Ohio State football vs. Iowa: Official prediction

Upsets happen in every sport. When they do, they can devastate a team’s chances to perform well later in the season. The Ohio State football team knows that feeling well with their current opponent. Back in 2017, Iowa ruined Ohio State’s chances at making the College Football Playoff with an upset.

Now in 2022, the Buckeyes are looking for some sort of revenge. While the players have changed since that game for both teams, the coaches remember what it felt like. Kirk Ferentz remembers the joy he felt taking down a top Ohio State team. Ryan Day remembers the pain of the loss.

Day now gets a chance to bury that scar even deeper now that he leads the Buckeyes. He leads one of the best teams in the country, one that has a top-ten offense and defense. Meanwhile, Iowa has the worst offense in the entire country. Things could get ugly.

Ohio State football 52 Iowa 3

Because Iowa’s offense is so inept, I think they only end up getting three points. Honestly, that’s a victory against a Buckeye defense that has been playing really well. Jim Knowles will surely be trying for the shutout against such a bad opponent, but I’m not sure he gets it.

Meanwhile, Iowa does have a top-three defense. It’s not going to matter. The Buckeyes are just too good on the offensive side of the ball. With Jaxon Smith-Njigba likely returning, Iowa just simply doesn’t have enough guys to cover all of the weapons Ohio State can roll out.

I think the running game puts up some big numbers for the Buckeyes as well. They know that they are going to need to run the ball later in the year, so this is a good game to try and establish it early. Because of that, this game might be close for a while in the first half.

After halftime though, the Buckeyes should open it up and turn this game into a full-on blowout. They’re too good offensively not to. Ohio State should move on to 7-0 and get ready for their second road trip of the season next week when they take on Penn State.