Hot 11: Post Indiana

Saturday’s game against Indiana was an odd one in the fact that it was a top-five match-up, but with the Michigan game the following weekend, nobody seems to be paying it a lot of attention, now that it is in the past.

But we are paying attention to Ohio State’s 38-15 win over the Hoosiers. The win has Ohio State one game away from a trip to Indianapolis to face off against Oregon in the Big Ten Championship Game.

There is a lot of time between now and then (as well as some turkey, football and a good stiff drink) so let’s give the IU game a final look with our weekly Hot 11 list.

For those new to the site or just the piece, we ask our members exclusively to vote on the top 11 players on the team. This is not supposed to be a weekly result, it is an overall pulse on the roster. Now, that doesn’t mean that a big game can’t move a player up and a quiet game can see a player slide down the list.

I can assure you of one thing, nobody is struggling to come up with 11 names on this roster.

Rank	Player	Details	Last
1.	Will Howard (69)	Howard started the game 14-14 passing, ended up going over 80-percent with a couple of touchdown passes and a rushing one for good measure. Howard doesn’t need to be throwing for 300 yards a game to have an impact, he is doing just fine.	4th
2.	Caleb Downs (66)	Downs just makes plays. They don’t all end up in the stat book, they all don’t result in an immediate turnover or change of possession, but his presence is quite possibly the difference between this team and the past couple of Ohio State teams, having that kind of force out there erasing opposing offenses.	2nd
3.	Jeremiah Smith (56)	This was the second game of Smith’s career where he was held out of the end zone and while his numbers were tame, our voters know just how important Jeremiah is to the product and didn’t let a three reception game for 34 yards sway them. We also saw a sweep by Smith, harbinger of things to come?	1st
4.	Emeka Egbuka (40)	Egbuka led the Buckeyes with seven receptions and 80 yards against Indiana. In this game it was obvious that IU was more worried about Smith and Howard found his senior wideout and made the most of it. The first touchdown of the game went to Egbuka and you should just hang that one in The Louvre.	T5th
5.	TreVeyon Henderson (39)	It feels like it is going to be one back or the other and this was a Henderson game. He had nine carries for 68 yards and a key touchdown for the Buckeyes as the team was looking to wake up from a slow start.	T5th
T6.	Cody Simon (27)	If this were a weekly list, Simon would be No. 1 after his 10 tackle, 2.5 sack and a forced fumble game. Simon had to bide his time to get into the starting lineup the past couple of seasons but he has been playing out of his mind lately, just the perfect time for the Buckeyes.	NR
T6.	Lathan Ransom (27)	Ransom may not get as many mentions as Downs, but that is not a Ransom issue, he is still playing at a high level. he had four key tackles along with a forced fumble of his own for the Buckeyes.	7th
8.	Carnell Tate (24)	Tate had four catches for 68 yards in the game including a pair on a clutch drive that saw Ohio State backed up 3rd and something like 35. Unfortunately, the drive did not end up in points but it does show that this offense is capable of picking up chunk plays at will.	8th
T9.	JT Tuimoloau (20)	JT steps up in big games and he did here with five tackles a sack and a QB hurry. Things are going to get really real here soon with every game being meaningful, starting with the Michigan game.	NR
T9.	Donovan Jackson (20)	Jackson has taken care of business both at guard and now tackle. He has had to work through several different line configurations as well as Ohio State has had to deal with replacing players more than it would have liked to. It was mentioned on the telecast that Jackson dropped seven pounds for his move outside.	NR
11.	Carson Hinzman (18)	Hinzman makes the list after making the move from guard to center after only getting a little action at guard. He played a relatively clean game for the Buckeyes and stepped into a void left with the injury to Seth McLaughlin. It often is lost how difficult it is to move from position to position but Hinzman made it look smooth.	NR