Two things we already knew were hammered home during Ohio State's 54-10 dismantling of Iowa in Columbus on Saturday.
- First, the Buckeyes are pretty darn good on both sides of the ball, even when they don't play their best game.
- Second, Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz needs to be fired, and it's puzzling why it hasn't already happened.
While the Buckeyes have been tremendously improved on defense under first-year coordinator Jim Knowles, Iowa was pathetic on offense, no matter who played quarterback. Despite a scoop-and-score touchdown by the Hawkeyes, they didn't do anything else on the scoreboard aside from a field goal.
While Ohio State wasn't as explosive as we're used to seeing against Iowa's normally stingy secondary, the Buckeyes were plenty good enough to continue looking like the Big Ten's best team and one of the top teams in the nation.
The Buckeyes defense proved Ferentz's continued employment looks like the product of nepotism under his father and head coach Kirk Ferentz. The Hawkeyes were 1-of-13 on third-down conversions, mustered just 158 total yards and turned the ball over six times.
Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud wound up getting his, too, finishing with 286 passing yards and four touchdowns. It was a largely uneven performance for the junior star signal-caller, who threw an interception, misfired on a few balls early and had a fumble returned for a touchdown.
But he proved he's one of the nation's top playmakers, dissecting Iowa throughout the second half on his way to putting up quality numbers in a runaway win. The Buckeyes just keep marching onward ahead of next week's big battle with Penn State in Happy Valley”