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By playing near-perfect football Saturday, the Ohio State football team exorcised all of its demons from last year's 33-7 loss at Iowa.
Dominating on both sides of the ball, OSU took revenge on the No. 21 Hawkeyes Saturday afternoon, thrashing them 31-6 in the Big Ten opener.
OSU racked up 531 yards of total offense and four touchdowns while shutting down a potent Iowa attack that was averaging 428 yards per game. The Buckeyes limited Iowa to a paltry 137 yards of total offense (minus-9 yards on the ground), and allowed the Hawkeyes (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) to run only one play in OSU territory until midway through the third quarter - and it resulted in a sack that put the ball back onto the Iowa side of the field.
"It was pretty much a one-sided football game," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "We took one right on the chin. If we had double chins, we would've taken it on both chins."
The Buckeyes (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) tried to downplay talk of revenge in the week leading up to the game. But the beating they took last October in Iowa City had clearly never left their minds.
"You can't forget something like that when you get punched in the mouth like that," senior center Nick Mangold said.
Just to be sure, photos of the final score on the Iowa scoreboard were slapped across the locker room walls, around the practice field, even laminated in the showers last week.
"Everywhere you went, it said '33-7,'" junior safety Donte Whitner said. "(The coaches) didn't let you forget."
"We tried to say all week that we weren't looking for revenge, but there was no doubt about it," sophomore wideout Anthony Gonzalez said. "We couldn't let that happen again."
An early statement was made by a rejuvenated Buckeye offense when it opened the game with an 81-yard drive, capped by an 8-yard touchdown pass that junior quarterback Troy Smith threaded through the Iowa defense to Gonzalez. Two series later, Smith punched it in for a score on a 16-yard run to put the Buckeyes up 14-0 in the second quarter.
It was made clear early that there was not going to be a repeat of last year's showing that saw junior All-Big Ten Hawkeye quarterback Drew Tate pass and run for nearly 400 yards.
The Buckeye defense, led by a dominating line, stopped the run and pressured Tate while keeping him in the pocket.
"He's a great elusive guy, but today he really felt our pressure," Whitner said.
OSU was ahead 17-0 at the half, limiting the Iowa offense to only 13 yards and two first downs. The Buckeye defense finished the day with five sacks, upping their four-game total to 16, more than half of last season's total of 24.
On the other side of the ball, the offense, a lingering question mark coming in, finally showed its potential Saturday. Sophomore tailback Antonio Pittman rushed for a career high 171 yards on 28 carries, opening the field for a big day from Smith, who rushed for 127 yards and two touchdowns, while tossing for another two scores.
Working behind an offensive line that overpowered an inexperienced Hawkeye front four, described by OSU senior guard Rob Sims as having a "get-me-out-of-here look" across their faces, the elusive Pittman had his way.
"From the first play of the game, the offensive line was pushing those guys five (or) six yards off the line every time," Pittman said. "I found my rhythm early and once you get in that groove, it's like, 'Feed me the ball'."
Smith essentially put to rest any talk of a quarterback controversy. He led the offense inside the Iowa 10-yard line on four of the first five drives. But ugly as it was for the Hawkeyes, it could have been much worse, as Smith and senior tailback Brandon Schnittker both lost second-quarter fumbles inside the Iowa 10-yard line.
The offense got back on track in the second half with a 79-yard touchdown drive to open the third quarter. Smith cashed it in on a 4-yard draw, running untouched into the end zone to put OSU on top 24-0. The scoring was capped in the fourth quarter when Smith again found Gonzalez, this time for a 29-yard touchdown.
The Buckeyes will now take their act on the road to Happy Valley to take on Penn State, which narrowly escaped an upset at Northwestern Saturday.
But with OSU having a bye this week, they'll have plenty of time to soak in Saturday's game.
"We'll enjoy this," senior safety Nate Salley said. "We wanted to make a statement today."
Not all were completely satisfied, however.
"I would rather it have been 50-0," senior linebacker Bobby Carpenter said.
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