COLUMBUS, Ohio- After a comeback win over No. 2 Penn State, Ohio State is projected to be a part of the Top 4 teams in the first College Football Playoff rankings of 2017, which are to be released on Tuesday. The Buckeyes will travel to Iowa City this weekend to take on a Hawkeyes football team coming off a seven-point win against Minnesota. Here are three storylines heading into the Buckeyes’ fourth road game of the year.
When will his success end?
This run that Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett has been on has been historic. During the Buckeyes six-game winning streak, he has thrown for over 200 yards, completed over 60 percent of his passes, throwing 21 touchdowns compared to zero interceptions.
When looking at Iowa’s pass defense in comparison to other teams in the Big Ten, Ohio State fans probably expect for that run to continue. The Hawkeyes are No. 11 in pass yardage, giving up 223.4 passing yards per game. However, there are some numbers that could not be in favor of Barrett heading into road game against Iowa.
First, the Hawkeyes allow opposing quarterback to complete and average of 55.5 percent of their passes, lower than pass defenses such as Minnesota and Ohio State, for 5.9 yards per completion. Also, facing quarterbacks such as Penn State’s Trace McSorley and Michigan State’s Brian Lewerke, Iowa has more interceptions than touchdowns given up this season.
This will be, most likely the toughest matchup that Iowa has had this season in the passing game. However, with those kind of numbers, Barrett and the Ohio State passing offense will not be able to take this matchup lightly.
