One of the few benefits to playing OSU week one is we know injuries won't be a factor. I am a fervent believer that injuries affect the bottom half of the sport way more than the top half, below average teams have no depth. Last year by November, Indiana had to put in Kaiden Turner, a true freshman low three star as a starting Linebacker. How are teams like IU expected to compete with teams like OSU in that scenario? Nothing against Turner ofc, he should never have been put in that position and hopefully will still develop into a great player in a few years, he's just a good example from last year about injuries have hamstrung us.
Now that I've gotten the injuries rant off my chest we can move on to matchups. The line play stands to be more competitive than it was in '21 or '22, especially our D-line against their O-line. OSU lost both tackles to the NFL and their portal guys do not look impressive. It's hard to be too optimistic because in OSU's games against us, they've tended to assert themselves athletically more than they have overpowered us with their line play, and I don't expect that to change much given the situation with our secondary. OSU's defensive front is just nasty this year, three upperclassmen who project to be day 1/2 draft picks. So regardless of what happens in the OSU game I'm going to refrain from judgment of Bostad's group until I see what they look like against Louisville in week three. If our QB can handle the pressure (both metaphorical and literal) I do really like our WR's against their secondary, but obviously it's hard to feel too confident since so many of our and their projected starters in that matchup are transfers .
I don't love the 28 point line. My guess is either OSU has trouble out of the gate and Indiana is better than people are giving them credit for, in which case I would bet IU +21.5, or OSU comes out firing on all cylinders and overpowers Indiana with their superior talent, in which case I'd bet OSU -35.5. But however it turns out I'm ready to get this show on the road.