The Ohio State Buckeyes head to Kinnick Stadium today to take on the Hawkeyes on Saturday, and this is our official pick for the game.
The Ohio State Buckeyes and the Iowa Hawkeyes square off on Saturday in a massive game for the Buckeyes. This is absolutely a football game that the Buckeyes cannot afford to lose, and I do not think that they will.
Everything heading into this week has been positive for Ohio State. They are wearing their all-white uniforms, Ryan Day wrote a letter to the entire Iowa Children's Hospital, and the Buckeyes are coming off a really nice Big Ten win over Illinois.
On Saturday morning, the official game line was Ohio State as 14.5-point favorites in a game that has the makings of being a very tough one for the Buckeyes, but I don't think that it will be.
The Hawkeyes have been very good against their inferior opponents this year, but when the opponents level up, they have struggled.
Against a very average Iowa State team, they won only 16-13, and then last week they needed a miracle to beat a very average Michigan Wolverines team.
One of the things that stands out for the Hawkeyes, which is no different from years past, is that they don't have an offense that is built to chase. If they get down, they simply do not have the firepower to come back consistently. They put a nice drive together to steal one in the Big House, but they are going to have to consistently do that against the Buckeyes today.
The game flow today is going to be important early in the football game, and it will determine how the rest of it goes. If Ohio State gets out early, I expect that they will be able to run away with the football game.
I totally expect them to do just that.
If Ryan Day has learned anything from the start of this season is that he needs to keep his foot on the gas pedal and really knock teams out. He also should have learned that no one and nothing can guard Jeremiah Smith.
Smith is on the cusp of history today, where he can become the all-time Ohio State triple-crown owner at the wide receiver position. Beyond that, they need him to be great to get where they want to go.
It should be a heavy dose of Smith early in the first quarter, and the Buckeyes' defense will start to improve to the point where they put together one of their best days of the year. This is going to be a splattering in Iowa City.
The final prediction is Ohio State 38, Iowa 10. Buckeyes move to 4-1 and get set for their next Big Ten matchup against Maryland.
