Ohio State head coach Ryan Day is channeling an old-school philosophy to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes.
The Ohio State Buckeyes have their hands full on Saturday against the Iowa Hawkeyes. Travelling to Iowa City is always a challenge for the Buckeyes and has been since the turn of the millennium in 2000.
The last two trips to Kinnick have not been easy. The Buckeyes got steamrolled in their last one and had a comeback on the trip prior. They truly haven't played the Hawkeyes much, and under Ryan Day, they have only played twice.
Day's average margin of victory over the Hawkeyes is 36 points, which is far better than that of the two coaches who came before him. Jim Tressel was decent against Iowa, while Urban Meyer actually struggled against the Hawkeyes.
Day has the formula down to beat these guys, and he revealed it on Wednesday. He said that the keys to victory are to be prepared for a four-quarter game, not to get cute in your play calling, to run downhill consistently, to win the field position battle, and be comfortable in an ugly game.
All of that is to say that Iowa is an incredibly well-coached team, which they always have been, and they do all of the little things well.
The environment is going to play a major role on Saturday as the Buckeyes try to play spoiler in Iowa City.
Now, all of those things are things that the Buckeyes have yet to execute consistently up to this point in the season. In the second half against Texas, they were unable to establish the run, and when the game got ugly, they tensed up.
Last week, against Illinois, they were hardly able to establish their run while being totally unable to consistently stop the Illinois attack.
The things that they need to do are execute for four straight hours. It is much easier said than done for an Ohio State team that hasn't had to do that all that much.
The cheat code that the Buckeyes do have is the obvious one: Jeremiah Smith.
It will be interesting to see how the Buckeyes deploy No. 4 this week and how much they will go to him. They force-fed him last week, and if they have to do that again, there is no reason to believe that they won't.
The Buckeyes have the formula to get the job done. It is now on them to roll into Kinnick and execute.
