Buckeyes Finally Remember They're 'The' Ohio State University

Maybe it was just the power of Hoosier emotion making a run at Buckeye inevitability.

Whatever, it worked for a half.

Just like all Indiana charges at Big Ten powers work for a while before falling short.

But it was fun before Ohio State woke up, found a zone defense and a frosh waterbug, and cruised to a deceptive 49-21 season-opening victory:

Everybody gets pumped up for Ohio State, but beyond that, former Indiana coach Kevin Wilson was returning as the Buckeyes' offensive coordinator.

He's the dude who seemed to be turning the Hoosiers' program around before resigning eleven months into a six-year, $13.5million contract extension.

Seems he thought all this talk about concussions and stuff was fake news.

Give Indiana's defense credit for stuffing Wilson's calls for a good share of the game. They exposed QB JT Barrett as either rusty or still insufficient with his passing acumen.

Had they more depth in the D-line, the outcome could've reflected how scary this outing was shaping up to be for a national title contender.

Leave it to freshman RB JK Dobbins to step in for the injured Mike Weber and make the most of Wilson's rep for orchestrating the running game:

The little dude's 181 yards surpassed Maurice Clarett's 15-year-old record for a Buckeye RB's debut.

Odds are he just turned a heavy Weber workload into a two-man rotation.

Ohio State will need all of that plus a better air attack against a much more formidable Oklahoma in the Horseshoe next week.

The Sooners will come to town with a score to settle:

Some even think that, no matter what, this could be a CPB playoff preview.

Maybe so. It could provide a boost to other contenders scheduling more challenging non-cons, which college football sorely needs.

Of more immediate importance, Ohio State will sorely need to avoid sleepwalking for another first half.