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| Photo Credit: Cleveland Plain Dealer |
J.T.Barrett threw three touchdowns, but also tossed four interceptions in the crushing defeat.
Ohio State falls to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the Big 10.
1) Ohio State's national title hopes are dead, but they do control their Big Ten East destiny win their final three games and then will meet Wisconsin in Indianapolis.
Lose one of them (especially if they defeat Michigan State next week) and any one of four teams could represent the East in the championship game that looks to be a disappointment after what was thought that it would be as recently as last week.
2) The key swing came late in the second quarter with the game tied, Iowa quarterback Nathan Stanley threw an incomplete pass on third down and should have forced a field goal attempt.
Nick Bosa leaped at Stanley and there was some helmet to helmet contact, which saw Bosa called for a penalty for targeting and removed from the game.
Iowa would take the lead at 24-17 with the first of those 31 unanswered points and never looked back.
3) Here's my issue (again) with this targeting penalty.
Bosa did hit with the crown of his helmet, so his ejection was by the book.
The problem is the book.
The rule is supposed to make the game safer.
What it has actually done is take some of the best players off the field and weakened some of the best games.
I have no problem with the 15-yard penalty, but if there is seen to be no intent to injure, the player should not be ejected.
If you want to go a step further and say if there is a second penalty of targeting regardless of intent means ejection, I would accept that.
The current rule is not a good one.
4) All of the goodwill that J.T. Barrett earned with his performance in State College almost (only because ) evaporated in Iowa City.
Yes, three touchdowns, but four interceptions?
Iowa was watching Barrett progress through his reads and knew what he was doing.
Good games and bad games are part of careers and its part of what we will remember about J.T. Barrett-the dramatic swings in performance...
5) Give Iowa full credit-they came in with a well scouted and excellent game plan.
Kirk Ferentz is known for being very conservative and yet he pulled out all the stops.
Fake field goals from Ferentz?
Give credit to the Iowa scouts and coaches, they saw flaws and took advantage.
6) More credit to Iowa's preparation-It was mentioned during the broadcast that since Iowa had not played OSU in a while and not since Greg Schiano had arrived as defensive coordinator, that Iowa watched films of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when Schiano was the head coach there to prepare.
Iowa had no problems with a Buckeye defense that had shown problems in the secondary.
I cannot give the coaches and scouts enough credit in this win.
7) Gashed in the running game, Iowa ran for over 200 yards against Ohio State and this does not bode well for Ohio State should they manage to make the trip for a Big 10 title game.
If you have problems stopping Iowa on the ground, I cannot imagine the problems that Wisconsin will create.
8) The only thing that I will criticize Iowa for was the late touchdown with 1;43 to go.
You could argue at that point that the Hawkeyes could have knelt down, but young players do things.
9) Ohio State was killed by short and middle of the field passes to the tight ends of Iowa, who combined for 125 yards and four touchdowns.
The Ohio State linebackers and safeties were caught off balance all day and they simply did a lousy job in coverage.
Plenty of blame to pass around here.
10) Ever notice when Ohio State lays an egg, it often comes with the lack of commitment to the running game?
I know OSU fell behind and had to throw more and on paper 30 times looks like a reasonable number.
However, J.K. Dobbins received just six of those carries (51 yards) and Mike Weber only five more (27 yards).
J.T Barrett had three more carries than Dobbins and Weber combined!
If we can see this trend in big losses, why can't the professionals?
11) What an atmosphere at Kinnick Stadium!
I've always liked Kinnick and if I ever decide to start doing college football stadiums like I do baseball stadiums-Kinnick (and Camp Randall in Madison) rank right up at the top after a visit to the Horseshoe of course.
I'm planning another list column over the winter and Kinnick will be high on the list.
12) Ohio State can win the Big 10 East with three wins over Michigan State and Illinois at home and at Michigan and maybe that would add a little glory to the season, but this is tremendously disappointing.
I'll move that aside for another day, but imagine this chaos in the Big Ten East- Ohio State defeats Michigan State and Illinois and loses to Michigan.
Michigan adds an upset of Wisconsin to the OSU win, Michigan State and Penn State win their final conference games and that leaves four teams with two conference losses!
I would have no idea who would win the tiebreaker and trip to Indianapolis under those conditions...
13) I absolutely love the new Iowa tradition of waving to the children at the nearby Children's Hospital in Iowa City and I applaud the Buckeyes as well as other teams that have participated in this new tradition.
Not every school has something that works like this with proximity, but I think this is awesome and part just why college football is just plain better than the NFL.
Imagine the money-grubbing pro league doing something like that!
Hell, they'd probably charge the kids for looking into the stadium!
Back later with the weekend in boxing....
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