If you aren't from the Midwest, you probably don't really understand how tough Kinnick Stadium is. If Iowa were in the South, it would be one of the first places listed when talking about road environments.
The Hawkeyes haven't been national title contenders in quite some time, but they play in a conference with a few of them. Those teams don't win in Iowa City; they survive. The recent history of the Hawkeyes hosting top-ranked teams is a scary one for Ohio State fans hoping for a stress-free Saturday.
Ohio State goes to Iowa City on Saturday for the first time since 2017. Their most recent trip to Kinnick Stadium was something out of a horror movie for Buckeye fans. J.T. Barrett threw a pick-six on the first play of the game, Nick Bosa got ejected in the first half, and the Buckeyes looked like they had never covered a tight end before.
They lost 55-24 in a game that ultimately kept them out of the College Football Playoff despite their Big Ten Championship. The Buckeyes technically haven't won at Kinnick since 2006, because their 2010 win there was vacated by the NCAA. They have won at every other Big Ten stadium that is not on the West Coast at least once since 2021.
Ohio State is far from the only team to struggle in Iowa City in recent years. Oregon went to Kinnick last season and barely escaped on a game-winning field goal. Michigan was in a dogfight before pulling away for a two-score win in 2022. In 2021, they knocked off No. 17 Indiana and No. 4 Penn State in the first six weeks of the season.
In 2019, Penn State needed a walk-off touchdown to get out with a win, and No. 7 Minnesota lost at Kinnick. Penn State also won by just 2 points there in 2017, and we all know what happened to Ohio State that year. In 2016, Michigan lost on a game-winning field goal to suffer its first loss after a 9-0 start, and No. 17 Nebraska lost 40-10.
There are multiple factors that make Kinnick Stadium so hard to play at. They have some of the tightest sidelines in college football, which puts the fans right on top of the visiting players. The visiting locker room is painted pink.
Head coach Hayden Fry ordered the visiting locker room to be painted pink, thinking that the color pink has a soft, calming effect on people, which could create a psychological disadvantage going into a big-time football game. The crowd itself is incredible. They have one of the coolest traditions in college football: the hospital wave. The team walks out to ACDC's Back in Black. This Saturday, the crowd will be striped out in black and yellow.
Iowa itself is a unique environment, but one good thing that the Buckeyes have going for them is that they have played in difficult environments before, including earlier this season at Texas. Ohio State's problem will be dealing with the actual Iowa football team.
They are the same Iowa football team that they have been for a quarter-century. They're going to run the ball to control the clock, and they are suffocating on defense. The Buckeyes have more talent and should be able to win if they play their game, but that doesn't mean it'll be easy to come out of that environment unscathed.
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