Anyone that knows college football would have looked out the Buckeye's September schedule and recognized it as a true test for it's young defense. Although they were picked in the pre-season to be one of the top teams in the nation, everyone had a question mark on the OSU defense which only returned two starters. Yet after 4 games, not only are the Bucks undefeated, and ranked number #1, they have given up just 3 touchdowns, in spite of a schedule with two ranked opponents. This week, they get their final September test as they travel to Iowa City to take on the Hawkeyes, who are ranked #13 in the current polls. A victory Saturday night will go a long way in determining who is in the driver's seat for the Big Ten race.
During the Buckeye's National Championship season in 2002, they did not play the Iowa. In fact, if Iowa State had not staged a fourth quarter comeback that season and handed the Hawkeyes their only regular season loss, it might have been Iowa playing Miami in Tempe that year. Instead they went to the Orange Bowl for their 38-17 beating at the hands of the Trojans. I can still remember walking out of Sun Devil Stadium only to hear a disgruntle Miami fan say "USC is still a better team than Ohio State". At any rate, we have the trophy for that season. But after that season, a bit of a rivalry had formed which is always great for the fans.
In 2003, OSU won 19-10 in Columbus, but the game was not as close as the score. In fact, if you take away the play where Iowa scored their TD, even the score wasn't close. On that play, Iowa lined up for a short Field Goal after a great goal line stance by the Bucks. But they faked the kick and snuck a run into the corner of the end zone. This would not have been possible if Bobby Carpenter had not been held along the way which everyone but the officiating crew saw. At an rate, Ohio State created some form of validation that they were the better team in the Big Ten. Unfortunately, the Hawkeyes took it out on them in 2004 crushed them 33-7. And believe me, that game was not as close as the score indicates either. The one positive that came out of that game is that if officially marked the end of era of Justin Zwick, enter Troy Smith and a 'starter' is born. OSU returned the favor last season in a 31-6 victory which would have been better if they could have followed it up with a win in Happy Valley the following week. Saturday we will find out whether or not it's Iowa's turn for big game in this series.
Coach Ferentz is now in his 8th year at the helm of the Hawkeyes. Considered one of the top coach's in the country, and always mentioned for NFL jobs, it is hard to remember that he started 2-18 in his first 20 games as the Iowa coach. He has certainly turned things around having his team in January bowls the last four seasons.
Iowa boasts one of the stronger returning quarterbacks in the league. Drew Tate has been a solid performer since his breakout game against the Bucks in 2004. He did miss the Syracuse game earlier this season, but his team prevailed. So far he is 58-93 for 687 yards, 7 TD's and 2 interceptions. We all know the type of year Troy Smith is having as his name is being mentioned as a Heisman candidate. Although he had his first two picks of the season last week, he is still 68-103 passing for 884 yards and 8 TD's. Hard to tell what his stats would look like if we were able to eliminate the dropped balls.
In the kicking game Iowa may have an advantage. They are 7-8 on field goals, perfect on extra points. We all know the struggles OSU has had in this area. We can only hope that we turn this around the rest of the way. I anticipate one of the two kickers will step up and take the lead in the kicking role. For punt returns, Iowa is averaging over 13 yards a punt, OSU is still deciding if we are going to even catch punts. I realize it was raining and wet against Penn State, but it is not like the strategy of letting them bounce was really working for us either.
One possible game changer for this year's contest might be the turnover battle. Iowa is giving up the ball (4 Fumbles, 6 Interceptions) and Ohio State's 'young' defense is taking away the ball more than last year's veteran squad. And Iowa has only managed 13 total points of their takeaways, where as Ohio State had 14 points only their past quarter of play. As the shorten games continue to be a focus, taking care of the ball will be vital. This may be an area that the Buckeyes will be able to hold an advantage.
Iowa will be at home again next week to face Purdue, while the Buckeyes return to Columbus to finish off their non-conference schedule against Bowling Green.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Iowa is 0-7-1 when facing teams ranked #1. Their last game against a ranked opponent was in September of 2000 when they lost to Nebraska 42-13.
- Iowa is 2-2 in night games at Kinnick Stadium. However, Saturday will be only the second true night game. Hawkeye games vs. Northern Illinois (1999), Iowa State (2002) and Arizona State (2003) were 5 p.m. starts, while the Miami contest (1992) started at 7 p.m.
- Since the start of the 2003 season, OSU has the second best home record (23-1) while Iowa is fifth in the country (20-1).
- Ohio State comfortably leads its all-time series against Iowa at 43-14-3. OSU is 27-8-1 at home, 16-6-2 at Iowa City and has lost only four of its past 35 games against the Hawkeyes.
- Iowa ranks 12th nationally in pass defense, giving up 90.8 yards a game.
- Ohio State is 3rd in the nation in tackles for a loss with 9.5 average per game.
- Jim Tressel and Kirk Ferentz first coached against each other in 1990 when Tressel was head coach at Youngstown State and Ferentz at Maine. Youngstown State defeated Maine 38-17 in the final game of the year for the Black Bears.
EXTRA POINT - The ESPN College Gameday crew will head for Iowa City For their Saturday broadcast. Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, Bob Davie and Lisa Salters will call the action. This means they will be at the site of the Ohio State game 3 weeks out of four, starting with the Texas game September 9th. This is only the second time the crew has been televised from Iowa, the first appearance was in 1996, which was also for their game against Ohio State.
BOTTOM LINE - Both teams know each other very well so they both know what it is going to take to win this contest. Ohio State's talent runs deeper but we will find out if that is enough to win a big on the road. The young Bucks handled that pressure at Texas and I think they will get up for this game as well. Iowa will move the ball on us and score but I do not see our offense having any problem outscoring the Hawkeyes. Hopefully it doesn't come down to the kicking game as I am still not sold on our platooning of Pettrey and Pretorius. OSU 24 Iowa 17
Gregg
