Coming off what was perhaps his best game of his career, Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett followed it up with maybe his worst performance of his career. Barrett entered the game with only one interception on the year. He threw four against Iowa. Barrett finished the day completing 18 of 34 passes, for 208 yards, three touchdowns and the four interceptions.
“I can’t see much down there,” said Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer. “I hear what’s going on from upstairs and they were baiting him. They were playing between two receivers. That’s their coverage and we just didn’t play very well. I will know more after watching the video tape and evaluate then.”
The Buckeyes, who never led in the game, got off to a rough start. On their first possession, Barrett threw a pick six to Iowa safety Amani Hooker who returned it 30 yards for the score. The Buckeyes responded on their next possession when Barrett connected on a 29-yard score to wide receiver K.J. Hill to tie the game up at 7-7. In the second quarter, the game was deadlocked at 17-17 when things started to fall apart for the Buckeyes. Iowa scored 31 unanswered points to bring the score to 48-17. Ohio State finally scored with 4:37 left in the game when Barrett threw a 22-yard pass to wide receiver Johnnie Dixon. The final score of the game came when Iowa running back Toren Young ran the ball in for a three-yard score.
Sophomore Iowa quarterback Nathan Stanley played his best game of the season completing 20 of 31 passes for 226 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. Iowa also had no problem running on the Buckeye defense racking up 243 rushing yards. Iowa running back Akrum Wadley led the team in rushing with 20 carries for 118 yards.
“They just played very well against us,” said Meyer regarding Iowa. “They really didn’t do too much differently than they have in the past.”
Iowa junior defensive back Joshua Jackson had three interceptions for the Hawkeyes who held the Buckeyes to 4 of 10 on third down. Iowa controlled the pace of the game, having the ball for 34:51, compared to Ohio State possessing the ball for 25:09. Along with the four interceptions, the Buckeyes also committed nine penalties for 95 yards.
Ohio State returns home next week in a must win situation against the 24th ranked Michigan State Spartans, who defeated 7th ranked Penn State, 27-24 on a last second field goal.
Iowa, who became bowl eligible with the win, travels to Madison next week to take on the undefeated 9th ranked Wisconsin Badgers, who defeated the Indiana Hoosiers 45-17 after struggling for most of the game.
