Ohio State heads to Iowa with a clean-looking record, but the numbers underneath tell a different story. Four weeks into the season, the Buckeyes have one loss - the one-point collapse against Texas after blowing a 20-point fourth-quarter lead - and otherwise have looked dominant enough to keep the bigger questions from getting too loud. Now comes Kinnick, and with it, a game that can expose exactly where this team still needs work.
The biggest concern sits on the defensive side, where Ohio State is allowing 114 yards per game. That ranks 45th nationally, and it comes after Illinois pushed the Buckeyes around for 199 rushing yards.
That kind of weakness matters a lot more this week, because Iowa wants to play exactly that style: run the ball, control the clock, and make the game ugly. The Hawkeyes are also coming off an upset win at Michigan, sealed on the final play, which only adds to the danger.
That’s why the run defense is the first thing Ohio State has to clean up. The Buckeyes even struggled to stop the run against Ball State, and facing another rush-first team makes this a real concern.
Matt Patricia has been working on the issue all week, and the assignment is simple enough: keep Iowa from grinding out nearly 200 yards on the ground. If the Hawkeyes can do that, Ohio State’s path gets much harder.
If they can’t, the Buckeyes are in trouble.
There’s another problem in the pass rush, where Patricia’s defense ranks 76th in the country with just seven sacks through four games. That lack of pressure is alarming even in a matchup where Iowa isn’t likely to throw as often as some other opponents.
But the Hawkeyes showed against TTUN that they can move fast when they need to, going 91 yards in under two minutes on their final drive. Getting pressure on Hank Brown will be important if Ohio State wants to keep Iowa from becoming more than one-dimensional.
The return of Zion Grady could help there.
Then there’s the offense, and specifically the ground game. Ohio State is averaging 156.8 rushing yards per game, which also puts it 76th nationally.
That’s not where the Buckeyes expected to be with Arthur Smith calling plays, especially since his NFL background suggested he’d boost that part of the offense. Instead, Ohio State still hasn’t had a player crack 100 rushing yards in a game this season.
Bo Jackson was supposed to take a step forward in his second year as a starter, but that hasn’t happened. In fact, he might not even be the top back on the roster right now.
For Ohio State to get where it wants to go, whether that means beating Iowa or chasing a national title, the run game has to become a much bigger part of the plan. Smith needs more explosive production from the backs, and soon.
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There is at least one encouraging note for the defense, though, with defensive end Zion Grady cleared to return after missing two games. Iowa, meanwhile, will be short a starter of its own, with safety Tyler Brown ruled out as he continues to recover, so both teams are heading into the matchup with some moving parts still unresolved. [Read more 🡒]
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Ohio States annual media day offered the first real look at Jake Diebler entering his third season, and the Buckeyes came away sounding encouraged about what this roster can become. With six returning players and nine newcomers, the mix is still coming together, but Diebler pointed to the teams size, depth and a non-conference schedule that should give the group an early measuring stick after a week of practice.
What remains unsettled is how quickly all of those pieces will fit, especially with exhibition games on the horizon and the regular season set to start Nov. 2. The Buckeyes have plenty of new faces to sort through and enough talent to make the early weeks interesting, but the next stretch will reveal whether the rosters promise can translate into something more defined once the games begin to matter. [Read more 🡒]