College Football

Ohio State starts slow, but Iowa proves little threat in rout

Updated Oct. 23, 2022 5:48 p.m. ET

By Michael Cohen
FOX Sports College Football Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio — An early defensive touchdown from Iowa hushed the Ohio Stadium crowd before the Buckeyes roared to life, forcing six turnovers and pulling away for an impressive 54-10 win that kept their undefeated season intact.

Here are three thoughts from Columbus:

Work to do: In this game, against this kind of defense, most of the "oohs" and "aahs" from the more than 104,000 in attendance were reserved for the second half. It took until the third quarter for Heisman Trophy favorite C.J. Stroud (20-of-30 for 286 yards and 4 TDs) to zip consecutive throws past the ear holes of Iowa defenders and into the arms of star wideouts Marvin Harrison Jr. for 18 yards and Emeka Egbuka for a 13-yard touchdown that extended the lead to 30 — after which the NFL scouts in the press box exclaimed. And it took until the fourth quarter for Stroud to heave a perfectly thrown deep pass down the left sideline that wideout Julian Fleming turned into a 79-yard score, beating the Hawkeyes’ best cornerback in coverage.

C.J. Stroud throws a dime to Julian Fleming

Julian Fleming turned a deep ball from C.J. Stroud into a 79-yard touchdown against Iowa on Saturday.

Ohio State’s second-half scoring outburst sunk an anemic Iowa team but papered over a first half dripping with mistakes and poor execution likely to irk head coach Ryan Day. The Buckeyes began the game by converting two of their first 10 third-down attempts as drive after drive stalled in Hawkeyes’ territory. Twice Day’s group settled for field goals in the red zone to match its number from the first six games combined. Two more drives stalled inside the 30 as kicker Noah Ruggles attempted more field goals in Saturday’s game (four) than he had all season.

The pregame atmosphere around the stadium hummed with excitement over the return of star wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who has missed most of the season with a hamstring injury. But much of that energy faded when Stroud fumbled on the second possession, the ball scooped by Iowa linebacker Joe Evans for an 11-yard touchdown. An uneven Ohio State offense through the first two quarters was aided by wondrous field position stemming from a series of Iowa miscues. The Buckeyes began four drives on Iowa’s side of the field by the midway point of the second quarter and turned those possessions into 12 points.

Smith-Njigba finished with one catch for seven yards after appearing to re-aggravate his hamstring injury in the second quarter. He walked gingerly toward the sideline after chasing a deep pass from Stroud, at which point the medical staff engaged Smith-Njigba in conversation. He remained in uniform on the sideline but never returned to the game.

Same old story: For an Iowa fan base whose collective unrest amid a 3-3 start has been tethered to its corrosive offense — a group that ranked last nationally in yards per game entering Saturday’s date — the renewed ineptitude in Columbus proved the bye week changed nothing for head coach Kirk Ferentz and offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz. Maligned quarterback Spencer Petras remained the starter despite throwing for more interceptions (three) than touchdowns through the first six games. Tight ends Sam LaPorta and Luke Lachey remained the primary targets for a passing attack meeker than every other Power 5 school. And the wounds — the many, many wounds — were almost entirely self-inflicted.

Ohio State returns an interception for a TD

Ohio State's Tommy Eichenberg grabbed an easy pick-six against Iowa.

Petras threw an interception on Iowa’s first play from scrimmage to foreshadow the barrage of errors to come. A three-and-out on the Hawkeyes’ second possession gave way to a strip sack of Petras on the third. An ill-advised, poorly executed fake from punter Tory Taylor finished two yards shy of the line to gain. The second interception from Petras was returned 15 yards for a touchdown by OSU linebacker Tommy Eichenberg. And that was just the first half.

The father-and-son Ferentz duo finally succumbed by replacing Petras (6-of-14, 49 yards) with backup Alex Padilla to begin the third quarter. But Padilla fumbled the snap on his first play of the game and one possession later threw an interception on his third snap. Futility reigned.

Burgeoning star: The most noteworthy difference between the 2021 versions of Ohio State and Michigan wore Nos. 97 and 55 for the Wolverines. Star pass rushers Aidan Hutchinson (14 sacks, two forced fumbles) and David Ojabo (11 sacks, five forced fumbles) afforded first-year defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald the luxury of game-changing talent on either end of the line of scrimmage. Those two edge rushers — who went on to be drafted in the first and second rounds, respectively — combined for as many sacks as the top seven players on an OSU defense feeble enough to warrant a change at defensive coordinator. Nobody on the Buckeyes’ roster had more than 5½ sacks and only two players exceeded 3½.

But Saturday’s win over Iowa felt like the emergence for senior edge rusher Zach Harrison, a former five-star recruit who entered the weekend with 9½ career sacks. Harrison was the No. 12 overall player in the 247Sports Composite rankings for the class of 2019 and held scholarship offers from every college football blue blood. Three relatively modest seasons in Columbus, where he had 17½ tackles for loss in his first 33 games, left him with a third- or fourth-round grade from scouts who passed through Ohio State earlier this year.

With a press box full of scouts, Harrison improved his draft stock with arguably the best performance of his career: one sack, one forced fumble, one pass breakup, two tackles for loss and a veritable timeshare in the Iowa backfield. It was Harrison who crunched Petras to force a three-and-out on the Hawkeyes’ second possession. It was Harrison who flung Petras to the turf and forced a fumble recovered by the Buckeyes. It was Harrison who batted down a pass near the goal line to force another punt deep in Iowa territory. And it was Harrison who pressured Padilla into an interception that all but sealed the win with more than a quarter and a half remaining.

That’s the kind of effort he’ll need against Michigan.

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Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him on Twitter at @Michael_Cohen13.