Ohio State and Indiana entered Week 13 with both looking to get a statement win with an eye toward the College Football Playoff. Ultimately, that game swung dramatically after the Hoosiers staked themselves to a 7-0 lead.

After that point, it was all about the play of Ohio State’s defense and star quarterback Will Howard. While Indiana has been a major story in college football, the Hoosiers must now wait to find out how the committee views a 10-1 team after their first loss of the season.

Here are the key takeaways from Ohio State’s resounding 38-15 win:

Ohio State better be a CFP lock

After getting past Indiana, Ohio State has just one regular-season game remaining. A win over Michigan would give the Buckeyes a shot at the B1G Championship and another game before Selection Sunday.

But, let’s be clear about something here: No matter how The Game or a potential Oregon rematch in Indy plays out, the Buckeyes should be a lock to reach the 12-team Playoff.

For anyone who wants to question that fact, Ohio State has now played 3 teams ranked inside the top 5 during the regular season (pre conference championship game). A team has not achieved that since LSU during the 2011 season.

The Buckeyes are now 2-1 in those matchups with one win coming on the road. The lone loss includes a defeat in Eugene against the No. 1 team in the country (Oregon) by one point. (The 2011 LSU team was an undefeated 13-0 through the SEC Championship but would lose a rematch vs. Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game.)

Strength of schedule has also not been a major issue for the Buckeyes. They are ranked 28th in ESPN’s SOS metric, a spot that ranks ahead of Penn State (35th), Texas (38th), Oregon (44th) and Miami (55th), other key contenders for the Playoff.

Should the Buckeyes somehow finish 10-2 or 11-2, the committee would have to jump through serious hoops to keep Ohio State out.

Ohio State’s defense is postseason ready

On Indiana’s game-opening drive, it looked like the Buckeyes may be in for a seriously long day against the Hoosier offense. Indiana covered 70 yards in 11 plays, rattled off a trio of 3rd-down conversions (3-for-3) and forced a pair of penalties from the Buckeye secondary.

From that drive onward, the rest of the game was dominated by Jim Knowles’ defense.

When it was all said and done, Ohio State’s defense racked up 5 sacks and 8 QB hits on IU’s Kurtis Rourke. Cody Simon led the Buckeyes with 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble while Jack Sawyer added 1.5 sacks on the afternoon.

That’s the kind of pressure the Buckeyes will need to be able to generate in the postseason against the other top teams in the country. They were unable to bother Dillon Gabriel in the loss to Oregon, and the secondary has been plagued by penalties from Davison Igbinosun in particular.

Will Howard continues to shine for OSU

If possible, Howard has been undervalued a bit nationally with other top QBs drawing the major buzz for the Heisman Trophy. However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that Howard has been mostly brilliant for the Buckeyes all season long.

Against Indiana, Howard completed 22-of-26 passes for 201 yards and 2 touchdowns. He did throw an interception, but that came off a dropped pass that hit Jelani Thurman in the hands.

Overall, it goes down as an 85% completion percentage for Howard in a game that he opened going 10-for-10 through the air. Howard now has 6 games with at least an 80% completion percentage and he has completed at least 60% of his passes in every game after arriving in Columbus with a 58.8 career completion percentage.

Howard’s 26 passing touchdowns lead the Big Ten this season, and he entered Week 13 tied with Shedeur Sanders for the 2nd-best completion percentage in the country (72.9%). The Buckeyes will need to ride his efforts moving forward.

Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.