Buckeye fan here. Since the Oklahoma game comes up quite a bit, I thought I would comment on it. There is no question that we got pummeled by Oklahoma, and the passage of time doesn't mean that that game doesn't count, but as anybody who's been around this game for a while knows, teams get better, and not always at the same rate. Our passing game has improved immeasurably since Oklahoma. Our putrid passing game in that game, in my opinion fell much more on the receivers than on JT Barrett. We had a mostly new and largely untested bunch of receivers, and they were not playing at a very high level at that time. We had a new offensive coordinator, Kevin Wilson, and we frankly were just not ready for that game. That's not to take anything away from Oklahoma, who played a heck of a game. But as for our present passing game, while I don't expect to see another quarter like our fourth quarter against Penn State, our passing attack fourth-quarter in the Penn State game is a lot closer to where our receivers are today, than the Oklahoma game would be.
As for my prediction – eh, coming off an emotionally draining game against Penn State, and the Iowa game being followed up by a game against our current nemesis, Michigan State, I'm not sure how "up" our guys will be for this game. Hopefully they won't be thinking that they can just coast into Kinnick and walk out with the W merely by virtue of taking the field. Iowa isn't Rutgers or Maryland or Nebraska, but if we can score 39 against Penn State, we should be able to score 38 against Iowa. So I'll go with Ohio State 38, Iowa 17.
