Skull Session: Ohio State and Iowa is an Underrated Game in the B1G, Marvin Harrison Jr. Catches Everything and C.J. Stroud Now Has Cardboard Cutouts in Grocery Stores

By Chase Brown on October 18, 2022 at 5:00 am
Iowa
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Welcome to the Tuesday Skull Session presented by Eleven Warriors.

Today's game week mood is brought to you by Dawand Jones, the 6-foot-8, 359-pound offensive lineman for THE Ohio State Buckeyes.

Let's talk Iowa football today, and – as always – let's have a good Tuesday, shall we?

 OHIO STATE, IOWA, AND THE B1G DIVIDE. Regarding college football in the Big Ten, few matchups provide better games than Ohio State and Iowa. Those teams return to face each other on the gridiron on Saturday.

In the past 15 years, the Buckeyes and Hawkeyes have met only four times, with the former winning the first three meetings. Ohio State claimed the first two by a field goal in 2009 and 2010 and the third by 10 points in 2013, while Iowa shocked the world with a 55-24 victory in Kinnick Stadium in 2017.

Outside of those four meetings, though, there were no other games between the programs. That was it.

Four more games were supposed to occur between the teams in the 15 years, but the Big Ten and a global pandemic had other ideas. Ohio State and Iowa were scheduled to meet in 2011 and 2012, but those games were wiped away by the Big Ten's Legends and Leaders divisions. The 2014 matchup was also removed when Rutgers and Maryland became the 13th and 14th programs in the conference, and the 2020 meeting was taken away because of COVID-19.

Iowa beat reporter Scott Dochterman of The Athletic believes Ohio State and Iowa to be one of the greatest matchups the Big Ten has to offer but has suffered from realignment. In the future, he thinks the conference should do everything it can to ensure this game frequently happens once USC, UCLA and any other teams enter the mix.

Whether the Big Ten eliminates divisions next year or in 2024, it’s good news for the league when it can incorporate series like Ohio State-Iowa more often. Entering this season, the Buckeyes have the most overall and league wins among Big Ten teams while the Hawkeyes are third since the East-West divide in 2014. Considering Ohio State has five championship appearances and Iowa has two during that eight-year period, it’s strange that they hadn’t met in Indianapolis, either. It’s even more odd that most of Iowa’s starters from the last time the Hawkeyes played in Columbus are in their 30s.

Perhaps what’s most fascinating — and understated — is how often the sides have met with ultra-high stakes. From 1954 to 2010, the teams had met 18 times as ranked opponents, with 13 coming in Top 15 matchups. Seven times they both were ranked in the Top 10, and the Buckeyes won four. Both inflicted significant misery on the other in ruining national championship dreams, like Ohio State did to Iowa in 1957, 1958 and 1985, and the Hawkeyes countered against the Buckeyes in 1960 and 2017. Ohio State’s last-second win in 1990 kept Iowa from clinching an outright Big Ten title, and six other times their collision determined the league champion.

Strangest of all, the teams twice tied for the Big Ten regular-season title without facing one another. In 1981, Iowa and Ohio State were the only Big Ten teams not to play each other, and they finished 6-2. The Hawkeyes claimed the Rose Bowl nod on the season’s final day when Michigan upset the Buckeyes. Ohio State and Iowa ended the 2002 regular season ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in the AP poll and were 8-0 in league play. In an 11-team Big Ten, there was no championship game, and the unblemished Buckeyes claimed the league’s spot in the BCS title game because Iowa had a nonconference loss.

The 2002 season, as Dochterman explains in his article, deserved a battle between Ohio State and Iowa. Some believed the Hawkeyes to have the best team in the nation that year, and might have proved it if they had a chance to face the Buckeyes, who went a perfect 14-0 and won the national championship.

Ohio State was built with the nation’s best defense and a power running game led by freshman Maurice Clarett. Iowa (yes, Iowa) boasted the Big Ten’s most efficient offense, ranking 13th nationally in yards per game. Banks led the Big Ten with 26 touchdowns and just five interceptions. He threw for 2,573 yards, and his passer efficiency rating of 157.1 was the best in the NCAA. Ohio State safety Mike Doss was named the Big Ten defensive player of the year.

There were numerous plaudits for both teams. Iowa’s Dallas Clark won the Mackey Award as the nation’s best tight end, and guard Eric Steinbach was named the league’s offensive lineman of the year. Ohio State linebacker Matt Wilhelm joined Clark and Steinbach as consensus All-Americans. Iowa’s Nate Kaeding won the Lou Groza Award as the nation’s top kicker, while Ohio State counterpart Mike Nugent was the consensus All-America kicker. Even the coaches split the votes with Tressel and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz earning different national coach of the year honors.

It was a game everyone wanted but no one could get unless Miami somehow tripped up.

But Miami didn't trip up in the regular season. The Hurricanes' only blemish came on Jan. 3, 2003, when Ohio State officially "Broke the U" as the Buckeyes won their first national championship since 1968.

That makes it hard for me to believe Iowa would have contended with Ohio State that year. But who knows? For the Buckeyes, the 2002 team can kiss their championship rings before bed every night. For the Hawkeyes, it will always remain a "What if...?"

 SUPER MARV. It's becoming a tradition to include Marvin Harrison Jr. in the Skull Session. Honestly, with how good this dude already is and how good he can be, I don't mind all that much.

The latest buzz on Harrison is that he simply doesn't drop passes thrown within his catch radius (which is massive, in case you didn't know). According to Pro Football Focus, Route Man Marv's 46 targets without a drop lead the FBS heading into Week 8.

Now, I understand wide receivers are supposed to catch any pass that hits them in the hands, but a lot of them don't do that. I've watched enough Ohio State games in my life where my Dad yelled, "You're on scholarship, son! You have to catch those!" after a Buckeye receiver let one slip through the hands to know it's not a given.

The Tennessee vs. Alabama game over the weekend also reminded me that the nation's most powerful offenses are not excluded from those mental errors, so I consider it a blessing that we never have to worry whether or not Harrison will catch a football thrown his direction.

As Ohio State enters the second half of the season, I expect Harrison's 46 to increase substantially. After all, he is called Super Marv, so why would I expect anything different?

 TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'. It's been 15 months since Executive Order 2021-10D was passed into law in Ohio, allowing college athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness.

Despite all that time, it's still a little strange to see life-sized cardboard cutouts of an Ohio State quarterback in a local Columbus grocery store, but that's what we have here with C.J. Stroud as he represents a hydration company called Lemon Perfect.

To be clear, I'm all on board for athletes earning some dough for being a phenomenal representation of Ohio State on and off the field, and it's good to see Stroud at the forefront of that. However, seeing something like this would at Kroger would make me take off my glasses and rub my eyes while making "eh-er, eh-er, eh-er" sounds before putting the lenses back on my face.

Times they are a-changin' because of NIL, and the change won't slow down anytime soon. Once Stroud leaves for the NFL, it will be either Kyle McCord or Devin Brown's cutouts featured at the Giant Eagle, so get used to it.

One more thing: Who gets the Stroud cutout when the promotion is over? Will it sit in the back of some warehouse collecting dust, will it end up in the dumpster or will someone claim this extremely rare Ohio State collectible?

 TBDBITL x HAWKEYE BAND MASHUP. From "Grease" to "Shrek" themes, the Ohio State marching band has been quite the spectacle during halftime of Buckeye games this season. On Saturday, TBDBITL has another rockin' performance on tap. This time with a bit of assistance from the visiting Hawkeyes.

 SONG OF THE DAY. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones.

 CUT TO THE CHASE. Karim Benzema and Alexia Putellas win Ballon d’Or awards... Barkley, ‘Inside the NBA’ crew agree to contract extensions... Ralph Macchio's relationship with Pat Morita was "magic," according to his new book... NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captures space fingerprint... Humpback whale makes surprise appearance during father-son fishing trip.

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