By Danielle Daniels

Chip Kelly OSU OC Talks offense and Iowa Hawkeyes 10 1 2024.mp3

FIRST AND TEN

• Ohio State, 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the Big Ten Conference, hosts the Iowa Hawkeyes (3-1 and 1-0 Big Ten) Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in Ohio Stadium. CBS will have the national broadcast.
• This is Ohio State’s Hall of Fame weekend with 14 new enshrines (see p. 3) into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame to be honored at a banquet Friday and on the field Saturday.
• Two Big Ten champion teams will be honored this weekend: the 50th anniversary of the 1974 team and the 45th anniversary of the 1979 team.
• The game will start a rough and tough stretch of games for the Buckeyes with the Hawkeyes receiving Top 25 votes in both polls followed by games at No. 6 Oregon, vs. Nebraska (receiving votes) and at No. 7 Penn State.
• This is only the third meeting between Ohio State and Iowa since 2013. The teams played at Iowa City in 2017 (a 55-24 Iowa win) and in 2022 in Columbus (a 54-10 Ohio State win).
• Ohio State will wear all gray uniforms – a dark steel gray as compared with the team’s typical wolf gray – with scarlet accents vs. Iowa.
• Ohio State and Iowa will next play in the regular season in 2026 in Iowa City, Iowa.

BY THE NUMBERS
42-0: Ryan Day’s teams have won 42 consecutive games against unranked competition, posting a perfect 42-0 record under his leadership. His .692 win rate (18-8) vs. ranked teams is second-best nationally (Kirby).

1/2: Jeremiah Smith is only halfway to the freshman school record for consecutive games with a TD to start a career. TreVeyon Henderson scored TDs in his first eight games in 2021 on his way to an OSU frosh record 19.

3: Ohio State, No. 1 nationally allowing 6.8 ppg, has allowed just three second-half points. Opponents have scored only 27 points this season and have been shut out in seven consecutive second-half quarters.

15: Ohio State’s offense is Top 15 nationally in all four major stat categories: 48.8 ppg (T3rd), 534.8 yards per game (5th), 307.8 passing yards per game (14th) and 227.0 rushing yards per game (14th).

THE SERIES: OHIO STATE VS. IOWA

• The game will be No. 67 in the series that began 102 years ago (1922) with a 12-9 Iowa victory in the fifth game ever in brand new Ohio Stadium.
• Ohio State leads the all-time series in wins, 47 to 15, and there have been three ties.
• Ohio State is 31-9-1 vs. Iowa in Ohio Stadium and has won eight consecutive games there. Iowa’s last win in Columbus: 16-9 in 1991.
• The 55 points Iowa scored against Ohio State in 2017 is a 29-year high by an opponent against the Buckeyes, or since Penn State scored 63 on the Buckeyes in 1994.

FATHER & SON REUNION

• Ohio State has players on its roster from 20 different states and three countries (Australia, Canada and Germany), but none from the state of Iowa.
• Iowa senior TE and two-time team captain Luke Lachey, from nearby Marble Cliff and Grandview Heights H.S. is the youngest of 28th-year Ohio State radio analyst Jim Lachey’s five grown kids. Luke has started all four games this year and 17 for his career and enters the game with 12 receptions for 97 yards. Both totals are second among the Hawkeyes.
• Jim Lachey was a 1984 consensus All-American for Ohio State and then was a nine-time All-Pro performer in the NFL.

OHIO STATE/IOWA LAST WINS

• The headlines throughout Iowa read Woodshed, Iowa 52242 after Iowa forced four Ohio State turnovers – including a pick-six on the first play of the game – and defeated the No. 3 Buckeyes, 55-24, in Iowa City on Nov. 4, 2017.
• The return game was a while in the making … five years later on Oct. 22, 2022, but Ohio State prevailed, 54-10, as C.J. Stroud threw four second-half touchdown passes and the defense forced six turnovers.

DEFENSIVE STOPS

• After allowing 186 yards in the first half against Michigan State, Ohio State’s defense gave up just 60 in the second half.
• The Buckeyes allowed just the one touchdown thanks in part to three first-half red zone stops: a fourth down tackle by Cody Simon at the Ohio State 20 and forced fumbles by Lathan Ransom and Jordan Hancock at the Ohio State 11 and 16 yard lines, respectively.
• Caleb Downs led the defense with six tackles. Jack Sawyer and Sonny Styles secured the fumble recoveries.

TREVEYON’S FAST FEET

• TreVeyon Henderson topped 3,000 career rushing yards in the Michigan State game, becoming only the 12th Buckeye to accomplish the feat.
• Henderson enters the Iowa game having rushed for 3,021 yards with 36 rushing TDs (8th at Ohio State) and 41 total TDs (7th).
• Henderson needs 533 yards to rush his way into all-time Top 5 rushing yards status at Ohio State.

COURTESY OHIO STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS