No. 5 Ohio State is hitting the road for the first time since their loss to No. 1 Texas, and they are walking right into a rocking Kinnick Stadium where No. 14 Iowa just snatched a last-second win from Michigan. This isn’t just another game, it is the biggest Big Ten matchup of the week, and the Hawkeyes are absolutely hungry to pull off another wild upset against a highly ranked opponent.
Ohio State’s Explosive Offensive Machine is Rolling
Forget any talk about that Texas loss, because the Buckeyes’ offense just turned in its most explosive passing performance of the season, and Julian Sayin is at the absolute center of it all. Last week against Illinois, Sayin exploded for a season-high 367 yards and four touchdowns on 27-of-36 passing. The dude even added 29 rushing yards and another score on the ground. Through four games this season, Sayin has tossed for 1,206 yards and 10 touchdowns with just one interception. Talk about efficiency! But he is not alone in making this offense a nightmare.
Then there is Jeremiah Smith, who is just on another planet. Last week against Illinois, he hauled in a career-high 12 catches for 217 yards and four touchdowns. Four! That tied Ohio State’s single-game touchdown reception record, and get this, he already became the program’s career receiving yards leader earlier this season. He is a certified scoring threat, the kind of player who can just decide a tight game on his own. With Ohio State averaging a wild 45 points a game this season, Iowa’s defense is about to face a level of firepower they haven’t seen yet.
Iowa’s Defense and Clutch Brown Look For Another Upset
Don’t sleep on No. 14 Iowa, though. They are 4-0, and while they needed a touchdown with just two seconds left to beat Michigan 20-19 last week, that win showed they have fight. Their defense, coming off that road win against Michigan, is a takeaway-minded unit. They forced a red-zone interception in that game and had three different players with double-digit tackles. That kind of performance is a serious step up from anything Sayin has seen so far this season, for real.
The Iowa coaching staff has already named their central defensive question for Saturday: containing Jeremiah Smith. It is going to be a huge challenge for their front seven to slow down one of the country’s most explosive offenses. On the other side of the ball, Hank Brown delivered the biggest throw of his season when it mattered most last week. He went 21 of 35 for a season-high 227 yards and two touchdowns in that 20-19 win over Michigan, capping it off with that 16-yard touchdown pass to Reece Vander Zee with two seconds remaining. Brown has 700 yards, five touchdowns, and zero interceptions this season, but he is going to have to find a way to match Ohio State’s scoring if Iowa wants to pull off another wild upset at Kinnick. This is a heavyweight Big Ten showdown, plain and simple.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Fox Sports.
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