COLUMBUS, Ohio – Freshman Jalin Marshall silenced the swarm of social media critics who called down every imaginable curse on his young head after two costly fumbles at Minnesota last week by scoring four touchdowns in a little over 15 minutes Saturday to lead Ohio State past Indiana 42-27 at Ohio Stadium.
Marshall was the target of vitriolic remarks from anonymous critics on Twitter after the Minnesota game, but saw his performance against the Hoosiers as “a bit of redemption” that silenced the harsh criticism.
“At first, it kind of hurt, I’m being so young, but I kind of had to realize most of those people really never played football before in their lives and I kind of had to let it go,” he said after catching three touchdown passes and returning a punt 54 yards to paydirt, all in the second half to almost single-handedly bring the Buckeyes back from a 20-14 deficit.
There seemed to be no comment too cruel for what Marshall called “doubters” to make, though some seemed to sting more than others.
“Probably the one that told me to kill myself, that’s probably a big one for someone to take in,” Marshall said after a day with five catches for 95 yards and 56 return yards.
Head coach Urban Meyer, who was critical of Marshall’s turnover last week and those of J.T. Barrett and Michael Thomas Saturday, seemed glad that the young H-back had a good day at a position he had been sharing with Dontre Wilson, who was injured and is out of the lineup.
“I think that was good for his confidence. He’s going to be around here a while, only a freshman and a very talented freshman. Carrying a lot of the load,” Meyer said.
Marshall’s performance made the difference in the game, turning it from a potential upset — or, at best, narrow escape — into a victory that will impress the College Football Playoff Committee so much that No. 6 Ohio State (10-1, 7-0) will be lucky not to drop at least one spot when the weekly rankings are released Tuesday night.
The win guaranteed the Buckeyes a spot in the Dec. 6 Big Ten championship game as holders of the East Division title for the third straight year.
Getting there, however, was none of the fun.
After jumping out to a 14-0 lead on a 65-yard run by Ezekiel Elliot on the game’s third play and a J.T. Barrett touchdown pass to Jeff Heuerman, the Buckeyes seemed on their way to a convincing win over a five-touchdown underdog.
But the Hoosiers (3-8, 0-7) had other ideas.
After freshman quarterback Sander Diamant carried the ball 53 yards to the OSU 12, Tevin Coleman scored his first touchdown of the game.
When Indiana converted Thomas’s fumble and two Barrett interceptions into back-to-back field goals, the Buckeyes’ lead shrank to 14-13 at halftime.
With 7:30 remaining in the third quarter, Coleman took off down the left sideline for 90 yards and the touchdown that gave the Hoosiers their first lead of the game, 20-14.
That’s when Marshall took over and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
After Cameron Johnston pinned them on the one with a perfect punt, the Hoosiers went three-and-out. Marshall took Erich Roth’s punt on his own 46, broke free through the middle and raced 54 yards for a touchdown. OSU 21, Indiana 20.
With 13:03 left in the game, Marshall capped an 11-play drive with a 6-yard touchdown catch. OSU 28, Indiana 20.
The touchdown pass was J.T. Barrett’s 31st scoring pass of the season, eclipsing Troy Smith’s record. Barrett finished the day with 25 pass completions on 35 attempts for 302 yards, plus 78 yards rushing. His 3,507 yards of total offense is also a single-season record.
After two futile possessions by the Buckeyes, including a missed field goal attempt, Indiana took over on their own 17 with 4:34 left and most of the crowd of 101,426 fearing they were capable of tying the score.
But, Tyvis Powell picked off Diamont’s pass and returned it to the 15. On the next play, Marshall made a one-handed catch in the end zone for touchdown No. 3 and a 35-20 Ohio State lead with 4:21 to play.
On the next Ohio State possession, Barrett hit Marshall again and the redshirt freshman went 54 yards for the Buckeyes’ final touchdown.
One man, four touchdowns, 15 minutes and 29 seconds.
Coleman scored his third touchdown with 1:13 remaining. He finished with 228 of Indiana’s 281 rushing yards and all of their touchdowns.
The Buckeyes have already turned their attention to the regular-season ending rivalry game against Michigan (5-6, 3-4) which lost to Maryland 23-16.