Iowa Debriefing: Ohio State's Defense Records a Half Dozen Takeaways While the Offense Has a Field Day in the Second Half

Ohio State was tested by a stout Iowa defense Saturday... and still won by 44 points.

Buckeye fans were certainly in their feelings early as it seemed like the Hawkeyes had cracked the code to slowing down the vaunted Buckeye offense. The home team struggled to run the ball, the passing game felt a little disjointed, and things just felt... off.

Ultimately things got back on track in a big way in the second half after the No. 2 team in the country leaned on its own stellar defense and ended up +4 in turnover margin and scored its second-highest point total of the season on a day it recorded its fewest yards of total offense to date.

Let's break it down.

TL;DR: JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM

C.J. Stroud "struggled" for the first half of the ballgame but still finished with four touchdowns and a 184.1 efficiency rating. The running game couldn't move the ball much against Iowa, the hapless Hawkeyes couldn't move the ball against the Bad News Bears, let along the Silver Bullets.

Tanner McCalister and Tommy Eichenberg were certified studs and Zach Harrison had perhaps his best game of the season. Most importantly Ohio State made the necessary adjustments to dominate a conference opponent on a day where it felt for a long stretch of the game like Iowa's defense was the best unit on the field.

HOW IT WENT DOWN

OFFENSE

This game essentially boiled down to "unstoppable force meets immovable object," and the question of the day was which unit would falter first: Ohio State's best-in-class offense or Iowa's top-ranked defense.

Things got off to a shaky start for the Buckeye offense, and ultimately the team only scored a single offensive touchdown in the first half, on a Miyan WIlliams scamper. Noah Ruggles was dynamite, however, putting four of four field goal attempts through the uprights, getting Ohio State on the board when the Hawkeyes stymied their efforts to find the end zone.

It was not a great day running the ball for the Buckeyes, as they only managed a putrid 66 yards on the ground on 2.2 yards per carry.

After he found his groove in the second half, Stroud added four touchdowns through the air on 286 yards passing. Even on an off day, he still managed to find pay dirt with four different receivers, including fullback Mitch Rossi.

Helmet Stickers

Marvin Harrison Jr.: We said it last week, and we'll say it again: bring back the Louis Vuitton cleats and the Apple Watch. Harrison looked like he should be a Heisman candidate.
Cade Stover: Did you see him hurdle that dude? 'Nuff said.
Mitch Rossi: The big man found the end zone for the second time this season, and it was beautiful.

DEFENSE

Iowa was the team in this game with the highly-touted defense, but Ohio State's Silver Bullets had a pretty incredible day. While broadcast analyst Joel Klatt rightly noted - early and often - that Iowa's offense is as bad as it gets in the Power 5, Jim Knowles' defense did, in fact, kick ass.

Iowa scored a single touchdown, and managed a measly 158 yards of total offense. The Buckeyes tallied five sacks, 10 tackles for loss, three interceptions and three forced fumbles. It was an utter beatdown in every sense of the word, regardless of the quality of the opponent.

Helmet Stickers

Tommy Eichenberg: With a pick six added to his resume, the legend of Tommy Eichenberg only grows.
Tanner McCalister: This guy has perhaps been the unsung hero of the Knowles era thus far, but with two picks to his credit Saturday, he won't be unsung much longer.
Lathan Ransom: Paced the team with eight total tackles and forced a fumble. Not too shabby.

DID THE DEFENSE SUCK 30% LESS THAN LAST SEASON?

Halfway through the season, you know the deal: The Debriefing doesn't believe Ohio State's revamped defense needs to be among the Top 5 in the country to win titles. With Ohio State's offense, Jim Knowles doesn't need to turn the Silver Bullets into the '85 Bears, they just need to suck 30% less than they did last season.

The benchmark for comparison is that last season's defense coughed up an average of 372.9 yards and 22.8 points per game. Abysmal. We continue to track if the defense is meeting that goal each week and we'll circle up at the end of the season to see if "The 30% Hypothesis" holds water.

Ohio State held Iowa to just 158 yards of total offense which is MUCH BETTER than 30% less than the average allowed last season, and allowed them to score just 10 points, which is also MUCH better than 30% less than last year's average points allowed,

VERDICT: A resounding YES, this defense is lightyears better than last year!

Seven games into the season, we're also taking stock of the unit's total body of work, not just the game-to-game variations. As noted, last year the Buckeye defense allowed 372.9 yards and 22.8 points per game; through seven games this season, they've allowed just 239.9 yards and 14.9 points per game.

That is an astounding year-over-year improvement. Consider that the Silver Bullets have now held three separate opponents to just 10 points each, and none have scored more than 21 heading into the final stretch of the season.

JIM TRESSEL'S LEAST FAVORITE MOMENT OF THE GAME

Noon games in October against gritty, old-school conference opponents like Iowa are catnip for Coach Tressel. The weather, the pageantry, the stakes of the best offense in the country versus the best defense in the country, it's the stuff dreams are made of.

The Distinguished Gentleman from Youngstown, up early as always, was off to the shotgun range with Lady Ellen to get some target practice in. After listening to last week's Eleven Dubcast and hearing Ben Hartsock recount the tail of his abysmal accuracy during the 2002 team's visit to the Hartsock farm, Tressel was determined to prove how much he's improved over the past 20 years.

It was a beautiful morning to break some clays, and Coach broke out his Browning Citori over/under he won from Kirk Ferentz in a friendly wager on the 2005 game. With his shotgun shined up and ready for action and a fresh box of cartridges, it was time to get down to business.

"First one to miss cooks supper?" he asked Miss Ellen as they each took their stations behind the trap house at the Country Club.

"Do you really want to do that to yourself?" she replied with a raised eyebrow. "They don't call me Eagle Eye for nothing, Dear."

He did want to do that to himself, as it turned out, and felt pretty good that he hung with The First Lady deep into the first 25 birds. "You've been practicing with the Clay Target Club, haven't you?" Ellen asked her dear husband. (He had, but was hoping she hadn't noticed.)

After shooting through a full set of 50 pigeons, the Tressels got back to the house just in time to enjoy some butternut squash soup before kickoff. The former head coach knew it was going to be a spooky Saturday when the combatants traded turnovers early and Iowa took an early 7-3 lead.

He enjoyed the field goal clinic Noah Ruggles put on, and wasn't terribly worried about Ohio State's offensive struggles because championship teams have to be able to grind out a win when the chips are down. But The Vest was beside himself when long snapper Bradley Robinson went down on the Buckeyes' first punt of the second half, and had to be helped off the field.

"People don't appreciate how important long snappers are until one goes out of the game," he said to Ellen. "I hope they can get past this."

Fortunately the Ohio State passing game roared to life, and the punt team was only called on once more when the game was long since decided. Tressel said a few words of thanks and then repaired to the kitchen to get started on the evening meal.

The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. - Thomas Paine#QuietTime
— Jim Tressel (@JimTressel5) October 21, 2022

IT WAS OVER WHEN

...Tanner McCalister hauled in his second interception of the day, picking off backup Hawkeye quarterback Alex Padilla early in the third quarter. The Buckeye offense would capitalize on the turnover when C.J. Stroud tossed a beautiful ball to Marvin Harrison Jr. for the first of four passing touchdowns on the day, putting Ohio State up 33-10 and the rout was on.

Stroud never looked back, and the Buckeyes steamrolled their guests all the way to the 54-10 final and a 7-0 record.

UP NEXT: Ohio State hits the road for a trip to Happy Valley to face Penn State for another Big Noon Saturday. The Nittany Lions are fresh off a 45-17 drubbing of Minnesota that reminded everyone that they are, in fact, a top-team this season, likely to be at least a top-15 squad when this week's rankings come out Sunday afternoon.