What did Indiana head coach Tom Allen say about the Buckeyes?

COLUMBUS — Ohio State hasn’t announced its starting quarterback. But neither has Indiana. Ohio State hasn’t announced its starting kicker. Well, guess what, neither has Indiana.

There are a lot of unknowns about this Hoosiers team, which consists of more than 20 transfer additions.

Head coach Tom Allen is in his seventh year and is hoping to get his program back on track. After winning Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2020, Allen has watched Indiana go 6-18 over the last two seasons. He brought in former Ohio State senior advisor and analyst Matt Guerrieri as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach. Guerrieri will team up with second-year co-DC/linebackers coach Chad Wilt to help Allen rebuild a Hoosiers’ defense that gave up north of 33 points per game in 2021 and 2022.

Perhaps most relevant this week, there are new faces in the Indiana secondary. Out went cornerbacks Tiawan Mullen and Christopher Keys, and in came Jamier Johnson and Nicolas Toomer from Texas and Stanford, respectively. They will be tested immediately.

So will whoever is under center: It’s between redshirt freshmen Tayven Jackson and Brendan Sorsby. They have combined for 10 pass attempts in their young careers. Jackson, though, was the significantly higher-rated recruit. The Tennessee transfer learned behind Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton last year after joining the Volunteers as the No. 11 quarterback in the 2022 class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking.

That’s enough about this year’s Indiana for now. As for Ohio State, here’s what Allen had to say Monday about the 2023 Buckeyes ahead of this weekend’s season and Big Ten opener in Bloomington.

Q: What are your expectations for a new-look secondary against this group of Ohio State receivers?

ALLEN: “All you’ve got to do is put the film in and watch it for a little bit. They’ve added some new talented receivers to the group that was already very, very talented. But I think it’s like anything else. We have to play extremely well within our system. We have to do what we do well, and they’re going to have some catches and get some yards. You’ve got to be able to do a great job of preventing the explosive plays. I think we all know that. But saying that and doing that is not as simple as it might sound.

“But, at the same time, you’ve got to play your system, and we’ve got to do a great job of — like we always do within our scheme — of disguising things. If they know what you’re in, it’s not usually good for the defense. They’ve got such talented players.

“They’re going to have a new quarterback, whoever it might be, and I’m sure we’re expecting to see them both. To be able to adapt to that — but once again … it’s preparation. It’s confidence. It’s playing at a high level of, you know what, they make a play, we’ve got to flush it and play the next play. We make a play ourselves, we’ve got to flush it and play the next play. So having some maturity.

“Some of these guys have played football quite a bit. They may be new to us, but not new to the game and not new to college football. But we do have some young guys who are going to play more than they have played in the past in the secondary. Yeah, they’ll be tested without question. They’ll be put in a situation where they’re going to have to play really, really well, and they’re going to have to have a really bad memory. If something happens, you’ve got to flush, and you’ve got to go.

“We respect them without question, but we’ve got to play our game. We’ve got to play to our standard, and we’ve got to play really good football on defense.”

Q: What do you take away from the consistent success Ryan Day has had at Ohio State?

ALLEN: “There’s no question. It amazes me sometimes when you hear people’s comments and whatever, and all he does is win a lot. You just go through, and you study what they’ve done offensively, it’s impressive. And the way they continue to recruit. He was obviously given a great situation without question, but that’s hard to take it and elevate it.

“They were one makeable field goal away from playing for a national championship. I have a ton of respect for him. He’s done a helluva job there. I think he’s a first-class person. I think he cares about his players. I think he does it the right way. I just think he’s special, I really do. So, yeah, a lot of respect from my end for him and the way he does.

“Obviously being a defensive guy and he’s an offensive guy, and he calls their plays, so I just think that he’s sharp and really maximizes. Obviously they have great players, and that’s part of it, too, but he also has a system in place that puts you in a lot of conflicts defensively.

“… Obviously the expectation for them is to win a National Championship. Until you do that, you get questions. At the same time, you can see it, and they just keep continuing to get better and better. They may have their best team that he’s had since he’s been there.”

Q: How do you prepare for this Ohio State team that has changes at quarterback, offensive line, offensive coordinator, etc.?

ALLEN: “You think about those — the tackles, the center and the quarterback — that’s really kind of the triangle of how things operate for an offense. Once again, talented players. We’ve been through this before where they have a new quarterback and it’s — whoever it’s going to be is going to be a very, very talented player. They’re going to have new guys at other positions, but they’re going to be very talented new guys, even though we haven’t seen them play a lot for Ohio State.

“But the unknown to me … I think it’s not very many times that we’ve had a quarterback that we don’t really know a lot about. So there’s not a lot. You have to go back to high school film for a lot of these guys, for both of these guys. So I think that makes it unique. They’re also different quarterbacks as well. They have different skill sets. Both can throw the ball extremely well, and one’s more athletic than the other one is. From a running perspective, both can elude things.

“That creates challenges without question, but we’re preparing for that. We’re preparing for both. They have a standard of how they play, and you’ve got a consistency in what they’re doing offensively. So that’s going to make it very — you’ve got to go out and outcompete them for balls and for plays and for making tackles.

“We’ve got to tackle extremely, extremely well. They get you in space. They’ve got great athletes, and that’s where they put a lot of pressure on you defensively.

“But from a position perspective, that’s going to have to be in-game adjustments. We’ll see how it unfolds, who they’re using and how they’re using them, and how they use it to modify what they do. Their system is what it is, and they do a really good job. At the end of the day, you’ve got to stop it.”