Ryan Day didn’t hide from Iowa’s finish against Michigan. He didn’t need to.
Asked Tuesday whether he caught the Hawkeyes’ last-second win and got to enjoy the “end of a wild game” in college football, the Ohio State coach cracked a smile and owned it.
“I did with that one,” he said.
Day wasn’t interested in dwelling on Michigan’s loss, though. With Ohio State headed to Iowa this weekend, his attention quickly shifted to what the Buckeyes can expect from Kirk Ferentz’s team at Kinnick Stadium. What jumped out most to him was how much the Hawkeyes stayed in their lane and still found a way to finish.
“I thought it was very typical of an Iowa win, where they’re very comfortable late in the game like that, punting and playing field position and getting the ball back, but you got to give them a lot of credit to go down the field in a two-minute drill. That was very impressive,” he said.
That sequence told Day plenty about the kind of team Ohio State is walking into on Saturday. He described Iowa as a group that knows exactly who it is and is riding into the matchup with momentum.
“This is a tough-minded group of players and coaches that, you got to give them a lot of credit, going on the road and winning like that,” Day said. “They’re playing well, and they’re gonna have a lot of confidence going into this game, especially coming off of that win.”
Kenyatta Jackson Jr. also weighed in on Iowa’s comeback, and his takeaway was simpler: games last 60 minutes for a reason. The Ohio State defensive end pointed to what Michigan didn’t finish, while stressing what the Buckeyes need to do in their own road test.
“Team Up North, they had the game. They did a pretty good job with the run game.
I just don’t know exactly what happened in that game,” Jackson said. “But Iowa, they came back, they fought to come back, and they won the game.
So with us on Saturday, we just got to play 60 minutes of football. Whether that’s winning, losing or tied up, we just got to play 60 minutes of football.”
Ohio State and Iowa will meet Saturday at Kinnick Stadium as the No. 5 and No. 14 teams in the AP Poll, respectively. The Buckeyes are two-touchdown favorites, and the over/under is set at 45.5 points.
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