The game that you've all been waiting for is just two days away. 

And depending on the result of No. 14 Iowa's showdown against No. 5 Ohio State at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday (2:30 CT, CBS), Iowa City could be experiencing a celebration like never before that evening. 

Game day will be here before we know it, but two days is still enough time to continue previewing this colossal matchup at Kinnick. 

We did the individual players yesterday, so now it's time to do the position groups. Here are four that could make the difference for Iowa on Saturday: 

We've touched on the run game a lot over the past few weeks, and the engine that makes it successful is the offensive line. There's a lot of talent on George Barnett's group (Trevor Lauck and Kade Pieper are both likely NFL Draft picks), but it just hasn't come together for one reason or another - so far. 

Though the Hawkeyes have tallied just 151 yards (2.4 YPC against Michigan) against Power Four competition so far, there's no panic in this room right now. Lauck attributes some of the struggles to be the fact that there's still three new starting pieces (C Cael Winter, LG Leighton Jones, RT Jack Dotzler) learning the ropes, as well as opposing defenses often loading the box to make Iowa beat them through the air. 

Plowing open rushing lanes is the primary focus for this unit this weekend, but don't forget about the pass protection, too. Quarterback Hank Brown hasn't faced a ton of pressure this year (he's been sacked just twice), but scheming for a brilliant defensive mind in Ohio State defensive coordinator Matt Patricia won't be easy.

If Iowa can win the battle up front here, then it will have a great shot to put points on the board and stay in this ballgame. 

If the offensive line does open up green grass, watch out. The numbers don't come close to revealing how explosive Iowa's running back room can be. Kamari Moulton is the leading rusher with 284 yards and two touchdowns this year, but the room goes much deeper than him. South Dakota transfer L.J. Phillips Jr. has battled an injury all season, but it looks like he's closer to being back in the rotation after he was available for the Michigan game. 

Moulton and Phillips are definitely the room's 1-2 punch when healthy, but Braden Jackson, Nathan McNeil, and Xavier Williams are all capable backs, too. We knew what McNeil and Williams could do before the season, but the emergence of the walk-on Jackson has been one of the best stories of the 2026 season. The second-year broke out with a two-touchdown performance against Northern Iowa, but it's his work in the return game that could give Iowa some help on Saturday. 

If Jay Norvell's group can get the ground game going, Iowa will be in excellent shape. 

Iowa's defensive line is never going to be a blitz-heavy unit under defensive coordinator Phil Parker, but if there's a time that we could see more blitzing, it's probably against the Buckeyes. Why? Because that may be the best way to slow down Ohio State's explosive offense. 

The Buckeyes boast the Big Ten's second-best scoring offense (45 points per game) and feature one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the nation in Julian Sayin. Oh, and Jeremiah Smith, maybe the best player in the sport, is out wide for Sayin to throw to, 

Not many teams have been able to stop this dynamic duo, but if there's a blueprint for Iowa to follow, it's what Texas did against Ohio State back on Sept. 12. Sayin and Co. dominated the first half, but when the Longhorns ramped up the pressure, the Buckeyes cracked. According to Eleven Warriors, Sayin completed just 4 of his 12 passes while under pressure in this game, and the fourth quarter struggles led to Ohio State's 24-23 defeat. 

The bottom line: find a way to at least get pressure on Sayin, and he could potentially turn the ball over. 

But what if Iowa can't get pressure? Parker will definitely have a good game plan drawn up, but Smith has proven he can torch just about every defense he faces, and he even got Illinois defensive coordinator Bobby Hauck fired after he tallied 217 yards and four touchdowns against the Fighting Illini last weekend. 

We'll have the full film review coming out on Thursday, but Smith managed to get so many yards because Illinois opted to go with man-to-man coverage on him. There's few corners in America that can lock down Smith by themselves, so the point here is that Iowa's safeties Zach Lutmer and Tyler Brown (or Anthony Hawkins if Brown can't go) will have to make sure they can provide help for their corners if Smith does leak behind the defense. 

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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at [email protected]