Ohio State should thank their lucky stars they beat Indiana

Justin Fields threw clunkers Saturday in the worst game of his short career, but that didn’t matter in the end against a game Indiana side. Ohio State still pulled out a 42-35 win.

OSU (4-0) and Northwestern (5-0) remain the only unbeaten teams left in the Big Ten.

Luck was on Ohio State’s side.

No one guy had a stand out game in the right way. Which might be telling a larger story about the strength of the teams in this conference.

Is Ohio State really the No. 3 team in the country? After Saturday, I’m not so sure of that.

The Buckeyes defense was a swarming machine despite giving up 28 points to the Hoosiers. They forced two critical fumbles — just before half time and at the end of the game — waving off any possibility of an Indiana comeback.

The interceptions. The turnover on downs. Ohio State was daring Indiana to beat them.

All of these mistakes on offense screamed they were trying to lose this game.

There is no way Indiana should have been able to tie this game on the last play. But they were right there.

The Buckeyes should’ve had this game in their back pocket by half time. And many people thought they did.

They had a 28-7 lead heading into the third quarter. Indiana, the only other 4-0 team in the Big Ten, was cooked.

Fields had thrown two interceptions at that point, but Indiana’s offense was so bad that it didn’t matter.

And then the third quarter arrived, and Indiana began to string together some drives.

By the fourth quarter, things were looking far closer than they should have. Ohio State’s lead shrunk to 14.

The most shocking stat of this game was how poorly Fields played. Fields threw three interceptions — accounting for half of his six career picks.

Fortunate for Fields and Ohio State, the mountain was too high for Indiana to claw itself up. If more time was on the clock, I’m sure this one would have slipped away from the Buckeyes.