For the first time in 13 years, Ohio State is going to the Rose Bowl!
Iowa started out the game hot and attacked the defense, which often sat back in a soft zone. Iowa took major advantage of it all game, but when it mattered most they were unable to punch the ball into the endzone and fell to the Buckeyes 27-24 in an overtime battle that was a defacto Big Ten Championship game. And what a game it was.
The game started with the Buckeyes having difficulty moving the ball against Iowa’s stout defense, and Iowa moving the ball pretty well against the Buckeyes stellar defenders except when they got down to a short field. The teams traded field goals early, and then Ohio State put the ball in the endzone on a 22 yard Brandon Saine run. That score would last until halftime.
Then all hell broke loose.
Iowa tied the game up at 10 with the only score of the third quarter on a well thrown thread pass to Marvin McNutt that split Chimdi Chekwa and Kurt Coleman in impressive fashion. This came after both teams pounded on each other the entire third quarter to no effect.
On the subsequent drive, Ohio State managed to move the ball down into the red zone which set up another score. Dan Herron, running from the Wildcat, punched it in from 10 yards out down the right sideline after a great stiff-arm.
A couple plays later Ross Homan intercepted a Vanderberg pass and returned it to the Iowa 20. The play stood, but was brought back to the 50 after a piss poor block in the back call. The referree ‘s call mattered not….on the very next play, Brandon Saine took it the distance on the left side for a TD.
Unfortunately, on the ensuing kickoff, Derrell Johnson-Koulianos of Iowa took the kick back 99 yards for a Touchdown. At this point, the score was 24-17 with about 9 minutes left on the clock.
Images of a 24-9 lead over Michigan State in 1998 danced in our heads, and how we blew that lead….
On the following kickoff, Iowa kicked the ball out of bounds, and then after the play was dead one of the Iowa players popped a Buckeye in the head. The result was the ball was started on the Iowa 45 yard line. OSU did nothing but run the ball fairly successfully until they tried to punch it up the gut on 3rd and long with 9 in the box. OSU tried a 47 yard field goal, but missed, completely ruining the great field position. Ohio State fans were understandably unhappy with the playcalling, and let their feelings known.
Iowa took that momentum and tried to use it to drive down the field. Thaddeus Gibson picked off a pass on 3rd and 5 and returned it for an apparent touchdown, but it was negated on an offsides call giving Iowa a first down and all the momentum to punch the ball into the endzone several plays later to tie the game at 24 with 3 minutes left.
Ohio State did not do much with the ball for the first 2 of the remaining 3 minutes, and ended up punting with a minute left. By some miracle, Iowa decided to be conservative with the ball as well and take the game into overtime at 24-24.
Ohio State won the toss and took defense. The Buckeyes attacked the Iowa offense and caused them to lose 16 yards through the first 3 downs. On fourth down, Vandenberg tossed a pass into the endzone which was picked by Anderson Russell. Russell, who has taken a lot of grief from Buckeye fans, wisely took a knee.
On the ensuing possession, Ohio State played it conservatively, taking 3 Herron runs for only about 3 yards. Barclay marched out to kick the field goal. There was a tense moment after he set it up to kick. Iowa did not try to ice him, and he drilled the kick down the uprights. The explosive sound from the stands was reported to be the fans exhaling after holding their breath. Ohio State had just intentionally placed the Big Ten title on the shoulders of a walk-on freshman kicker and walked away with a win.
Iowa’s quarterback, redshirt freshman James Vandenberg, played extremely well for the game throwing 20 of 31 for 233 yards and 2 TD’s, though his 2 interceptions were costly. He looked very impressive standing in for Ricky Stanzi, and he’ll likely be a very good quarterback for Iowa in the future. He completed passes to 9 different receivers, including 6 passes to Marvin McNutt who led Iowa with 78 yards and 2 TD’s.
Iowa’s running game began and ended with Adam Robinson who had 19 carries for 81 yards and 2 receptions for 13 yards. He had a long carry of 24 yards which was the longest against the Buckeye defense this season since the USC game. In fact, this was the first game since USC that OSU gave up a run longer than 9 yards.
Ohio State’s Terrelle Pryor was extremely impressive as well, throwing 14 for 17 for 93 yards and running 8 times for 29 yards. While Pryor didn’t throw any touchdown passes, he did very well controlling the offense and making certain not to make any mistakes that might cost the Buckeyes the game. Pryor also spread the ball around to 8 different receivers, throwing no more than 3 to any one.
The Buckeye running backs also performed very well. Brandon Saine carried the ball for 2 touchdowns and 103 yards on 11 carries. Dan Herron looked impressive, finally seeming to have shed the injury bug and running 29 times for 94 yards and a touchdown.
Anderson Russell finally looked decent on defense, securing both interceptions on the game. While he missed a few tackles, he did make a couple good plays to help hold Iowa’s offense.
The Defense as a whole was a little weak, allowing 16 first downs and 300 total yards, the most of any game since Navy. The secondary was the weak link giving up 233 passing yards, but the 67 total running yards on 24 attempts was very impressive. The Defensive line had trouble getting pressure up front as Iowa’s offensive line did an excellent job of protection. In the end, though, it was enough to take the win.
Ohio State goes into the last game of the season with a record of 9-2 and what looks like it will be a trip to the Rose Bowl. Get ready Buckeye fans, it’s that week!
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