Iowa football vastly outmatched in loss to No. 3 Ohio State

Ohio State overpowers Iowa in almost every facet in second half

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State’s band moved mountains at halftime.

In a tribute to the Dr. Seuss book “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” the band was literally in the formation of a stick figure pulling a few mountains to the tune of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 during the halftime show.

The band’s choreography was the only moving of mountains Saturday at Ohio Stadium, as the Hawkeyes (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten) — 17.5-point underdogs — were vastly outmatched in their 35-7 loss to No. 3 Ohio State (5-0, 2-0).

Ohio State finished the game with a 412-226 advantage in yardage as the Buckeyes looked dominant in almost every facet in the second half. It snapped Iowa’s streak of 32 consecutive games of allowing fewer than 400 total yards.

After a fairly competitive first half — Iowa’s halftime deficit was only 7-0 — Ohio State broke away with a pair of scoring drives early in the third quarter and did not look back.

Ohio State star freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith had two key receptions on what turned out to be an 86-yard opening touchdown drive.

Smith first simply outran Iowa’s secondary on his way to a 55-yard gain. Ohio State quarterback Will Howard went back to Smith on the next play and the former five-star recruit made a one-handed, 4-yard touchdown catch.

Ohio State had another opportunity to strike after Jack Sawyer hit Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara from behind and forced a fumble. The Buckeyes’ Cody Simon recovered, setting up a 19-yard drive that culminated with a 4-yard Howard touchdown run.

In a matter of minutes, Iowa’s deficit ballooned from a manageable 7-0 to a menacing 21-0 hole. By the end of the third quarter, it grew to 28-0 when the Buckeyes turned a McNamara interception into Howard’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Emeka Egbuka.

Howard finished the game 21-of-25 for 209 yards. He had four passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown, and only one interception.

Ohio State also ran the ball almost at will, picking up 203 yards on the ground while averaging 5.1 per carry.

Ohio State went to the red zone five times and turned all five trips into touchdowns.

The one bright spot for the Iowa defense was its two forced turnovers in the first half — a fumble both forced and recovered by Jay Higgins and a Sebastian Castro interception. Without those two plays, the game could have been out of reach much sooner.

Meanwhile, Iowa’s offense — in the top 10 nationally before Saturday with 250.3 rushing yards per game — struggled mightily on the ground.

The Hawkeyes finished with 116 rushing yards while averaging 4.3 per carry. Only 47 came in the first three quarters. Iowa star Kaleb Johnson finished with 86 yards on 15 carries. Iowa’s one touchdown came on his 28-yard run in the fourth quarter with the game already well out of reach.

McNamara went 14-of-20 for 98 passing yards. He had one interception and two fumbles lost. The ex-Michigan quarterback had more turnovers in Saturday’s loss than he had in Iowa’s first four games combined.

Backup quarterback Brendan Sullivan took the reins in the fourth quarter and presided over the Hawkeyes’ lone scoring drive, rushing for 27 yards and completing one pass for 12.

Iowa’s special teams units had its fair share of shortcomings in the blowout loss. Drew Stevens missed a 51-yard field goal in the first half, and Rhys Dakin shanked a 22-yard punt a couple drives later.

The Hawkeyes have now lost nine consecutive games at Ohio Stadium, with the last win coming in 1991. (For reference, that was about 12 years before Johnson was born in Cincinnati.)

Iowa will not be in a waiting place, as Dr. Seuss might say, for long as it will play host to Washington (3-2, 1-1 before its game against No. 10 Michigan) at 11 a.m. next Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.