Ohio State vs. Iowa (2005 Game Preview)

If you take a quick look at the history of the Ohio State/Iowa series, you'll see that the Buckeyes hold a 42-14-3 advantage all time. You will also notice that before last year's 33-7 debacle in Iowa City, the Buckeyes had beaten the Hawkeyes in eight consecutive contest. Something else that might catch your eye is that OSU has not lost a home game to the gold and black since 1991.

When looking at all this, it's obvious why last season's game was such a one sided affair. Iowa is the bullied little brother in their football relationship.

You know how it is. In backyard football games you make the little brother play all-time center. He gets into high school and you mercilessly haze him and make him ride the bus to and from school. At his wedding you have a few too many before the toast and ramble for ten minutes about all his shortcomings, then turn and hit on his new bride while he looks on in horror. It reaches the point where he hates you and wants to get even.

Last year was Iowa's chance, and they took full advantage. Ohio State was reeling after losing back to back games for the first time in Tressel's tenure. They were struggling to find an identity on offense and their youthful defense had been exposed, giving up 788 yards of total offense in the previous two games. A once promising season had turned into a bad dream. Iowa gave the bad dream a violent shove into Nightmare Land.

On that day, Drew Tate ripped the Buckeye defense to shreds, completing 26 of 39 passes for a jaw-dropping 331 yards and three touchdowns against no interceptions. As if that wasn't enough, he also ran for 24 yards and another touchdown.

Meanwhile, the Iowa defense held the Bucks to a mere seven points, and in all honesty, Ohio State wouldn't even have scored had the Hawkeyes not pulled their starters after taking a 33-0 lead. Just how bad was this shellacking? After the Bucks put together a 4 play 73 yard touchdown drive (against Iowa's backups, no less), their grand total for the game was 177 yards on 55 plays. For our mathematically-challenged readers, that means before that drive, OSU had put up 104 yards on 51 plays...just over two yards per play.

Rest assured Ohio State has not forgotten what happened. Eighteen of last year's starters are still on the team and they're chomping at the bit for payback. This game is their chance to right a wrong, to prove they are still the dominant sibling in the family.

Last year's Hawkeyes had a dominant defensive line led by senior defensive linemen Matt Roth and Jonathan Babineaux. Those two would routinely be double-teamed which freed up their talented linebackers and enabled them to roam around the field at will. The result of which was a defense that ranked 5th in the nation against the run (and held Ohio State to 26 yards on 29 carries).

This year, Iowa is in the precarious situation of replacing all four defensive linemen, as three sophomores and a redshirt-freshman start. Because of this, their talented linebackers (Abdul Hodge and Chad Greenway) are having trouble getting free to make plays. Sound familiar? It should, because the exact same thing happened to Ohio State last season when they replaced Smith, Scott, and Anderson.

The secondary, on the other hand, is rich with experience - particularly at cornerback. Seniors Jovon Johnson and Antwan Allen are among the best cover-corners in the Big Ten, and in keeping with Ferentz's style, they're not afraid to come up and make a hit on a ball carrier. The safeties (both juniors) like to roam in space and dish out teeth-rattling hits on receivers unfortunate enough to go over the middle or running backs who happen to get through the line. This eagerness to make a hit, however, can be a problem. Their safeties tend to peek into the backfield too much which means they're very susceptible to play-action fakes. Ohio State can beat the Hawkeyes deep with their speed, the question is, will they?

On offense, the Hawkeyes are led by junior quarterback Drew Tate, a 6-0/185 gunslinger from Texas. As goes Tate, so goes Iowa's offense. When he's in the game and healthy, the Hawks are one of the top offenses in the country. However, when he went down against Iowa State, they could not move the ball and scored a mere three points the rest of the game.

In the ISU loss, Albert Young, a 5-10/207 pound speedy sophomore running back, rushed for 140 yards on 18 carries and proved that he's more than capable of solving Iowa's running game woes (the averaged only 72.6 YPG last season) and taking some of the pressure off Tate. For the year he's carried the ball 36 times for 299 yards and three touchdowns.

On the edges Iowa has two notable players: Ed Hinkel, a 6-1/190 pound receiver who caught 63 passes for 744 yards and 7 touchdowns last season, and 6-3/196 pound Clinton Solomon, a match up problem who caught 58 passes for 905 yards and 6 touchdowns. Solomon is Iowa's primary deep threat.

At tight end is 6-7/242 pound tight end Scott Chandler, who caught 24 passes for 324 yards and 2 touchdowns last season. With his size, Chandler could be another big-time match up problem for the defense.

One thing I noticed while watching the Iowa State game (before Tate went
down) is Iowa's play-calling tendencies. On first down, they tend to call play-action passes, so the OSU secondary has to be disciplined and not peek into the backfield. On second down, they like to run off tackle with Young and throw in an occasional misdirection play (counter/trap/screen pass). On second and long or third and more than about five, they line up in a shotgun formation roughly 80% of the time. When he's in the shotgun, Tate will usually roll out and throw to his right.

Prediction: If Ohio State can contain Tate and stop the run, they will win this game with their defense. If not, it's anyone's game. I, for one, believe the Buckeyes can pull it off, and Iowa's uppance will come in the Horseshoe.

Ohio State 26 - Iowa 13