For a Heisman favorite like Julian Sayin, the Big 10 championship was supposed to be a coronation; instead, the Indiana defense turned it into a trial by fire, punctuated by a referee’s whistle that left one announcer speechless.

“Got away from that now. Are they saying that he was in the grasp? No way they’re saying that. They’re going to say the forward progress was stopped. I mean, he is spinning around. I mean, he’s spinning around. How in the world do you call that progress?” Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt said.

In the second half, during the blitz, the Indiana Hoosiers’ #8 defensive lineman Stephen Daley rushed to sack Julian Sayin; he almost sacked him until Ohio State’s No. 70 Philip Daniels came into the picture and broke off the sack by pulling the defensive end’s (#8) face mask. This led to controversy across the football world, awarding the Indiana Hoosiers and Stephen Daley a sack.

Julian Sayin was facing pressure from Indiana’s defense throughout the game; as CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli reported, he was sacked 7 times in the regular season, but in the title game, Indiana sacked him 5 times. The offensive line dipped big time as they allowed 7 quarterback hits, forcing Sayin to go down for costly yards lost and scramble for his life before throwing the pass. Sayin completed 20 of 29 passes for 212 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

But this isn’t the first time something of this sort has happened in the game. Late in the third quarter, Julian Sayin tried a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-1 at the Indiana 5-yard line. Initially, the officials gave it as a first down, and Sayin and his team were ready to continue the drive. But then it suddenly went under review, and the replay showed that Sayin’s knee was down before crossing the first-down marker.

After that, referee Ron Snodgrass announced that the call was overturned, after which Indiana got the ball at their 5-yard line. This gave them momentum as the Hoosiers moved the ball 44 yards over nine plays. This moment made the Ohio State crowd really furious.

Then in the second quarter, he took a hard hit when Indiana’s linebacker Isaiah Jones sacked him, knocking Sayin to the ground, because of which his shoe flew off and went straight into the sideline. After this, Sayin rolled to his right on a third-down attempt. After the fall, Sayin went to the sideline, where trainers taped his left ankle. Despite that, he entered the game and played till the very end, showing resilience.

But that’s not the only thing that went wrong against Indiana.

Ohio State’s big mistake of the night against Indiana

Ohio State kicker Jayden Fielding faced a nightmare moment in the Big 10 championship against Indiana. Late in the fourth quarter, Ohio State was on 3rd-and-1 and tried throwing the ball, which fell incomplete. This forced them to settle for a field goal. With less than three minutes left and the team trailing with a 13-10 score, he lined up for what should have been an easy 27-yard field goal to tie the game, but he pulled the kick wide left. Instead, he pulled the kick wide left, leaving everyone in shock.

After which, Indiana got the ball back with 2:48 minutes remaining in the game. They got the chance to win their first conference title in more than 50 years, and he did it by running out the clock. This miss squarely sits on Fielding’s shoulder, as he had been nothing but reliable all season and entered the game with 15 for 17 on field goals and perfect on extra points during Ohio State’s 2024 championship run.

Now, this single loss can’t put Ohio State out of the playoffs, and they are pretty much expected to be in the top 4, which gives them a first-round playoff bye. But they lost their chance to get the No. 1 seed this season, and that’s a massive setback. After failing against Indiana, questions about Ohio State’s championship win are rising rapidly. It remains to be seen if they can secure a championship victory.

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