Fourth google image search result for "Bill Lynch". The real life Dr. Julius Hibbert. (via observer.com) 

I use the above Google Image Search result mostly out of frustration. Searches for "Ohio State Indiana", "Ohio State Indiana Football", and a plethora of variations thereof returned how many game photos from a football contest between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Indiana Hoosiers?

Goose egg.

But there are Youtube highlights. My God, there are Youtube highlights.

Actually, those were the only two I could find conducting some basic searches and not bothering to look at "related videos". So what's up? Were these games played in Tiananmen Square? Modern-day Iran? Does the IU AD track down all footage of the event and order it to be burned? Or do people just not care when Troy and Teddy mastermind a six-touchdown effort during a championship run? Well, here's the series history going back twenty years (kudos to Stassen for the chart):

Cooper's teams struggled more or less with the Hoosiers up until about 1995, when the recruiting juices really started flowing and a who's who of 90's Buckeye greats made their mark on the program. Since the 10-point decision in 1996, Indiana has come within three touchdowns of the Buckeyes exactly once. The teams have not played since 2006, and while Indiana looked to be improving in 2007, 2008 was yet another sub-par year for the Hoosiers. Add onto that the loss of Kellen Lewis and the fact that they're still Indiana and not a recruiting powerhouse, it looks like they're in it for the long haul with Bill Lynch (who actually looks like this, btw). Even with Ohio State's struggles on the offensive line, the night game atmosphere, and the new faces on the Buckeye defense, anything less than a 30-point decision will be seen as a major disappointment for some fans. More after the jump.

Hoosiers you should care about:

Uh. Hell. This was really easy about a year ago, when Kellen Lewis was coming off a second team all-Big Ten season, but now he's at Valdosta State after a troubled junior campaign which saw a position switch, and a piddly 6 touchdowns to 8 interceptions prior to making said switch. Despite said struggles, Lewis was still Indiana's top passer and number two in yards rushing. In his wake, Ben Chappell looks to build on a thoroughly meh junior season in which he tossed four touchdowns to three picks and barely completed 50 percent of his passes. Ray Fisher is coming off a solid junior season in which he notched five touchdown grabs. He isn't half the running threat Lewis was, toting the ball 50 times for 72 yards and three short-yardage touchdowns. On defense, Indiana returns its top two tacklers - end Jammie Kirlew and linebacker Matt Mayberry. Chris Adkins, a redshirt freshman last year, stepped in at cornerback and became the fifth leading tackler. Um. It's not good when your cornerback racks up tackles like that.

Interesting / Relevant Statistics and facts: (numbers garnered from College Football Stats and the NCAA Statistics Website)

Jammie Kirlew is actually pretty freaking good. Dude was second on the team in tackles with 74, first in TFL with 19.5, and first in sacks with 10.5. He's going to give the tackles some trouble.

Indiana went over 200 yards rushing four times last year, against plebeians Western Kentucky, Central Michigan, and Murray State, but also a respectable Ball State squad. 10 of their 19 rushing touchdowns came against Murray State and Central Michigan.

The defense held WKU, Murray State, Minny, and Central Michigan to 63 or fewer yards on the ground, but gave up 200+ yards to everyone else on their schedule except Northwestern and Penn State. Oh, and Wisconsin rushed for FOUR HUNDRED AND FORTY FREAKING ONE YARDS on them in early November. They also surrendered a rushing touchdown to every FBS team but lowly, transitioning WKU.

Indiana was 91st in passing offense last year, 42nd in rushing, 106th in passing defense, and 92nd in rushing defense. None of which is surprising for 3-9 team.

Early Prediction:

In college football, you supposedly can't guarantee anything. I do not possess the testicular fortitude to actually do it myself, but I can tell you that if Indiana keeps this within a touchdown the sky will blacken, lightning will scorch the earth, and I may have to kill a kitten or two. Indiana will not be a good team. Kellen Lewis would have probably made this team a 6-6 team if a few major breaks (i.e. Caleb TerBush's arm, or some poor MAC quarterback's legs in one of their toss-up OOC matchups) came their way. Ohio State should run roughshod over the Indiana rush defense. Fewer than 200 yards on the ground would be genuinely shocking and very un-Tresselian. Pryor should look the part of the polished passer against a young and porous Indiana pass defense, and the defense should be able to get after Chappell early and often. Expect it to be out of hand by the 2nd quarter. A 40-9 snoozer of a victory will hopefully keep Ohio State nice and limber for the next week, when the Badgers come to town.

If we win: "What? Oh. Cool, man. If you don't mind, I'm busy watching USC stomp Cal's nuts into the ground."

If we lose:

That is all.