Indiana quarterback Ben Chappell has great stats, but over the past several years, the Ohio State defense has handled conference quarterbacks who put up big numbers against weaker competition.
Indiana quarterback Ben Chappell has put up some big passing numbers going into Saturday's game at Ohio State, but opposing passers find the going much rougher against the Buckeyes.Columbus -- He fits the mold, the kind of Big Ten quarterback who has grown into his role over time. Now, as an experienced veteran, he has sliced up some suspect defenses and is carrying some impressive numbers and justified confidence into the Ohio State game.
Today, it's Indiana's Ben Chappell. But the Buckeyes have seen his kind before. This Hoosier has to prove that he's different.
•In 2006, Iowa senior Drew Tate threw seven touchdowns and two interceptions in his first three starts of the season. In his fourth start, he was intercepted three times as the Hawkeyes fell to Ohio State, 38-17, for their first loss of the year.
•In 2007, Purdue junior Curtis Painter started the season with 18 touchdown passes in his first five games. In Game 6, he threw just one touchdown -- in a meaningless fourth quarter when he also threw for half his 268 passing yards -- as the Buckeyes shut him down in a 23-7 win.
•Over the course of 26 games as a junior and senior in 2008 and 2009, Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark threw for fewer than 140 yards just three times, and two of them were against Ohio State -- in a 13-6 win over the Buckeyes in 2008 and a 24-7 loss in 2009.
•Also last season, Wisconsin junior quarterback Scott Tolzien was developing a reputation as a savvy game manager, throwing eight touchdowns and one interception in his previous four games during the Badgers' 5-0 start, when Ohio State intercepted him twice and returned both for touchdowns in a 31-13 win.
All those quarterbacks ended the season ranked among the top 50 in the nation in passing efficiency. Ohio State has 10 times in the past four years faced conference quarterbacks that finished the year in the top 50, and in those 10 showdowns, those quarterbacks have thrown eight touchdowns and 11 interceptions against Ohio State. In all their other games during those seasons, those quarterbacks threw 201 touchdowns against 95 interceptions.
Now Chappell is ranked 12th in the nation in passing efficiency, one of eight Big Ten quarterbacks in the top 30. The Buckeyes face five of those quarterbacks over their next seven games, and all those passers have to truly live up to their stats against what has been the Big Ten's most consistently stingy defense.
"I'm sure they will be ready to stop our passing game and anxious to stop our offense," Chappell told reporters in Indiana this week. "Hopefully they're looking at it as a challenge, too."
Indiana's Ben Chappell averaged 261 yards per game passing in Big Ten contests last season but threw for just 210 against the Buckeyes and Doug Worthington in Ohio State's 33-14 win in Bloomington, Ind. Chappell, who was picked off twice by OSU, threw two touchdowns in that game, the second one coming on the final play of the contest.The Buckeyes do see it that way, with the Hoosiers featuring one of the conference's most dangerous receivers in 6-foot-3 junior Tandon Doss, who leads the Big Ten with 108 receiving yards per game. Then 6-5 junior Damarlo Belcher is second at 94 receiving yards per game and 6-3 senior Terrance Turner is ninth at 62 yards.
"They're probably the biggest group of receivers we've seen all year," OSU senior safety Jermale Hines said. "We've got to go out and try to be as physical as we can."
They also have to get to Chappell, who against a lower-level FCS school and three major college defenses ranked 102, 109 and 113 in the country, has thrown for an average of 336 yards per game with 12 touchdowns and just one interception.
"He's more experienced, and he's more confident," OSU safeties coach Paul Haynes said. "You can see that, big time. That's the difference right now, just the confidence, and he's playing a lot smarter and running around a little bit and staying away from pressure and getting rid of it before pressure gets to him."
OSU coach Jim Tressel is impressed with the way Chappell proved himself though Indiana seemed to always want other quarterbacks to win the job. Linebacker Brian Rolle remembered a play from film study when Chappell rolled out and threaded the ball to a receiver between two defenders. And the Buckeyes do have a secondary that could be vulnerable, with sophomore safety Orhian Johnson making his fourth career start and freshman Christian Bryant making his first career start, replacing the injured Tyler Moeller as the fifth defensive back in the nickel defense the Buckeyes should be playing the entire game.
"He may not be the runner that you see from some quarterbacks," Rolle said, "but he's a guy who can wing it. That's something we know. One thing they're going to do is pass the ball for sure."
It's one thing to pass. Against the Ohio State defense, it's another thing for Big Ten quarterbacks like this to pass like they usually do.