Ohio State returns to the friendly confines of Ohio Stadium after its first road trip of the season last week.
But, the Buckeyes will not don their traditional scarlet jerseys when the Iowa Hawkeyes come to town. Instead, they’ll sport their all-gray alternate uniforms — which they’ve worn just once before, beating Michigan State 38-3 in them last season.
Saturday in pic.twitter.com/ThniTmePQg
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) October 2, 2024
Ohio State enters Saturday’s contest with the Hawkeyes after claiming a 38-7 victory over Michigan State in its Big Ten opener last week. While the Buckeyes dispatched the Spartans with ease, Iowa presents the Buckeyes’ stiffest challenge to this point of the season — with the Hawkeyes similarly taking care of business in their conference debut, a 31-14 thumping of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
As the Buckeyes prepare to welcome the Hawkeyes to Columbus, take a gander at the Eleven Warriors staff pre-game score predictions.
Score Predictions
Andy Anders – Ohio State 31, Iowa 10: Kaleb Johnson is good for a touchdown and some change, but even with emerging questions at linebacker, the Buckeyes should mostly keep the Hawkeyes contained while the offense grinds out a solid day through the air.
Chase Brown – Ohio State 34, Iowa 9: Iowa will be the best-coached defense Ohio State faces this season. Yet, even the best-coached defense in college football cannot completely stop the freight train that is the Ohio State offense. The Buckeyes' defense, meanwhile, contains Kaleb Johnson on the field and with the game script, forcing Cade McNamara to beat the Buckeyes with his arm — or attempt to, at least.
George Eisner – Ohio State 38, Iowa 13: For a third straight week, I expect the Buckeyes to play a closer-than-expected opening half before adjustments in the locker room ultimately put the game away. Iowa's defense will easily serve as the most challenging Ohio State has encountered thus far, and I suspect the Hawkeyes will have nearly all of their offensive success early before the Silver Bullets pitch a fourth consecutive second-half shutout.
Jack Emerson – Ohio State 38, Iowa 13: Iowa’s offense is much improved since the days of Brian Ferentz’s reign as offensive coordinator, and the Hawkeye defense remains an outstanding unit, but I anticipate the Buckeyes will jump on the Hawkeyes early and not look back.
Johnny Ginter – Ohio State 38, Iowa 10: Iowa does everything in their power to shorten this game as much as possible, which briefly causes me to consider rooting for them to succeed in doing so because it might lead to fewer commercial breaks.
Matt Gutridge – Ohio State 33, Iowa 13: With a win against Iowa, Ryan Day will improve to a program-best 43-0 against unranked opponents. To put that in perspective, Urban Meyer and Earle Bruce have the second-best starts by winning their first 20 games against unranked teams. Meyer lost his 21st game to Virginia Tech in 2014 and Bruce fell to unranked Florida State in 1981.
Garrick Hodge – Ohio State 34, Iowa 10: Iowa's Kaleb Johnson might break off a few big plays, but Ohio State should limit the Hawkeyes' offense in check for the most part. The offense will face its best test of the season, but will score more than enough points to take him a win.
Dan Hope – Ohio State 38, Iowa 7: Yes, I’m predicting that Ohio State will win by the same exact score as last week. Iowa’s defense is better than Michigan State’s, but I expect the Buckeyes’ defense to give the offense some short fields they can take advantage of. The Hawkeyes will ride their ground game for one touchdown drive, but their limited passing game will enable Ohio State to shut them down otherwise.
Kyle Jones – Ohio State 35, Iowa 10: The Hawkeyes don’t do much offensively other than eat clock, which when combined with a good Hawkeye defense keeps the Buckeyes from finding a rhythm offensively. However, the OSU defense forces a couple of turnovers and ultimately sees the home team pull away in the second half.
Chris Lauderback – Ohio State 35, Iowa 10: The Silver Bullets hold Kaleb Johnson largely in check and Will Howard lights up the Iowa pass defense with four touchdown tosses in a comfortable 25-point victory.
Ramzy Nasrallah – Ohio State 31, Iowa 13: This has rock fight written all over it and the home team has the better rocks.
Josh Poloha – Ohio State 38, Iowa 10: A stout defensive front and run game for the Hawkeyes bothers OSU early on in the game but the Buckeyes’ talent on both sides of the ball is just too much for Iowa. Ohio State takes care of business and can now focus on its trip to Eugene, Oregon for the highly-anticipated matchup against the Ducks.
Jason Priestas – Ohio State 37, Iowa 6: This will be the best team Ohio State has faced this season. The bad news for the Hawkeyes is this Buckeye team will likewise be the best team they’ve seen or will see all year.
Jordan Raines – Ohio State 35, Iowa 7: The Buckeyes look dominant on both sides of the ball. Chip Kelly’s scheme proves to be too much for the Hawkeyes. Ryan Day and Co. start the tough October schedule with a win.
WILL OHIO STATE COVER?
Ohio State enters the late-afternoon bout with the Hawkeyes as 18.5-point favorites, and nearly the entire Eleven Warriors staff believe the Buckeyes will cover that lofty mark.
As 13 of 14 members of the 11W staff picked Ohio State to cover, Ramzy Nasrallah went against the grain — though, he still believes the Buckeyes will win by three scores. Dan Hope and Jason Priestas both anticipate Ohio State to win by 31, the largest margin of victory projected by the 11W experts.
WHAT ABOUT THE OVER/UNDER?
The total for Saturday’s contest sits at 46 points with a few hours until kickoff. The under is popular among the Eleven Warriors staff, with nine members expecting the Buckeyes and Hawkeyes to combine for less than 46 points.
Matt Gutridge projected that the total will push — predicting a 33-13 victory in favor of the Buckeyes — while Josh Poloha, Johnny Ginter and Jack Emerson were the only staff members to pick the over.
ELEVEN WARRIORS PROP BETS
Looking for more lines to evaluate? Take a peek at our in-house prop betting lines for this matchup to get a greater sense of what oddsmakers are expecting from individual performances. Leave your predictions for us in the comments and compete for bragging rights!
Who will lead Ohio State in rushing yards?
- Quinshon Judkins (+250)
- Treveyon Henderson (+250)
- James Peoples (+1500)
Will Ohio State’s defense score a touchdown?
- Yes (+400)
- No (-400)
How many receiving yards will Jeremiah Smith finish with?
- Over 91.5 (-110)
- Under 91.5 (-110)
