I know that we, as Buckeye fans, are all sitting around today with that slight afterglow that comes with seeing our team earn a bowl spot on the field. Given that it’s a spot in the Granddaddy of them all, maybe it’s a little more than slight for most of us! But the vast majority of the reason we’re feeling this high was because the Bucks had to earn it. It wasn’t guaranteed this entire season (especially after Purdue), and Iowa did their best to make certain we didn’t get it.
Give Iowa props, they played just about the best game you could possibly play. Recall that they entered Ohio Stadium yesterday afternoon with a redshirt freshman Quarterback starting his first game…Period. Vandenberg may have played some time against Northwestern, but he was literally handed the keys of the ‘vette with 30 minutes driving experience and told not to wreck it. And, to be perfectly honest with you, he most certainly didn’t.
Sure he threw 3 interceptions, including one when it counted most, but he put his team in a position to win. He threw 20 of 33 for 233 yards against one of the top defenses in the country. He stood in the pocket and showed incredible poise against a defensive line that has made it their business to murder quarterbacks. He stood there and took it while making incredible passes. His two long passes of 55 yards and 33 yards were both on the money – spot on, in stride. His zip pass to McNutt splitting the defenders in the endzone, a window of maybe 3 feet, was exactly where it needed to be. He looked every bit like a senior quarterback for the vast majority of the game. Even the Arm Punt is forgivable in that situation, being just out of field goal range.
Don’t forget, also, that Iowa wasn’t even playing their starting running back! Adam Robinson was a backup, another Freshman. While he has seen some playing time during the course of the season (155 carries for 703 yards is no slouch) he still had never started in a game with the sort of magnitude of the one he faced last night. And against that stout Buckeye defense he rattled off runs longer than anyone since USC. In fact, he was only 5 yards short of breaking one bigger than USC did (Johnson ran a 29 yarder, Robinson managed only 24). Robinson, in fact, gained 74 yards on 20 carries, better than John Clay of Wisconsin did against OSU. And how many of us think John Clay is one of the best runningbacks in the Big Ten, if not the Country?
Clearly a lot of credit goes to that Iowa offensive line. We have not seen an O-Line take out our Defensive line so effectively all season. They kept breaking holes for Robinson and continually gave fantastic pass protection to Vandenberg…Ok ok, yea, there were more than a few times I caught them holding, but perhaps they deserve some credit for keeping the refs from seeing it?
Also deserving of merit is the Iowa defense. They absolutely made our life difficult. Other than 3 big runs, the Buckeyes running game was generally good but not spectacular. The passing game was consistent and excellent – 14/17, 82.4 percent completion, Pryor’s best of his career – but it was pretty clear that Pryor was making the safe throws. He didn’t really go down field very often, and we didn’t even bother trying to throw into the endzone. That’s on Iowa’s defense, who completely changed our gameplan according to Buckeye Football Analysis*. Major kudos for that.
Iowa is going to be a dangerous team the next couple seasons. Stanzi’s still got another year to play, though I would be entirely unsurprised if Vandenberg didn’t beat him out next season for the starting spot after yesterday’s performance. Robinson will be around for a while yet, and Iowa always tends to have a pretty stout defense. Keep an eye on them, because they may give us more than a tough overtime battle in the very near future.
Great game, Hawkeyes.
*Corrected.
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