BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Out in the land of tumbling tumbleweeds and disgraced Indiana basketball coaches, West Virginia's point-a-minute offense and its wonder quarterback, Geno Smith, went the way of rolling balls of thistle and Bob Knight Saturday evening.

A lopsided loss to Texas Tech did nothing for Smith's chances to walk off at season's end with the little bronze man with the stiff-arm.

The stunning 49-14 reversal afforded Braxton Miller his chance aganst Indiana, the traditional doormat of Big Ten football. In a flashy, flawed, frantic jumble of a game, he ran for one touchdown and 156 yards, as well as throwing for two more scores and 211 yards with one interception. He was as much the difference as anyone in another Ohio State shootout victory, 52-49.

It both was and wasn't as close as it sounds. Indiana scored the final 15 points in just 35 seconds of the wild-eyed final quarter. With 65 seconds to play, the Hoosiers' final onside kick was spinning on the turf on the weak side of OSU's coverage. Only a lucky bounce delivered it into the final embrace of a diving Philly Brown, as a Hoosier bore down on him.

Who could have foreseen such a desperate finish?

With the IU students on fall break, much of Memorial Stadium looked like the former Pronkville at Progressive Field. Sparse crowd, Big Ten Network cameras, big opportunity, B1G stage, B1G life?

Except that Ohio State had spent a week hearing about how it inflicted the worst licking on the midlands since the Dust Bowl in a 63-38 rout of Nebraska; and coach Urban Meyer had been embracing the talk of a national championship in the Associated Press poll (the one that doesn't disqualify past rules-breakers); and the debate over Miller as college football's best running back (even though he plays quarterback) was trending hot and heavy over the social media.

The first half showed how completely Miller animated everything the Hoosiers did on defense. He already had 14 carries by then, but for only 48 yards. That was because wherever Braxton went, a passel of Hoosiers was sure to go. Indiana dealt out 24 yards in losses to him in the half, taking back one yard of every three he gained.

All night, that concentration on Miller made other gains possible, though. Carlos Hyde crashed through tacklers for 156 yards. Blazing fast wide receiver Devin Smith could have had his way with the Hoosiers' secondary with a more efficient game.

Ohio State Survives Indiana, 52-49 11 Gallery: Ohio State Survives Indiana, 52-49

Miller's stock in trade is the highlight-reel move. Only fleetingly in the opening half was he really making the cuts and swerves that led Meyer to call him the most dynamic player he has ever coached. On a 17-yard run, he left linebackers Griffen Dahlstrom and Jaccari Alexander clutching nothing and cornerback Brian Williams unsure which way he went.

The rest of the time, the sophomore quarterback tried to live up to the nickname offensive line coach Ed Warinner gave him of "The Eraser." Sometimes, he was a man running in a phone booth, though, with Indiana wiping out Miller's own gains. Once, he rubbed out the bad plays that led to a third-and-16 with an 18-yard run.

That Ohio State led, 24-14, at halftime was due to the neglected part of Miller's game -- his arm. In the final 2 1/2 minutes of the half, Miller stood in the pocket and delivered a perfect 60-yard touchdown pass down the sideline to Devin Smith. With three receivers flanked to the left, Smith simply blew by his lone defender to the right, cornerback Antonio Marshall.

Smith also dropped the two touchdown passes. But he caught a pair -- the long one that first staved off the Hoosiers near halftime and the short one that he ran in for a 46-yard score in the final minutes. It gave Ohio State a 52-34 lead.

Two straight games producing 101 total points will devalue the importance to some of what Miller did to critics. That is understandable.

Still, his first carry of the second half showed the acceleration that is the straight-line complement to the side-to-side hocus-pocus. With a good block by tight end Jeff Heuerman, Miller broke through the line at his own 37. Pursuit, though dogged, was futile.

The problem with a player like Miller is that borders of possibility are so broad that long-odds plays can be converted. Under heavy pressure at the IU 3 in the third quarter, Miller threw while falling backward. The interception that resulted prevented OSU from opening at least a 17-point lead.

The argument might be made that Miller has no room for error, unlike Geno Smith with his surreal-until-Saturday numbers. The difference is that Miller's team won. The Buckeyes' unbeaten aspirations survive. The Mountaineers have crumbled.

Miller certainly plays no more porous defenses in the Big Ten than Geno Smith does in the Big 12. He won't win the Heisman -- yet -- but he deserves to be in New York at the ceremony to reveal who does.