The Eleven Warriors Web Report comes to you weekly from the Spectrum Sports studios in downtown Columbus, featuring our own Beau Bishop, Dan Hope and former Buckeye wide receiver Evan Spencer.
Our panelists opened this week's show by talking about Saturday's game, which Spencer dubbed the "debacle in Iowa City," as they tried to take stock of what happened to the Buckeyes in their 55-24 loss to Iowa last weekend.
"It's just a combination of great game planning on Iowa's side of things, being able to control the football, being able to capitalize on turnovers, being able to affect J.T.'s throwing lanes," Spencer said in regards to how the Hawkeyes were able to dominate the game and hand the Buckeyes a blowout loss.
As Bishop pointed out, Ohio State has suffered three losses in the past 11 months – against Clemson to end last season, against Oklahoma earlier this season and against Iowa – by margins of 15 points or more. But while the loss to Clemson was understandable because of Deshaun Watson, and the loss to Oklahoma was understandable of potential Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield, losing by 31 points to a lesser talented Iowa team was the most shocking defeat of them all.
"For them to just have their way, it was a complete breakdown," Bishop said. "There were a lot of little things that Buckeye fans have been worrying about that came home to roost on Saturday night."
After a further breakdown of what went wrong in Saturday's loss by Hope and Spencer, the guys moved on to looking ahead to this weekend's game against Michigan State – a team that could present similar problems to the Buckeyes to that which the Hawkeyes did.
"That's what gives me a lot of worry," Spencer said. "That is another great ball-control, well-disciplined football team that executes their game plan effectively."
"Not only will the toughest team win, the most disciplined team has got to win," Spencer added. "Think about all those penalties that we had last week, think about all those turnovers that we had last week. Think about all the mismanaged possessions offensively and defensively. That is going to be what's going to be the catalyst for a win in this game or a loss."
Despite those concerns, as Ohio State must beat Michigan State on Saturday just to remain in position to contend for a Big Ten title, the panel also discussed whether it is possible for the two-loss Buckeyes to still work their way into the College Football Playoff hunt if they win out.
"I'm not going to sit here and advocate that gave up 55 and lost by 31 at Iowa ... but I did jump the gun a little bit over the weekend saying that Ohio State is eliminated from the national championship picture. I don't believe they are. There's a lot of chaos that can happen between now and the first weekend of December," Bishop said, proceeding to break down his case for how the Buckeyes could still make the CFP.
The Eleven Warriors Report airs Tuesday at 7 p.m. on Spectrum Sports Mid-Ohio.
