Buckeyes survive Iowa

The Ohio State Buckeyes had trouble stopping the Iowa Hawkeyes in the first half and then closed them down with the exception of one pass play in the second half as the Buckeyes remained undefeated with a 34-24 win at Ohio Stadium.
Braxton Miller threw for two touchdowns and ran for over 100 yards,while Carlos Hyde ran for 149 yards and two more scores in the win.
Ohio State improves to 7-0 (3-0 Big 10) and will host Penn State next week....

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1) First-the run.
Carlos Hyde smashing through the Iowa defense before being smacked by Tanner Miller at the seven,staggered backwards to the eleven,stayed on his feet before diving into the end zone.
The play reminded me of the famous Earl Campbell run against the Raiders or from the Nintendo classic Tecmo Bowl,where you would go to tackle Christian Okoye and he would throw you into next week and truck on down the sideline for a score.
Easily the run of the year!


2) Ohio State was just getting killed by Iowa in the first half on short passes to the tight end and screen passes out of the backfield.
I thought adjustments would be made and with one exception,they were for the second half,but at the same time,Ohio State showed a vulnerability to the short pass.

3) Part of the reason that Iowa was so successful with the short passing game early on was the awful tackling of the Buckeyes.
I wish I had counted the amount of whiffed tackles on plays that continued Iowa drives,I bet the number would be pretty high....

4) Braxton Miller was very effective with his feet in the win with over 100 yards rushing.
Miller kept several plays alive with his movement,but I do wish he would either learn to slide or use it more because I just get the feeling that he is going to injure a shoulder by his constant diving and taking shots out of the pocket....

5) The only Iowa second half score was on a long touchdown pass that saw defensive end Noah Spence caught in coverage against tight end Jake Duzey,who avoided Spence when catching the ball and then torched Armani Reeves cruising into the end zone.

6) Why was Reeves playing? Because Bradley Roby was ejected from the game early for "targeting"-the new penalty for head contact.
I'm not a fan of the rule,but by the letter of the law,it was a fair penalty for 15 yards,although the referees have the option to eject the player or not.
Penalty-yes.Ejection-no.

7) Constant theme of the announcers in this one early was "Iowa has not allowed a touchdown in the red zone this season".Three second half scores later that theme died a merciful death.

8) It was a tale of two halves as far as the ball control and physical aspect of the game.Iowa dominated the first half and shoved the Buckeyes around the line of scrimmage.
Ohio State turned that around in the second half and as a result turned things around on the scoreboard...

9) The BCS releases their first ratings this weekend.
Ohio State will likely be behind the other 3 major undefeateds in Alabama,Oregon and Florida State (winning as of this writing) and with a weak schedule to go,Ohio State may have sit and hope for a few upsets for a title shot-even if they finish undefeated...

Photo Credit;Unknown