COLUMBUS, Ohio – After holding No. 3 Ohio State to a one-score game in the first half, the Iowa football team coughed up three turnovers and four straight touchdown drives en route to a 35-7 loss. 

Running back Kaleb Johnson logged the Hawkeyes’ lone score along with 86 rushing yards on 15 carries. Quarterback Cade McNamara finished the game with 98 passing yards on 14-of-20 passes and three turnovers. 

Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka amassed nine catches for 71 passing yards and three touchdowns to the lead Buckeyes’ scoring onslaught.

“The bottom line is you got to play clean football against a team like this,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said in his postgame press conference. “We weren’t able to do that, and [Ohio State] gets some credit on that too. We’ll move forward here tomorrow, look at the film, and see what we can learn. It’s all about what we can do moving forward.”

On third down with plenty of time to throw, Ohio State quarterback Will Howard connected with first-year wideout Jeremiah Smith on a 53-yard pass to the Iowa four-yard line. A Smith one-hand touchdown snag on the very next possession put the Buckeyes up, 14-0. 

Iowa began the following drive on its own 19. On the first possession, McNamara was strip-sacked and the Buckeye defense recovered the ball on the Iowa 19-yard line.

Howard found paydirt with a four-yard run on the third play of the drive to lock in a 21-0 lead for Ohio State with eight minutes left in the third quarter. The touchdown was the first rushing score Iowa conceded this season.

With Iowa sitting on a first-and-10 on its own 36, Johnson took off for a 28-yard run down the sideline to the OSU 36 — Iowa’s biggest play of the day. 

But three plays later, McNamara’s pass to wideout Reece Vander Zee was picked off by Buckeye corner Davison Igbinosun, and was returned for 45 yards down to the Iowa 40. McNamara’s pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and Igbinosun had forced Vander Zee out of bounds by the time he turned around to catch the ball. 

McNamara said he didn’t think there was anything illegal on the play, claiming that the defensive back just made a good play.

“I was moving in the pocket while also, you know, trying to get rid of it,” McNamara said. “So I’m not gonna have a ton on the ball, if I had tried to heave the ball downfield then maybe the ball would have traveled farther. I control of the ball at some point. I just couldn’t tell.” 

Ohio State went seven plays on its next drive before Egbuka’s second receiving touchdown grab of the game off a 15-yard pass extended the lead to 28-0. 

McNamara said he and the Hawkeyes saw a lot more pressure from the field side, and on the next Iowa offensive drive, increased defensive pressure struck again as Buckeye defensive tackle Ty Hamilton broke through the line for another strip-sack and turnover.

Iowa left tackle Mason Richman said not all of the Hawkeyes’ mistakes were on McNamara, adding that the offensive line had to do a better job of pass blocking – moving feet and getting hands in the opponent’s chest.

“I don’t really know what [Ohio State] was doing as much, it was more of us not doing our job as well,” he said.

Iowa’s next offensive drive was very similar to the one prior — another McNamara strip-sack fumble recovered by the Buckeyes on the Iowa 27 led to a seven-play touchdown drive capped off by an Egbuka three-yard touchdown reception, giving him his third score of the game. 

Iowa quarterback Brendan Sullivan subbed in and orchestrated a five-play, 75-yard scoring drive capped off by a Johnson 28-yard run to the end zone to avoid the shutout. 

The first half saw the Iowa defense hold its own against an explosive Buckeye offense, giving up one touchdown despite giving up 199 total yards. 

On Ohio State’s first possession of the game, Howard capped off a 14-play, 88-yard drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Egbuka for the early 7-0 lead near the end of the first quarter. This was the first opening-drive touchdown the Iowa defense gave up in its last 27 games. 

After being forced to punt on their first possession, the Hawkeyes found themselves on the OSU 41-yard line on fourth down. Kicker Drew Stevens’ number was called, but he missed the 51-yard field goal, keeping Iowa scoreless. 

The next possession saw the Hawkeyes on fourth and inches on the 50-yard line. Lined up in punting formation, fullback Hayden Large received the snap and secured the first down, only for the play to be called back due to an Iowa timeout before the play. Punter Rhys Dakin shanked a punt to the OSU 28. 

Ferentz said he saw Ohio State linebackers creeping up towards the line of scrimmage and that prompted him to call the late timeout. When asked why he wouldn’t opt to go for it on fourth down on the replay rather than punt, the head coach said he based his decision on field position, knowing that Dakin could potentially pin Buckeyes deep rather than risk setting them up at midfield.

Iowa’s defense forced turnovers on two of the last three Ohio State possessions — linebacker Jay Higgins punching the ball out and recovering the fumble himself with 6:28 left in the second quarter, and safety Sebastian Castro reeling in the interception one minute before the break. 

“It’s a great opportunity to learn,” Higgins said. “I think when you play toe-to-toe with those guys, you learn from guys potentially leading the Big Ten conference. I think any game moving forward, you know where you fall. I’m pretty proud of where our defense is.”

But the Hawkeyes couldn’t capitalize on either turnover, going for 18 yards and one first down between the two possessions. 

“The difference between good and really good is really slim,” McNamara said. “We’re really close to getting that, and I think we just have to keep getting better. We’ve got seven more games left. We can’t throw in the towel now.”

Injury Notes

Iowa wide receiver Kaleb Brown was a surprising scratch ahead of Saturday’s matchup. Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said the wideout was dealing with a soft tissue injury he suffered on Wednesday. Hawkeye defensive lineman Ethan Hurkett also appeared injured during the contest against the Buckeyes but walked off under his own power. Ferentz said the lineman should be good to go in the future.

As for Hawkeye tight end Addison Ostrenga, who exited the game with an apparent arm injury and did not return. The head coach said he didn’t know if Ostrenga was in a sling or not but said he hoped the injury wasn’t significant.

Up Next 

The 3-2 Hawkeyes return to Kinnick Stadium to take on Washington on Oct. 12. The Huskies are 4-2 on the season and 2-1 in conference play after upsetting No. 10 Michigan in Seattle on Saturday night. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m.