember that fiery speech from Frye. Lock the gates, the best band in the world, ready for a street fight! The remarks had all the content to galvanize not just the players but an entire fanbase. The quiet one? Of course, he’s talking about Curt Cignetti. Oh, it’s just another game. Well, how did that work out for the Hoosiers’ head coach? Maybe if they had treated it like one of the most important games, the offense could have accumulated some first downs.

Moving on, McAfee acknowledge the whole team, and why not! “Shout out to their entire team going; I remember he was a lot of this. I’m sure the Ohio State fans loved it. I want to speak for not everybody in Indiana, but a majority of people in Indiana that don’t have, like, media passes and credentials. Nobody in Indiana is pissed about Ohio State doing that, because in college ba-l, that is sh-t you have to do, especially at this time of year. You have to show you.”

McAfee, who’s known for being a die-hard Indiana sports fan, also played his professional NFL career with the Indianapolis Colts and lived in the same city during the early days of his media career. That’s why he knows the true emotions of Indiana’s people and how they react to such stuff. Toward the end of his remarks, McAfee also recalled his short conversation with Ryan Day the day before this game. When McAfee told the Buckeyes head coach that “The Hoosiers team is the real deal.” To that, Day swiftly replied by saying, “So are we.”

And that’s what we saw on the field. A team mirroring its head coach, an offense formed in its head coach’s identity. It didn’t matter that the center was injured, or that the O-line was new. There was only one mission. The Hoosiers should remember who rules the matchup, and boy, oh, boy, the Buckeyes made sure they did.

Ryan Day’s boys crushed Indiana Hoosiers

Well, Ohio’s 38-15 win over the Hoosiers will be remembered for years in the program’s history. Throughout the game, the Hoosiers barely got possession of the football, and when they finally had it, Ohio State’s defense just crushed them down. Cignetti’s boys managed to cover just 151 yards, and Cignetti’s starboy Kurtis Rourke was sacked four times! This game revealed major flaws in Indiana‘s team that were under the covers.

Not only that, Rourke barely got a 44% completion rate, along with 8 completed passes out of the 18 attempts. He even didn’t score a single touchdown and barely had 68 rushing yards. The whole game, from start to end, was just wild. Though it was an unlucky game for the Hoosiers, it turned out to be a boon for Will Howard.

The guy was to the point. He rocked with two touchdowns with 22 out of 26 pass attempts and completed 201 yards. Although he threw an interception as well, that was too little in front of their big win.