The Buckeyes roll into Iowa City this weekend riding a wave of momentum after thoroughly dominating Penn State in the second half. The Hawkeyes, on the other hand, return home riding a wave of… something else, after a close loss on the road to Northwestern.

Will the Buckeyes continue the domination they unleashed in the second half against Penn State? Will they come out flat like they did in the first half? Will Iowa be fired up and ready to go on senior day? Will they be deflated after dropping out of the conference race and giving up 14 unanswered points in the 4th quarter?

Understanding what makes a team tick is difficult regardless of the circumstances surrounding a game, but the match up between the Buckeyes and the Hawkeyes takes the difficulty of figuring out team moral to new heights.

As an Ohio State fan, you obviously hope that the team can pick up right where they left off and run wild (literally and figuratively speaking) on Saturday. At the same time, the Buckeyes have not performed well in two of three away games this season. A talented Hawkeye squad with nothing to lose could give Ohio State everything they can handle.

If the Buckeyes go down early will they be able to respond on the road? If the Hawkeyes go down early will they be able to respond after a tough loss? Even the most optimistic Ohio State fan has to be a bit concerned by the team’s struggles at Illinois and at Wisconsin, not to mention the slow first half against Penn State.

There are a million intangible factors that will be at play before the game even starts, and a million more after kickoff. Not the least of these factors will be momentum (particularly on the road), but I have been harping on that all season, so I will spare you the details this time.

Long story short, there will be many factors at play for both team’s psyches heading into the game. Let’s look at the more tangible keys to victory for the Buckeyes.

Ohio State’s offense vs. Iowa’s defense

I know you are probably getting sick of me writing about this, but Ohio State will need to run the ball on Saturday.

While the offense had tremendous success running against Penn State (314 yards, 7.3 yards per carry), they will face a much tougher challenge this week against the talented and experienced Hawkeye defensive line.

The Iowa front four is very good, but there is hope. Basically the same Ohio State offense ran the ball for 229 yards and 4.5 yards per carry against a similar Iowa defense (including the same front four) last season.

Ohio State can run the ball against Iowa, they just need to have the right attitude and execute. With the offensive line coming on strong and Boom gaining some serious momentum (304 yards, 2 TDs in the last two games), is it too much to hope for a third straight 100 yard performance?

The biggest help to Boom and the running game will be Terrelle Pryor, whether it is him completing passes down the field or augmenting the ground game as the second leading rusher on the team.

Pryor looked as healthy as he has been all season running the ball against Penn State. If he can continue to be a dangerous (and healthy) threat on the ground, the read option plays that the Buckeyes like to run out of shotgun will be that much more effective.

At the same time, Pryor will need to keep the Hawkeye defense honest by moving the ball through the air. Running the ball against a team that is stacked against it is an uphill battle, especially against an Iowa defense ranked 5th in the country (86.8 yards per game) at stopping the run.

Pryor’s ability to stretch the defense through the air is my number one concern heading into this game, primarily due to how uncomfortable he looked in the pocket for most of the game against Penn State. At the same time, Iowa’s pass defense is giving up 220 yards per game (70th in the country), so there should be plenty of opportunities.

My hope is that the offense will utilize plenty of quick passes or bootlegs to give Pryor some confidence and some rhythm throwing the ball early in the game. That is, of course, after (or mixed in with) Ohio State establishes the running game.

Another thing worth noting is Iowa’s struggles at covering slot receivers (mostly because they try to cover them with linebackers). Think back to what a great game Anthony Gonzalez had in 2006. Losing 5 of the last 6 against Northwestern is also pretty clear evidence that whatever Iowa is doing on defense against the spread and slot receivers, it’s not working.

Will Pryor and the offense be able to take advantage of this weakness? If so, Mr. Sanzenbacher could be in line for a big game.

Iowa’s defense is good, there is no doubt about that, but if Ohio State executes they can move the ball against anyone. Home field advantage and other intangibles will be an important factor in this game (hell, they might even work in favor of Ohio State considering Iowa has laid eggs two weeks in a row), but good execution will trump intangibles any day of the week.

Ohio State’s defense vs. Iowa’s offense

Let’s get this out of the way right up front; Ricky Stanzi and Iowa’s offense will be able to pass the ball against Ohio State’s defense, especially early in the game.

This will be due to two things; one, Ohio State will be focused first and foremost on stopping Adam Robinson and Iowa’s running game. Second, who hasn’t had success throwing the ball against the Buckeyes early in games?

Luckily, Ohio State has made adjustments in games throughout the year to slow down the opponents passing attack after the initial damage has been done (as proven by Ohio State’s 6th ranked passing defense). However, making adjustments to shut down Stanzi will be a bit more difficult than last week against McGloin.

On the other hand, in Iowa’s last two games against Indiana and Northwestern, Stanzi and the Hawkeye offense weren’t exactly shut down, but they were slowed down and, most importantly, kept out of the endzone.

I usually try to avoid using the transitive property to make claims in athletics, but I am willing to make an exception here. If Indiana and Northwestern can slow down Iowa, Ohio State should be able to do the same.

The obvious difference is that Iowa played Indiana and Northwestern on the road; they will return home to play the Buckeyes. So once again, intangibles, momentum, home field advantage… and so on.

Execute, score points, keep the other team from scoring points, win.