Iowa Football Opponent Preview: Ohio State Buckeyes

Coming off of their bye week, the Iowa Football team is set to travel to Columbus this week for a clash against the third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. It will be the 67th all-time meeting between the Hawkeyes and Buckeyes, with Iowa owning an 8-31-1 record at Ohio Stadium. Their last win at the Horseshoe came all the way back in 1991 under Hayden Fry.

Ohio State comes into the matchup with a 4-0 record, but they haven’t faced a challenge yet, picking up wins over Akron, Western Michigan, Marshall and Michigan State by a combined 195-27 score. The Buckeyes defeated MSU 38-7 on Saturday, behind three total touchdowns from quarterback Will Howard.

The sportsbooks have Iowa as a 21.5-point underdog, which is a number they do not see very often. The Hawkeyes have been 20+ point underdogs just three times since the beginning of the 2016 season. As for Ohio State, they are 12-3 against the spread when favored by 20-30 points under Ryan Day. That includes a 54-10 (-29.5) win over Iowa back in 2022.

BUCKEYES OFFENSE

2024 Numbers: 48.8 PPG (4th), 227.0 RUSH (14th), 307.8 PASS (14th), 534.8 TOTAL (5th)

Year in, and year out, the Ohio State offense is amongst the best in the country. Since 2010, the Buckeyes have averaged 40.0+ points per game in eight seasons, while they have ranked top 15 in scoring in 11 of the past 14 seasons. They have scored 38+ points in their first four games of the season for the first time since 2020.

Kansas State transfer Will Howard leads the Buckeye offense at quarterback, and he has had an efficient start to the season. Howard has completed 72 of his 105 (68.6%) passes for 1,039 yards, including eight touchdowns to two interceptions. He ran for nearly 400 yards last season at K-State and has three rushing touchdowns so far this year.

Joining him in the backfield is arguably the best running back duo in the country, with Ole Miss transfer Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson. Judkins has gotten a little bit bigger workload, totaling 392 yards on 47 carries (8.3 ypc), while Henderson has 280 yards on 31 carries (8.9 ypc). The duo has combined for nine touchdowns, which is second-most in the Big Ten behind Kaleb Johnson and Jaziun Patterson (10 TD). Iowa is one of two defenses yet to allow a rushing touchdown this season, but that will be put to extreme test on Saturday.

At wide receiver, the Buckeyes have a very clear-cut trio that they target in the passing game. Five-star freshman Jeremiah Smith has been as advertised, catching 19 passes for 364 yards and five touchdowns (19.2 ypc), including a 70-yard touchdown against Western Michigan. Emeka Egbuka has similar numbers, totaling a team-high 21 receptions for 362 yards (17.2 ypc) and two touchdowns. Carnell Tate is the clear WR3, with 14 catches for 219 yards (12.6 ypc) and one touchdown. Nearly 60% of the targets have gone to those three guys, so expect the same type of distribution against Iowa.

Taking a look at the Buckeyes offensive line, they rank 18th in the country in run blocking grade (74.0) and 30th in pass blocking (77.1). QB Will Howard has been pressured 15 times on 110 drop backs, including just one sack and five throwaways. Left tackle Josh Simmons has been the best so far, ranking as the 9th-best offensive lineman in the Big Ten (76.5), including the third-best pass blocking grade (86.4). This will be the Buckeye offensive lines toughest test so far, as MSU (40th rush D) and Akron (61st pass rush) are well behind Iowa (23rd rush D and 33rd pass rush) per Pro Football Focus.

BUCKEYES DEFENSE

2024 Numbers: 6.8 PPG (1st), 61.8 RUSH (3rd), 134.8 PASS (9th), 196.5 TOTAL (2nd)

Defensively, under Ryan Day, the Buckeyes have been good, but not elite, ranking in the top 50 in each of his first five seasons, but in the top ten just twice. Last year was one of those top ten seasons, as OSU ranked second in the country, allowing just 11.2 points per game.

Starting up front, Ohio State has one of the best defensive lines in the country, led by edge rusher Jack Sawyer. He led the team in sacks last season and currently leads the team with 13 pressures, including eight quarterback hits. Opposite him on the other edge is 4th Team All-American JT Tuimoloau, who has totaled ten tackles and a team-high 3.5 tackles for loss. In the middle, tackles Tyleik Williams (9 tkls, 2 tfl) and Ty Hamilton (13 tkls) are run stoppers. It will be interesting to see how deep they go against the Hawkeyes, but ten players have logged 50+ snaps along the defensive line this season for OSU. Mitchell Melton has been a standout amongst the backups with 3.5 tackles for loss in just 66 snaps.

At linebacker, the Buckeyes had to replace Tommy Eichenberg and Steele Chambers coming into the season, but safety Sonny Styles made the move to WLB. Styles has fit in well, totaling a team-high 23 tackles over four starts. Alongside him in the 4-2-5 OSU defense is middle linebacker Cody Simon. He was fifth on the team in tackles (57) last season and has nine tackles so far this year. Sophomore Arvell Reese (15 tkls, 2 tfl) will rotate in throughout the game, as will CJ Hicks (12 tkls, 1.5 tfl).

In the secondary, Ohio State has plenty of big names, but safety Lathan Ransom has been that standout in the early going. He is second on the team with 20 tackles and 3.0 tackles for loss, while he has the best rush defense grade of any defensive back in the Big Ten (93.6). Joining him at safety is Alabama transfer Caleb Downs (14 tkls), who was an honorable mention All-American for the Tide last season as a true freshman. Denzel Burke (13 tkls, 2 INT) and Davison Igbinosun (10 tkls) will be the starting cornerbacks, while Jordan Hancock (14 tkls, 3 PBU) plays the slot corner/nickelback position. Ohio State ranks 23rd in the country in pass coverage (89.6) per Pro Football Focus.

BUCKEYES SPECIAL TEAMS

Kicker Jayden Fielding: 2/2 FG, LNG 40, 24/24 PAT

Punter Joe McGuire: 11 punts, 42.1 AVG, 3 In20, LNG 51

Kick Returner Jayden Ballard: 1 return, 23 yards

Punter Returner Brandon Inniss: 11 returns, 106 yards, 9.6 AVG, LNG 36

FINAL THOUGHT

Let’s not beat around the bush here, this is expected to be quite the uphill battle for the Hawkeyes. As previously mentioned, the Buckeyes favored by three touchdowns and under Kirk Ferentz, Iowa is 0-9 against top 5 teams away from Iowa City. It is worth mentioning, that OSU does have a huge road game at Oregon coming up next weekend. Can Iowa catch the Buckeyes looking ahead to that matchup? The Hawkeye offense has to be able to move the ball against the Ohio State defense, otherwise this game could somewhat resemble the ’22 meeting.