Second-year wide receiver Emeka Egbuka (2) lines up during the Ohio State-Iowa game Saturday. Ohio State won 54-10. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Photo Editor
The first half Saturday challenged the top-scoring Buckeye offense in uncharacteristic ways during the 54-10 win over Iowa.
The first half featured four combined turnovers and 200 yards of offense. No. 2 Ohio State began drives from Iowa’s 27-, 29- and 34-yard lines in the first quarter alone, being forced to a shrunken field and kicking field goals in each series.
Third-year quarterback C.J. Stroud entered halftime throwing for 105 yards and without a passing touchdown. He said it can be “tough” starting inside opponent territory but felt good about Ohio State’s offense against the NCAA’s seventh-best total defense in Iowa.
“The first half was kind of weird,” Stroud said. “You can have games like that where you’re not really clicking early on, and you got to get it going. Once we got it going, I feel like we became the dynamic offense that we know.”
Although Stroud threw an interception on his first pass of the second half, Ohio State amassed 227 yards of offense in that time, including 152 in the fourth quarter. It averaged more than 6.3 yards per play across the third and fourth quarters.
The Buckeyes scored in all seven of their red zone trips Saturday, capturing three passing touchdowns within the Hawkeyes’ 20-yard line in the second half. Head coach Ryan Day said the Buckeye offense in the first half was “weird” in that it was challenged by Iowa up front, and he thought Stroud settled in as the game continued.
“We were kind of in plus-territory all day early on and just never got into a rhythm of just kind of throwing things because the field was getting a little compressed,” Day said. “I think you saw when we had to move the ball down the field, we were a little bit better, and he got into a rhythm that way.”
Stroud finished with 286 passing yards — and the Buckeyes rushed for a season-low 66 yards — and four touchdowns, including 10 passes of at least 10 yards.
Third-year wide receiver Julian Fleming made the game’s longest play of 79 yards on his touchdown early in the fourth quarter, and Stroud said it exemplified how the Buckeyes began to execute their game plans offensively.
“He ran a great route on that, a big boy post, and I tried to just give him a chance and let him go get it,” Stroud said. “That’s high execution right there, and we got to bottle that up and do that again.”
Ohio State kept its perfect 32-for-32 mark during scoring opportunities in the red zone, remaining one of three NCAA teams to do so this season.
Second-year wide receiver Emeka Egbuka caught a 13-yard touchdown on the first play inside the red zone with less than five minutes left in the third quarter.
Although Ohio State’s run game was limited by Iowa, Ohio State turned to its deep receiving room to pick up production, and Egbuka said the Buckeyes strive to “stay on schedule” offensively.
“Playing in that area, we have so many playmakers that we just know we want to make the big play right away,” Egbuka said. “That’s not always the way that it works out so we have to be able to run the ball and stay consistent in that aspect.”
Ohio State has scored at least 45 points in each of its last six games, ranking among the top two across the NCAA in red zone, scoring and total offense. The Buckeyes averaged over 543 yards per game entering Saturday but needed 360 to top the Hawkeyes.
Regardless of how the final result looks, Stroud said his top priority is exiting the field with victory in hand.
“I don’t have any expectations, though. I’m here to win games,” Stroud said. “You can’t ride highs. You can’t ride the lows. You got to stay steady-headed and listen to what’s in your huddle.”
