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Game Thread tOSU at Iowa, Sat. Oct. 3rd, 3:30 pm ET, CBS

Usually I'd want a championship type defense to feel confident. With this offense, I just want to see a Good defense. Right now, I think they're approaching average, and I'd love to see continued improvement. We're still not getting enough pressure on the QBs, which puts more pressure on our backs. And tackling looked pretty bad early, but got better.
 
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Got to watch parts of the game from the ER (I'm ok-ish but had a scare an hour before kickoff). Positive is that I got to do the wave with all the kids today.

But from what I saw, the defensive front looked better and Iowa never had a bad OL. We had a very good overall performance against a good team on the road. Really great win for the challenges it presented and battle testing us again for this hellish stretch. Plus no big injuries that I noticed.
 
Got to watch parts of the game from the ER (I'm ok-ish but had a scare an hour before kickoff). Positive is that I got to do the wave with all the kids today.

But from what I saw, the defensive front looked better and Iowa never had a bad OL. We had a very good overall performance against a good team on the road. Really great win for the challenges it presented and battle testing us again for this hellish stretch. Plus no big injuries that I noticed.
Hope you get back on your feet soon, RB7
 
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Do you have a source for that? 19 is just really hard to believe
Well it's just under 20, but it's 128th out of 138...

The average age of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team entering the 2026 season is 19.95 years old per player. [1]

Roster Age Ranking
    • National Rank: No. 128 out of 138 FBS teams.
    • Power Four Rank: No. 63 out of 67 teams.
    • Big Ten Rank: Second-youngest in the conference (ahead of only USC).
    • Overall FBS Average: 20.32 years old [1, 2, 3, 4]
 
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31-14 > 42-19. The math might not seem right, but a 31-14 road win over an undefeated ranked team with a top-10 defense certainly looked and felt better than a 42-19 home win over a team that just got their asses kicked by lowly Purdue. A deeper dive into the numbers bears this out:

The Buckeye offense was slightly worse against Iowa (31 points, 484 yards, 6.6 average) than Illinois (42 points, 518 yards, 7.6 average), but that was to be expected when playing a team with a strong defense. And the Buckeyes' numbers could have been even better but for a missed field goal, some short-yardage buffoonery, and a 16-play, 55-yard drive to grind out the final 9:30 of clock to end the game.

It was on defense where the Buckeyes clearly improved:

Statistic
Illinois​
Iowa​
Total Yards
462​
238​
Yards per Play
6.5​
4.5​
Rush Yards
199​
39​
Average per Rush
6.0​
1.9​
First Downs
25​
15​
Total Plays
71​
53​
Turnovers
0​
2​
Punts Forced
2​
4​
Time of Possession
30:38 to 29:22​
38:02 to 21:58​

Outside of Iowa's final garbage time drive – 8 plays for 75 yards and a touchdown – the Buckeyes held the Hawkeyes to 163 yards on 45 plays (3.6 average), 12 for 27 (.444) passing, a pair of field goals of 40+ yards, and no trips to the red zone.

It was a case of total domination that didn't quite show on the scoreboard.

In 4+ games this season, Jeremiah Smith now has 44 receptions for 823 yards and 9 touchdowns. During the 2011 season, the Buckeyes' top three receivers COMBINED had 42 receptions for 692 yards and 11 touchdowns in 13 games.
 
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Improving but I hated those calls early in the 3rd on 3rd and 1. Don't get the first and turns the ball over on downs. Bad play calling sometimes. Smith has to quit being too cute.
Yep, I was all "3rd and 1, our nemesis" and everyone started to question me. I said, "just wait, we're probably chucking a 40 yard pass down the sideline." And that's what happened. Then on 4th and 1 I said "well, this will probably fail, too, because we can't be bothered to take the snap under center."....
 
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