Eighth-ranked Ohio State traveled to Indiana on Saturday planning to impress poll voters and advance Braxton Miller’s Heisman Trophy campaign.

By the end of the night, the Buckeyes were just happy to escape with a victory.

They had to overcome a duffel bag full of errors to prevail, 52-49, and stay undefeated. They dropped two sure touchdown passes, threw an interception while perched four yards from the goal line, gave up a pair of big plays for TDs, surrendered a blocked punt and missed a short field goal.

The Buckeyes let IU score and recover an onside kick with just under two minutes to go and then score again with 1:05 left. The two-point conversion made it 52-49.

OSU recovered the next onside kick and ran out the clock to improve to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten Leaders Division. Miller finished 13-of-24 passing for 211 yards and two TDs and rushed for 149 yards on 23 carries, including a 67-yard TD run on the team’s first possession of the second half.

Running back Carlos Hyde had a career-high 156 yards on 22 totes with one TD rushing and one receiving.

OSU also scored on a blocked punt by Travis Howard that fellow cornerback Bradley Roby recovered in the end zone for his third TD this season.

But Miller threw a costly interception at the 4-yard line with the Buckeyes leading by two touchdowns midway through the third quarter. Seemingly on the verge of a three-score advantage, OSU found itself leading only 31-24 when the Hoosiers scored three plays later on a 76-yard pass connection.

Miller was hurt while being hit out of bounds on the next series and was replaced by Kenny Guiton, who completed a 14-yard shovel pass to Hyde for a TD and a 38-24 lead with 4:34 to go in the third quarter.

The Buckeyes have won 17 straight games in the series, the last loss coming in 1988. The Hoosiers are 2-4, 0-3, their only wins coming against UMass and Indiana State. They were 1-11 last season.

The Buckeyes tried several deep passes, a departure from their usual game plan. They grabbed a 24-14 lead on a 60-yard bomb from Miller to Devin Smith, who beat cornerback Antonio Marshall on a streak route down the sidelines. Smith, though, also let two TD passes slip through his fingers.