If there’s going to be a trap game in the homestretch of Ohio State’s regular-season schedule, Saturday’s game at Iowa just might be it.
The Buckeyes are coming off their biggest win of the season, a 39-38 victory of the fourth-quarter comeback variety over Penn State. At 7-1 with a 5-0 record in conference games, Ohio State has emerged as the team to beat in the Big Ten and a national championship contender, ranked No. 6 in the initial College Football Playoff standings.
Iowa, however, has built a reputation for being a dangerous place for top-ranked teams to play on the road in recent seasons. The Hawkeyes came within one play of beating Penn State, who was undefeated and ranked No. 4 in the AP Top 25 at the time, earlier this season at Kinnick Stadium. The Hawkeyes beat Michigan, who was undefeated and ranked No. 3 in the College Football Playoff standings at the time, in Iowa City last November.
Ohio State coach Urban Meyer and his players say they have prepared with a mindset of avoiding a letdown this week, so they don’t expect to beat themselves with overconfidence or overlooking their opponent. That said, Meyer and his Buckeyes do expect to get a challenge from the Hawkeyes nonetheless.
"I say this with much respect: they’re very stereotypical Iowa," Meyer said. "They’re tough guys that are very well-coached. And they play as good of fundamental football as you go against. The good thing is nowadays, especially we have a very mature team, our players know exactly what, there’s going to be no surprises. This is going to be a really rugged game."
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5-3, 2-3 B1G ROSTER / SCHEDULE |
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3:30 P.M. – SATURDAY, NOV. 4 KINNICK STADIUM IOWA CITY, IOWA |
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ESPN WatchESPN |
On the other side, though, the Hawkeyes know they will have to play at their absolute best to have a chance to upset the Buckeyes on Saturday.
"It’s almost like you got to do everything perfect, when you play somebody like that, because they’re really good," said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz. "So there’s pressure on you every play basically, not to necessarily score or get a sack, but you just have to really play good team football to even have a chance. Otherwise, it can get out of hand really quickly. And we’ve seen many examples of that this year. Ohio State’s really pulled away from some people pretty comfortably. So staying with them is tough in itself, and then to beat them on top of it is even tougher."
Ferentz says the Hawkeyes must keep the game close into the fourth quarter to have a chance to win, and they will "have to really fight (their) tails off to get there," but it shouldn’t be ruled out that they can. While Ohio State is the more talented team, and an 18-point favorite according to VegasInsider.com, Iowa has been competitive in every game it has played this season, and will look to pull off another world-shocking upset in front of its home crowd.
Iowa Breakdown
Although Iowa has just a 5-3 record on the season, the Hawkeyes have had a chance to win every game they have played, losing none of them by more than a touchdown. Iowa’s defeat to Penn State came on a game-winning Nittany Lions touchdown as time expired. The Hawkeyes’ other two losses to Northwestern and Michigan State each came by an identical score, 17-10, with their offense unable to string together the touchdown drives they needed to extend those games.
The biggest reason why Iowa has been competitive in every game it has played this season has been its defense’s ability to keep opposing offenses out of the end zone. The Hawkeyes, who are tied for 12th nationally in scoring defense (17.4 points allowed per game), have held their opponents to 21 points or less in each of their last six games.
"They keep things in front of them, they’re very smart. Everything’s so detailed in what they do," said Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett. "Overall, they’re not going to give you anything."
The star of Iowa’s defense is Josey Jewell, who Meyer described this week as “one of the best middle linebackers” he has seen in some time. A Butkus Award finalist last year as one of college football’s best linebackers, Jewell leads the entire Big Ten this year with 81 total tackles despite missing a game with a shoulder injury.
The breakout star of Iowa’s defense this season has been cornerback Josh Jackson, who along with Jewell makes Iowa the only team in the country to have two semifinalists for this year’s Bednarik Award, which honors college football’s best defensive player. In his first year as a starter for the Hawkeyes, the redshirt junior has emerged as one of the nation’s top cover men, tied for the lead among all Football Bowl Subdivision players with 17 passes defensed (including two interceptions).
Like Ohio State, Iowa uses a deep rotation of defensive linemen up front, but the standout among that group this season has been 6-foot-7, 260-pound redshirt sophomore defensive end Anthony Nelson, who leads the Hawkeyes with six sacks.
"This will be as good a defensive line as we've faced," Meyer said.
The reason why Iowa has gone just 3-3 in its last six games, while limiting each of its opponents to two or less touchdowns, is that the Hawkeyes offense has also had trouble reaching the end zone on a regular basis, scoring 19 points or less in four of the team’s five Big Ten games.
With that being said, there have been some bright spots on the Hawkeyes offense, the first of which has been first-year starting quarterback Nathan Stanley, who has thrown for 1,703 yards and 17 touchdowns with only four interceptions this season.
The Hawkeyes have also had multiple breakout pass-catchers in their offense this year. Junior college transfer Nick Easley leads Iowa with 36 receptions for 375 yards and four touchdowns this season. Sophomore tight end Noah Fant, athletic for his 6-foot-5 and 232-pound frame, has emerged as a mismatch creator over the middle, with 19 catches for 299 yards and five touchdowns. Freshman wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette has only 11 catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns, but he has caught Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano’s eye, too, because he is "electrically fast."
"This is an NFL-style offense," Schiano said of the Hawkeyes offense. "They throw the ball down the field and they have a big, strong quarterback, he’s 6-foot-5, 245 pounds. Really strong arm. They have a really good tight end, and they have receivers that are very, very good receivers. They’re very good route runners."
Iowa’s rushing offense hasn’t performed up to expectations this season, in part because their starting offensive tackles to begin the year, Boone Myers and Ike Boettger, have both been knocked out for the year with season-ending injuries, leaving freshmen Alaric Jackson and Tristan Wirfs to start on the edges of the line in their places.
That said, the Hawkeyes do have a dynamic running back in senior Akrum Wadley, who has rushed for 643 yards and five touchdowns this season, to go along with 19 catches for 268 yards and an additional three touchdowns. Schiano describes Wadley as having "elite change-of-direction" quickness.
"When he runs the football … they’re a zone scheme, so he’s hunting and pecking for daylight," Schiano said. "He’s stretching the defense, and then when he sees it, he sticks a foot in the ground. Very hard to react as fast as he can react, because like I said, he has rare change-of-direction."
Akrum Wadley has 911 yards from scrimmage and eight total touchdowns this season. Jeffrey Becker – USA TODAY Sports
The one constant for Iowa over the past two decades has been Ferentz, who is currently entering his 19th season coaching the Hawkeyes, making him the longest-tenured coach in the FBS. Meyer believes that constant is a big factor in why the Hawkeyes are a tough team to beat.
"Consistency is impeccable," Meyer said of Ferentz. "So many people change and are always grasping for different ways of doing things; he's as consistent and tough as you can get. I think he does a great job."
Ferentz’s Hawkeyes, who have won at least six games every year but once since 2001, will look to extend that streak by winning their sixth game of this season on Saturday, but they know they’re going to have their work cut out for them.
Buckeye Breakdown
The team traveling to play at Iowa this weekend will arrive at Kinnick Stadium as one of college football’s hottest teams. Ohio State has won its last six straight games entering Saturday’s game, and both its offense and defense have been performing at a consistently high level.
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| OFFENSE | ||||
| 46.3 | 2nd | POINTS FOR | 25.0 | 88th |
| 244.4 | 17th | RUSHING OFFENSE | 130.8 | 99th |
| 326.9 | 11th | PASSING OFFENSE | 215.1 | 78th |
| 571.3 | 2nd | TOTAL OFFENSE | 345.9 | 103rd |
| .485 | 8th | 3rd DOWNS | .376 | 79th |
| .875 | 46th | RED ZONE | .679 | 126th |
| DEFENSE | ||||
| 18.3 | 18th | POINTS ALLOWED | 17.4 | 12th |
| 107.3 | 10th | RUSH DEFENSE | 145.4 | 46th |
| 195.3 | 33rd | PASS DEFENSE | 223.4 | 69th |
| 117.5 | 40th | PASS EFFICIENCY DEFENSE | 108.1 | 18th |
| 302.5 | 12th | TOTAL DEFENSE | 368.8 | 46th |
| .320 | 28th | 3rd DOWNS | .305 | 19th |
| .700 | 9th | RED ZONE | .800 | 50th |
| SPECIAL TEAMS | ||||
| 4.9 | 97th | PUNT RETURN | 6.3 | 76th |
| 28.2 | 2nd | KICKOFF RETURN | 22.0 | 49th |
| 41.8 | 11th | NET PUNTING | 39.1 | 42nd |
| MISCELLANEOUS | ||||
| + 0.6 | 24th | TURNOVER MARGIN | - 0.3 | 80th |
| 7.8 | 114th | PENALTIES | 5.5 | 37th |
| 13 | EDGE | 5 | ||
While Iowa’s defense has been successful keeping its recent opponents out of the end zone, it will face a much tougher test than most of its recent opponents in the Buckeyes offense, which has scored at least 38 points and accumulated at least 529 yards in each of its last six games.
Barrett has emerged as a Heisman Trophy candidate, throwing 25 touchdown passes to just one interception while averaging 327.5 yards of total offense per game, while the Buckeyes offense as a whole has risen to second nationally in both total offense (571.3 yards per game) and scoring offense (46.3 points per game).
To have a chance to slow the Buckeyes offense down, Iowa linebacker Ben Niemann said the Hawkeyes needed to have a great week of conditioning in practice and be "ready to go on gameday."
"We can’t dilly dally around," Niemann said, "or we’re going to get murdered."
On the other side of the equation, however, Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson believes the Hawkeyes will force his unit to be at its best in order to keep its roll going.
"They don’t give up big plays," Wilson said of Iowa’s defense. "They play that umbrella coverage. They do their rotations and blitz when they want to, but they do everything to make you snap it and earn your victory, earn your points. So we’re going to have to execute at a high level, and it’ll take our very, very best to get a win this week."
“We can’t dilly dally around, or we’re going to get murdered.”– Iowa linebacker Ben Niemann
Defensively, Ohio State was better than the final score indicated last week. While the Buckeyes gave up a season-high 38 points to Penn State, the Nittany Lions scored one touchdown on a kickoff return and two other touchdowns on drives that started at Ohio State’s 23-yard line due to a fumble and another long kickoff return. The Buckeyes did allow three longer scoring drives, two of which ended in touchdowns and one of which ended in a field goal, but still held the Nittany Lions to a season-low 283 yards while recording a whopping 13 total tackles for loss.
Most importantly, the Buckeyes defense was dominant when it mattered most – knocking the Nittany Lions backward for negative yardage on each of their last two possessions of the game – and Schiano believes that gives his unit something to build on as it prepares to play Iowa this week and begin the final month of the regular season.
"I think the biggest thing you take away from a game last week is a life lesson," Schiano said. "If you keep battling through adversity, it’ll turn eventually before the clock runs out, and it took almost every second of the game, and that’s what we need to know. Because you get into November, it’s really hard to win football games. You really got to be locked in and focused. You have to be able to push through things that maybe aren’t going so well, ‘cause that’s just the way it is in November."
Ohio State's defense was dominant when it mattered most against Penn State.
As for Iowa’s impressions for Ohio State’s defense, Wadley says the Buckeyes are "good at all positions." Ferentz, like most opposing coaches, is particularly impressed with the Buckeyes’ defensive line rotation that includes Nick Bosa, Sam Hubbard, Tyquan Lewis, Jalyn Holmes and Dre’Mont Jones, among others.
"They have a lot of guys that are really good football players," Ferentz said. "They’re all very, very athletic. They can play with power, they can play with speed and quickness."
Ferentz also said Ohio State’s defense is "hard to block" and "hard to contain," which will force his offense to be sharp and avoid the pitfalls – momentum-killing penalties, missed big-play opportunities, etc. – that unit has had in recent weeks.
The one area where Ohio State is seeking significant improvement this week is on special teams, specifically on kickoffs, after giving up the aforementioned two long kickoff returns – including its second kickoff return touchdown allowed this year – last week against Penn State. Ohio State is planning to put some of its offensive and defensive starters on the kickoff unit this week, including wide receiver Austin Mack and linebacker Dante Booker, in an effort to fix the problems that have plagued the Buckeyes in that phase of the game all year.
Overall, though, the Buckeyes enter Saturday’s game playing at a high level – as well as they’ve played all season, and arguably as well as any team in the country.
"It’s not the same as always, but it is kind of the same as always. They’re always an exceptional football team," Ferentz said of the Buckeyes. "They’ve always had tremendous football teams with tremendous players, and typically they’re very well-coached. That’s certainly what we’re seeing on film right now."
How It Plays Out
Since Ohio State turned the calendar to exclusively playing Big Ten opponents for the rest of the regular season, the Buckeyes won three games by at least 42 points before winning their last game by only one.
Saturday’s game at Iowa will likely end up somewhere between those two extremes.
There’s little question that Iowa is a better football team than Rutgers, Maryland and Nebraska, so the Hawkeyes shouldn’t get embarrassed in the same fashion that those three teams did.
They might not be able to beat the Buckeyes, or even push them to the brink the way Penn State did, but they will go into Saturday’s game with a belief they can win and an effort to compete as hard as possible.
"It is a big game, but when it comes down to it, they’re playing college football just like we are," Fant said. "And we’re going to go out there and compete and hope for the best."
| Year | Location | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Columbus, Ohio | Ohio State 34, Iowa 24 |
| 2010 | Iowa City, Iowa | Ohio State 20, Iowa 17 (vacated) |
| 2009 | Columbus, Ohio | Ohio State 27, Iowa 24 |
| 2006 | Iowa City, Iowa | Ohio State 38, Iowa 17 |
| 2005 | Columbus, Ohio | Ohio State 31, Iowa 6 |
| 2004 | Iowa City, Iowa | Iowa 33, Ohio State 7 |
Ohio State has only played Iowa once in the Meyer era, in 2013 at Ohio Stadium, but that game proved to be a tough test for the Buckeyes – a team that came one game away from playing in the final BCS National Championship Game – as the Buckeyes were tied with the Hawkeyes going into the fourth quarter before scoring the final 10 points of the game to win, 34-24.
Ohio State’s fifth-year seniors, including Barrett and linebacker Chris Worley, remember watching that game from the sidelines as redshirting freshmen. They described that game as a "slugfest," and expect more of the same from the Hawkeyes on Saturday.
"Iowa is somebody who’s always a great team, a tough team to play," Worley said. "The last time we played them … They started out hitting us right in the mouth, and I remember we sat on the sideline thinking like, 'This is a real team right here.' And you never really know it till you play a team. You kind of think you know. But that’s definitely going to be a hard-fought game. That’s not going to be a game where they’re going to roll over."
With a stated goal of maintaining their focus and avoiding a letdown, Ohio State will certainly want to roll out of the gates playing at a high level on Saturday, which could enable the Buckeyes to pull away early and never look back. But it shouldn’t come as a surprise, with the home crowd on their side and a defense that’s been tough, if the Hawkeyes keep the game close for a half or more. Ultimately, though, Ohio State should be able to seize control of this game on both sides of the ball if it can play at even close to the same level it played in the final minutes of last Saturday’s comeback win.
ELEVEN WARRIORS STAFF PREDICTION: Ohio State 38, Iowa 17
