Ohio State vs. Iowa Notebook: Emeka Egbuka Has A Career Game, Jeremiah Smith Makes Another One-Handed Touchdown Catch and Carnell Tate “Absolutely Could Have Played”

By Dan Hope and Andy Anders on October 6, 2024 at 7:00 am
Emeka Egbuka scoring one of his touchdowns vs. Iowa
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In the 39th game of his Ohio State career, Emeka Egbuka did something he had never done before as a Buckeye.

Egbuka had one of his best games as a Buckeye in Ohio State’s 35-7 win over Iowa, scoring three touchdowns in one day for the first time since he was in high school. The senior started the game’s scoring with a 14-yard touchdown catch on Ohio State’s opening drive, then scored back-to-back touchdowns in the second half on grabs of 15 and three yards.

Overall, Egbuka caught nine passes for 71 yards against the Hawkeyes, continuing an excellent start to what has been a resurgent season. After catching only 41 passes for 515 yards and four touchdowns in 10 games last season, when he suffered a high ankle sprain in Ohio State’s fifth game of the year and never returned to form, Egbuka already has 30 receptions for 433 yards and five touchdowns this year, re-establishing himself as one of college football’s elite receivers.

“I think Emeka's one of the best receivers in the country,” Day said after the game. “It hurt him last year to have the high ankle sprain, but when you think about where he was the year before, and now what he's doing now, you see a complete player. He's the captain of our team. He's a warrior. He does all the dirty work like he did in the Michigan State game, but then to see him come back and have three touchdown catches – and contested all three of those – was huge. And so he's a leader. He's a warrior. And I think he became one of the better receivers in the entire country. He's only getting better the more he plays.”

Jeremiah does it again

Another week, another one-handed touchdown catch by Jeremiah Smith.

Ohio State’s freshman phenom hauled in a touchdown grab with just one hand for the second week in a row as he made a spectacular snag all the while fending off Iowa cornerback Deshaun Lee for a 4-yard score on the Buckeyes’ opening drive of the second half.

There aren’t many receivers at any level of football who can make catching the ball with one mitt look as easy as Smith has in his first year at Ohio State, which OSU left guard Donovan Jackson summed up nicely during his postgame interview session.

“It’s kind of ridiculous. I don’t know how to explain it. When you see one hand go up, you’re like, ‘Oh man, he’s not going down with it,’” Jackson said, referring to the typical wide receiver. “But with JJ, I’m like, ‘He’s probably coming down with it.’ It's an amazing feeling to have where you look around and you're like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ It's one of those things where he's just very talented and he does an amazing job working for it.”

Jackson was far from the only Buckeye to praise Smith’s catch after Saturday’s game. Will Howard described it as “stupid” – in a good way – while Sonny Styles described it as “ridiculous,” though he says it no longer surprises him either to see the freshman make those plays.

“I mean, you see it in practice,” Styles said. “We've got some great DBs, so they challenge him a little bit, but you see him make great plays in practice, so it's not even surprising.”

Smith’s touchdown grab – already his sixth in just five games as a Buckeye – made him the first freshman in Ohio State history with touchdown receptions in each of his first five games. He now ranks third all-time in receiving touchdowns by an Ohio State freshman, needing just one more to catch David Boston for second and two more to tie Cris Carter’s freshman touchdown record of eight.

His touchdown against Iowa came just one play after he hauled in a deep ball from Howard for a 53-yard gain, the longest play of the game by either team. With four total catches for 89 yards against Iowa, Smith has now caught 23 passes (fifth-most ever by an Ohio State freshman) for 453 yards (second-most ever by an Ohio State freshman) through five games as a Buckeye; he needs just 18 more catches to match Carter’s OSU freshman record for receptions and 195 more yards to catch Carter’s freshman record for receiving yards.

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Rodgers and Inniss fill in for Tate

With starting wide receiver Carnell Tate listed as questionable before the game, there was a thought Brandon Inniss might get his first career start against Iowa. While Tate didn’t play, Ohio State’s wide receiver pecking order didn’t turn out to be so clear-cut.

Will Kacmarek and Gee Scott Jr. started the game in a two-tight end package, so there were no new starters out wide for the Buckeyes. When a third receiver first entered the game alongside Egbuka and Smith, it was Inniss and Tate’s recruiting classmate Bryson Rodgers. 

Rodgers and Inniss ultimately both saw action throughout the game, though Rodgers was targeted one time to Inniss’ four. Rodgers caught the lone ball thrown his way for eight yards while Inniss hauled in three receptions for 29 yards, including a 21-yard catch to convert on 4th-and-2 in the third quarter.

Day said after the game that Tate was available to play if needed, but the team decided to hold him out to be safe with a big game against Oregon on deck next week.

“If we needed to put him in the game, he absolutely could have played, but we just felt like it was the right thing to do (to keep him out),” Day said. “Hopefully we'll have 100% Carnell going into next week.”

In addition to seeing increased playing time at wide receiver, Inniss returned to the kickoff returner role after Egbuka lined up at kick returner against Michigan State. Inniss brought out his first kick of the season against the Hawkeyes, but probably should have kneeled the ball in the end zone for a touchback instead as his return went for just 14 yards. He also remained at punt returner against Iowa; his only return of the game went for just three yards, but he’s now up to 109 yards on 12 punt returns this season.

Defense dominates with three more takeaways

If it weren’t for a late touchdown drive surrendered by its backups in the fourth quarter, Ohio State’s defense would have posted a shutout against Iowa on Saturday.

The Buckeyes held the nation’s second-leading rusher, Kaleb Johnson, largely in check as the Hawkeyes managed just 226 total yards and 4.7 yards per play. Iowa had averaged 397.8 yards per game with 5.9 yards per play entering the Ohio State game.

That yardage denial came alongside a three-takeaway day for Ohio State as it recovered two fumbles and intercepted a pass off of the Hawkeyes’ offense, all of which came in Iowa’s first three possessions of the second half.

“The defense really showed up,” Day said. “It started off with a really good week of Tuesday and Wednesday (practice). We had our second offensive line go down (to the scout team) and give a great look. Tuesday was OK. Wednesday was much better. And then the guys really showed up on Saturday. So if we can keep grinding on these Tuesday and Wednesday practices, we can keep building on this.”

Defensive end Jack Sawyer got the turnover party started, collecting a strip-sack against Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara. Cody Simon pounced on the loose change and set up the offense with a short field, which it used to push its third-quarter lead to 21-0.

Simon tipped a ball that Davison Igbinosun intercepted on Iowa’s next possession, and another Buckeye touchdown followed to make the scoreline 28-0. It was the first pick of Igbinosun’s college career.

Ty Hamilton came through with another forced fumble, this time recovered by Kenyatta Jackson Jr., to complete the three straight takeaways.

The Buckeyes are now up to nine forced turnovers on the season with five fumble recoveries and four interceptions. Their turnover margin is +4.

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