BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Buckeye defense gave up more points and more yards than they did a week ago, but they wouldn’t trade in the result.

Unlike last week’s 13-6 loss to UCLA, Ohio State (2-1, 1-0 Big Ten) was able to put a strong defensive performance to good use in defeating Indiana (0-3, 0-1 Big Ten) 27-14 on Saturday.

The orchestrator of Indiana’s offensive attack, quarterback Antwaan Randle El put up 248 yards of total offense (181 passing, 67 rushing).

OSU coach Jim Tressel said he felt the job his defense did containing Randel El spelled victory for the Buckeyes.

“I was pleased with the way our defense did not give up big plays to Randle El,” he said. “We gave up one big play on the pass, but as far as him breaking our backs, they (the defense) did a fine job containing perhaps the finest athlete in our conference.”

The one big play Tressel referred to was a 44-yard touchdown pass from Randle El to running back Levron Williams midway through the third quarter to pull Indiana to within six points of the Buckeyes.

The other Indiana touchdown came on their first drive of the game. OSU also gave up a touchdown on UCLA’s opening drive.

OSU’s defense did not come onto the field until 10 minutes into the contest. OSU safety Mike Doss attributed some of the defense’s play to them being flat after being on the sideline so long. But he also laid the blame on the unit.

“We had a couple missed tackles, along with some missed reads here and there,” Doss said. “We had to get adjusted to their tempo of the game.”

From that point on, the OSU defense did get adjusted to Indiana’s offensive tempo. Levron Williams, who ran for 28 yards and a touchdown on the opening drive, was limited to 53 yards rushing over the next 46 minutes.

“We had a great performance (against UCLA),” said OSU linebacker Joe Cooper, who tied for the team lead with eight tackles. “This week we faced a totally different offense so we had to do different things. Whenever you got a group of guys who can step up and face different offenses every week, that’s pretty good.”

OSU linebacker Matt Wilhelm, who also had eight tackles on the day, praised the defensive performance, and the play of Randle El.

“He’s real quick. He’s a player,” Wilhelm said. “I don’t want to be mean, but what he’s doing at Indiana, I don’t know.”

Wilhelm also said that the play of OSU wide receiver/defensive back Bam Childress playing the role of Randle El during the week of practice played a part in the victory.

“Bam gave us the quickness,” he said. “He turned the defense up a notch.”

The respect the OSU coaching staff had for Randle El prior to the game actually paved the way for OSU to develop a sustained running attack, allowing for a break out game from freshman running back Lydell Ross.

“We went into the game knowing we had to keep it away from Randle El,” Tressel said. “That (the OSU running game) was huge. Keeping the ball so long is the only way you could do that.”

For the second week in a row, OSU punter Andy Groom had a tremendous impact. Of his three punts, he averaged 42.3 yards, two were downed inside the 10 yard line.

Also for the second week in a row, Mike Doss blocked a punt and the defense had a plus two turnover margin.