Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa Hawkeyes scripted the perfect game plan to beat Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes. It still didn’t work as Meyer remains unbeaten in 19 tries as the head coach of Ohio State. Iowa used multiple tight end sets to confuse and rattle the Buckeyes as well as keep them off balance with consistent running from running backs Mark Weisman and Damon Bullock. He finished the game with 52 yards on 10 carries while Bullock finished with 56 yards on 10 carries as well. Iowa seized control in the first half possessing the ball for 18:05 running 43 plays to Ohio States 11:55 and 25 plays taking a 17-10 lead into the half. Jake Rudock was very efficient in the first half and found his tight ends time and time again to keep drives alive. At one point in the first half Iowa was 7/8 converting on 3rd down. Rudock was 19 of 34 for 245 yards with 3tds and 1 int.
Ohio State adjusted nicely in the second half using Iowa’s game plan against them. A healthy dose of Hyde and using Braxton Millers legs, put Ohio State in the end zone 3 times in the second half. Once again, Meyer put the game on the shoulders of his two offensive weapons as Hyde finished with 149 yards on 24 carries and 2 touchdowns. Miller finished with 222 yards passing on 22/27 completing and 60 yards rushing and 2 passing Tds.
For the 3rd consecutive time in the series, a game between Ohio State and Iowa was tied going into the 4th quarter. A huge part of that was an 85 yard TD pass from Jack Rudock to Jake Duzey who had gotten behind Armani Reeves and sprinted to the end zone. Not to be outdone, Carlos Hyde had a run for the ages on 19 yard TD run where it looked as though he was going to stumble backwards and go down. He regained his composure and dove into the end zone for the score.
Don’t compare Basketball season to football season according to Meyer. While basketball season has March Madness to end the season, the entire season is March Madness in Meyer’s opinion. Today’s game was a perfect example. Any team on any given day can challenge a team that might have more 5 star recruits, higher paid coaches and in a more fertile recruiting area. Though something tells me Meyer wouldn’t want it any other way.
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