The Indiana Hoosiers had their first top-five matchup in their building ever with the Ohio State Buckeyes visiting in Week 7, and it ended in heartbreaking fashion for the home team. Indiana competed to the end, nearly erasing a 19-7 fourth-quarter deficit, but ultimately the Hoosiers' 22-game win streak was halted as Nick Marsh's potential game-winning touchdown catch in the final minute fell inches out of bounds.
The quarterback play in this contest was frankly ugly all around, as both Ohio State's Julian Sayin and Indiana's Josh Hoover struggled with inaccuracy for much of the day. In the end, though, it was Hoover leading a wide-open target just off target that proved decisive — and underlined just what this team is missing now that Fernando Mendoza is off to the NFL. While that's a high bar for Hoover to have to clear, his performance against the Buckeyes shows he could be the biggest hurdle in the way of this team's potential Big Ten and national title defense.
Josh Hoover is the biggest hurdle in the way of Indiana after loss to Ohio State
Throughout this game, Hoover was off. He missed several open receivers, with plenty of throws just off target. There were times when Charlie Becker and Nick Marsh were open, but Hoover airmailed the pass high. Some of those misses were eye-popping, as receivers were running free with no defenders in the frame. Instead of being potential explosive plays for Indiana, the passes fell incomplete.
Considering that Becker (6-foot-4) and Marsh (6-foot-3) have the height advantage over most, if not all, of the corners they face, that's glaring — and a far cry from last year, when Mendoza consistently put the ball within the frame of targets like Marsh, Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr. These Hoosiers have great deep speed and a large catch radius as a group. Despite all that, though, Hoover had his fair share of problems connecting.
On plays where they had the defenders beat deep, Hoover didn't put the ball in front enough. His passes were mostly underthrown and short. Whatever the issue was, Hoover's accuracy was over the place in this one. He couldn't consistently hit his open receivers, while also getting lucky that multiple interceptions were dropped.
Even though the Hoosiers look to be a run-first offense, as the games get harder, they will need to air the ball out, especially in late-game situations. And based on what Hoover put on the tape versus the Buckeyes, there are questions about whether he can achieve that.
During his time at TCU before coming to Indiana, Hoover had some issues with erratic throws and passes to the boundary dying out at times. Those same weaknesses were brought into the spotlight and played a role in the loss to Ohio State.
Hoover finished the game going 20-of-40 for 296 passing yards and one touchdown. While this was his highest passing yardage total of the year, his play simply wasn't good enough down to down. He's lucky to come out of this game with zero picks. Not only that, but his completion percentage was low for the second straight game; he completed 50 percent of his passes in the loss to the Buckeyes, and last week, he was 12-of-20 (60 percent) in a near-loss against Nebraska.
This kind of play is not enough, and Cignetti and Co. know it. Indiana still has Michigan, Minnesota, USC, Washington and Purdue left on their regular-season schedule. They should be able to handle business in these games, yet when the College Football Playoffs roll around, they will need Hoover to play better football.
What he did against the Buckeyes was nowhere near good enough, and going forward, they'll need him to play better if they want another chance at a title.
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