With nine minutes left in the third quarter, No. 1 Ohio State, the defending national champions, found itself trailing Indiana 10-6.
But then, Ezekiel Elliott happened. With the ball on Ohio State’s 45, the junior running back took a simple run play up the middle, bounced outside, and left the Indiana defense in the dust as he scored a 55-yard touchdown to give the Buckeyes the lead.
With one minute left in the third quarter, Ohio State again found itself behind Indiana, now by the score of 17-13.
This time, on a 4th-and-1, Elliott took a run up the middle, shook off a couple defenders and scampered away for a 65-yard touchdown, regaining the lead for the Buckeyes.
With 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, OSU was in a more comfortable situation, leading 27-20.
But Elliott came up big again, bouncing off an Indiana linebacker and then blowing past the secondary for a 75-yard touchdown run.
Elliott’s final touchdown run turned out to be crucial, as Indiana pulled within seven before the Buckeye defense denied the game-tying touchdown on the last play of the game, giving the Ohio State the 34-27 victory.
While the game as a whole will be one Ohio State will want to forget, Ezekiel Elliott was absolutely electrifying, running for 274 yards and three touchdowns, with scores coming from 55, 65 and 75-yard runs. Elliott carried the Buckeyes to a victory and likely kept their playoff aspirations alive. Against the always stingy Hoosiers, Elliott provided the boost OSU needed to escape Memorial Stadium unscathed. His Heisman stock has steadily risen throughout the year and is undoubtedly on the upswing.
Ezekiel Elliott ran away with Big Ten Player of the Week honors as easily as he ran away from the Indiana defense this Saturday.
