The Ohio State football team will continue its journey on what it hopes is one of those special and memorable seasons this weekend when it welcomes the Iowa Hawkeyes to town.
Iowa almost always travels with a defense, but over the last few years, the offense has been optional at home and for away games. That looks to have changed a wee-bit this season (it couldn’t get any worse), but the Hawkeyes still don’t have an offense to hit the “like” button on.
However, with four pretty easy games so far to date and four wins, there’s little doubt that this will be the stiffest challenge for Ohio State so far in the 2024 season. And since we are in Big Ten play now, we’re sure you know a little more about the teams appearing from here on out on the regular-season schedule, but we still like to provide you with five things about the opponent maybe you didn’t know.
As such, here are five things to know about the Iowa Hawkeyes as Ohio State continues to prep for the game Saturday afternoon.
Iowa has a quarterback that already has a win over Ohio State in the past
Most ardent fans know this, but the casual fan may not. The current quarterback for Iowa is non other than than former Michigan signa-caller, Cade McNamara.
He was the quarterback for Michigan when the Wolverines got the 500-pound gorilla off its back with the win over the Buckeyes back in 2021 to stop an eight-game losing streak to OSU. He was, of course, supplanted the next year by J.J. McCarthy, but at least McNamara has that under his belt when he enters the fray of the Horseshoe on Saturday afternoon.
Iowa is actually playing a little offense in 2024
We all know Iowa was the punchline of many offensive (literally and figureatively) jokes over the last few season because of it inability to score points on that side of the ball. The Hawkeyes were one of the worst offensive ballclubs in all of college football over the last few years with Brian Ferentz pulling the strings as offensive coordinator.
It was so bad that head coach Kirk Ferentz fired his own son and made room for new offensive coordinator, Tim Lester, the former head coach of Western Michigan. So far, the move has paid off. Nobody is going to mistake the Iowa offense for one that’s a Lane Kiffin or Lincoln Riley coached squad, but things are markedly better.
In 2024, the Hawkeyes are averaging 32.0 points a game, good for a tie as the No. 55 ranked offense in the country. Getting things inside No. 100 is significant improvement for the program and it’s all mostly been done by No. 10 rushing attack in the country, led by running back, Kaleb Johnson.
The forward pass is still the equivalent of a four-letter word for Iowa
But … don’t think the Hawkeyes are going to ask McNamara to sling the ball down the field — quite the opposite.
While the ground game has been hard to stop for opposing teams, Iowa still struggles with the concept of the forward pass, averaging just 147.5 yards per contest, good for a pedestrian ranking of No. 124 on the season so far. And when Iowa does pass, McNamara is completing just 62.7% of his passes for an average of 5.8 yards per completion.
Iowa’s offense is the very definition of a conservative, ball-control outfit and you can expect Ohio State to key in on the running game from the time the defense steps off the bus.
Perhaps even funnier for Ohio State fans — Iowa has more passing yards than Michigan does so far on the season despite playing one less game (590 to 577). Let that sink in.
The Iowa defense is still very good
Despite the offensive “explosion” in Iowa City this year, the team hasn’t forgotten how to play defense.
Historically speaking the last several seasons, the Hawkeyes have been a program that makes you work your way down the field and will look to create turnovers while doing so. In 2024, Iowa is still a top fifteen defense and is only giving up 13.8 points per contest.
The turnovers and scoring from that side of the ball isn’t as eye-popping as it has been in the past, but Ohio State will have to most likely earn its way down the field and sustain long drives.
One of Iowa’s tight ends has some serious Scarlet and Gray in his blood
Iowa has long been know for its ability to produce some of the best tight ends in the country. This year, the Hawkeyes’ No. 1 tight end is none other than Luke Lachey, son of former Ohio State player and current radio voice, Jim Lachey.
He hasn’t had a ton of targets and touches so far this year, but don’t be surprised if the game plan involves the tight end a lot more against Ohio State as the Hawkeyes try to loosen up the running game by throwing more conservative passes to the tight end.
It must be a dream come true for the elder Lachey to call his son catching passes on the banks of the Olentangy. No offense dad, we aren’t rooting for your son to contribute to an Iowa win over the weekend.
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