Ohio State’s first game on Nov. 2 was an 8-8 tie at home against Ohio Wesleyan in 1895. The last time the Buckeyes played on this date they destroyed Purdue, 56-0, in West Lafayette. That was the game Ezekiel Elliott blew up Purdue’s kickoff returner and impressed their cheerleader in 2013.

Overall, Ohio State has a 12-3-1 record on Nov. 2, including wins in 10 of its last 11 games on this date.

Hayden Fry and his No. 1-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes visited Columbus on this date 39 years ago. With Big Ten title implications hanging in the balance, the eighth-ranked Buckeyes put their nation’s best home winning streak of 19 games on the line without Keith Byars (injured right foot) in front of a national television audience.  

Two years prior, Iowa snapped its 16-game losing streak against Ohio State, and on this day, the Hawkeyes took aim at ending its 11-game losing streak in Ohio Stadium. At that point in time, the last time the Buckeyes had lost to Iowa in the Shoe was 1961.

On Ohio State’s first possession, Jim Karsatos directed the offense inside Iowa’s red zone and Rich Spangler was true on a 28-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. This marked the first time in the 1985 season that a team scored on the Hawkeyes in the first quarter. The last play of the opening quarter resulted in Sonny Gordon blocking Gary Kostrubala’s punt through the back of the end zone, giving the Buckeyes a 5-0 lead after 15 minutes of play.

Due to Byars’ injury and John Wooldridge nursing sore ribs, Earle Bruce turned to George Cooper and freshman Vince Workman to carry the load in the backfield. Wooldridge entered the game in the second quarter and made his presence known immediately. He took his first carry of the game 57 yards for a touchdown to put Ohio State up 12-0. Spangler added a field goal to make it a 15-0 game.

Chuck Long and Iowa didn’t back down and scored a touchdown late in the second quarter to head into the locker room down 15-7 at the half. Neither team scored in the third quarter, but Workman hit paydirt from four yards out early in the fourth to extend the lead to 22-7. Iowa scored again, but Ohio State’s defense held strong and limited Long to 169 yards passing and came down with four critical interceptions. 

Chris Spielman had an outstanding game on national television. The Massillon native finished with 19 tackles, two interceptions and broke up a pass and made a key stop on 4th-and-1 in the third quarter to ensure the 22-13 victory. Pepper Johnson also had a magnificent performance with 19 tackles and a tackle for loss.

“Their two linebackers were awesome, Chris Spielman and that guy, Pepper (Johnson). It seemed like they had a crystal ball and knew where Chuck was going to pass.”– Mike Haight, Iowa right tackle

Cooper finished the day with 104 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries, and Workman had 31 yards and a touchdown. 

Games to Remember

1946: Ohio State upsets No. 6 Northwestern

Northwestern head coach Pappy Waldorf was in his final season with the Wildcats and his sixth-ranked team was bent on sending him off with one final victory over the Buckeyes.

The game was played in front of 47,000 fans in Evanston, and the two teams matched each other score-for-score as the first half ended with the scoreboard knotted at 13 apiece.

Throughout the first half, Ohio State fans were perplexed as to why their hard-running fullback Joe Whisler was not playing. At the start of the second half, Whisler was spotted wearing civilian clothes on the sidelines. Not known to the fans in the stands, Ohio State’s star back was knocked out during a play within the first five minutes of the game and was ruled out.  

During the fourth quarter, Whisler disappeared from the sidelines and headed to the Buckeyes’ locker room. He emerged from the stadium tower wearing his jersey and rounded the cinder track toward Ohio State’s bench to the surprise and applause of the team’s faithful fans. The powerful back gave the Buckeyes’ offense a boost and scored the game-clinching touchdown in the 39-27 victory. 

Paul Bixler, in his first year as Ohio State’s head coach, said this about Whisler’s situation: “Joe was knocked out cold in the first five minutes, and he lay on a blanket in front of the bench all first half. At halftime he was still ‘out,’ so we had him take his shower and dress in street clothes. But in the third quarter he came to me raising cain about being out of uniform and demanding to get back in there.”

“I didn’t know what happened,” Whisler explained, “but when I finally realized, I got mad and tried to get Doc Foley to let me get back in uniform. Finally, I went to Bix and started arguing with him and he got an OK from Foley and I ran for the dressing room. I still can’t see why they made me get out of uniform.”  

1935: Buckeyes fumble game away vs. Notre Dame

Ohio State and Notre Dame faced off for the first time on the gridiron on this date in 1935. The Buckeyes took an early two-score lead following a Frank Antenucci interception on which he lateraled to Frank Boucher who raced 70 yards for the game’s first touchdown. Ohio State intercepted another William Shakespeare pass and “Jumping Joe” Williams capped off a 50-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run to give the home team a 13-0 lead.

The Irish passing game came alive in the fourth quarter and set up two touchdowns. However, the point-after tries were both missed, and it appeared Ohio State was going to escape with a 13-12 victory after Charles Gales secured the ball on Notre Dame’s attempt to recover a short kickoff. A fumble by the Buckeyes, however, gave the Fighting Irish the break they needed to steal a win.

From the Nov. 2, 1935 edition of the Columbus Dispatch:

Ohio Fumble Fatal
With about a minute to play, the fatal break came which gave Notre Dame their opportunity. (Dick) Beltz sliced off tackle but fumbled as he was hit and the ball rolled out of bounds. Headlineman Ernie Vick ruled that Pojman had last touched the ball in the field of play before it went across the sidelines and gave the ball to the Irish on their own 48. Pilney then faded back for a pass, but decided to run with the ball, zigzagging his way for 33 yards to Ohio’s 19-yard line.

Beltz then intercepted Layden’s pass but could not hang onto the ball and it was called incomplete. With 30 seconds to play, Layden ran back 20 yards and threw the pigskin into the end zone where Millner took it on the dead run for the winning score.

Advertisement

Following the game, Francis Schmidt told reporters, “I’d like to play that game over. I don’t know how to account for it. Don’t blame any of the boys, they did the best they could. It was just one of those things. You can’t explain it.”

Stat Superlatives

Five Fun Facts

1. When Ohio State played No. 6 Northwestern in 1946, the two schools competed in the Big 9 conference, not the Big Ten.
2. Prior to the win over Iowa in 1985, the last time Ohio State played the No. 1-ranked team in Ohio Stadium was when the Buckeyes defeated Purdue on Oct. 12, 1968.
3. Kenny Guiton ran for a career-high 98 yards and two touchdowns off the bench in Ohio State’s 2013 win over Purdue.
4. The game against Notre Dame in 1935 was the first time the programs played each other in football.
5. Notre Dame fans removed the goalpost from the north end zone of Ohio Stadium and carried it toward downtown following Notre Dame’s victory in 1935. 

PERRY, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa Capitol Bureau) – Perry Police Chief Eric Vaughn is correcting misinformation about an event at a church in town last week.

A social media posts makes claims that undocumented migrants were given Photo IDs

The state of Iowa only gives out driver’s license and ID cards to people whose lawful presence in the U.S. has been verified by The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The post then claims that once these migrants got an ID, a woman helped them vote by telling them which place to mark, and they told everyone to vote for Kamala Harris.

Chief Vaughn says this isn’t the case at all.

In a Facebook post, Vaughn says people were given a non-government form of ID. Those can be used at places like banks and libraries, but cannot be used to vote or drive.

The original post claims that Perry police officers were at the event and told migrants to show the ID to law enforcement and they’d be allowed to drive on with no charges because Perry is a “sanctuary city”.

Perry is not a sanctuary city, nor is any other city in Iowa. Sanctuary cities were banned in Iowa in 2018.

Vaughn also says Perry Police were not at the event.

—

Conner Hendricks covers state government and politics for Gray Media-owned stations in Iowa. Email him at conner.hendricks@gray.tv; and follow him on Facebook at Conner Hendricks TV or on X/Twitter @ConnerReports.

Copyright 2024 KCRG. All rights reserved.

Heading into the first game of November, Iowa State has a perfect record of 7-0. 

They are putting that perfect record on the line on Saturday when they host Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are 5-3 and have had one of the most surprising seasons of any Big 12 team so far this season. In fact, they were 5-1 before losing their last two games. Nevertheless, the Red Raiders have shown that they are a team capable of playing high-level football.

Last week against UCF, Iowa State flirted with disaster. They only defeated the Knights by three points in a 38-35 nailbiter. That narrow win dropped them from No. 9 in the AP Poll to No. 11. Ultimately, winning that game was all that mattered, but they did not look like a very strong team against UCF, who has struggled mightily this season. 

As we approach the first release of the College Football Playoff rankings, the eye test is one of the most important parts of evaluating a team for the postseason. The Cyclones would benefit greatly from a convincing win over Texas Tech on Saturday. Additionally, this would be the first time in the history of Iowa State’s program that they have started a season 8–0. 

Texas Tech has won the last two meetings in this series by very slim margins, and they are coming off a very disappointing loss to TCU. The Red Raiders surrendered a 17-point second-half lead and lost 35–34 to the Frogs. They cannot play that poorly and expect to beat Iowa State. 

For the conference as a whole, Iowa State winning this game would be a much better result. The Big 12 would benefit greatly from having an undefeated conference champion in the playoffs. Iowa State is hoping that they are that team, while the Red Raiders hope they can spoil that party.

Want to join the discussion? Click here to become a member of the Killer Frogs message board community today!

Follow KillerFrogs on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest TCU news! Follow KillerFrogs on Facebook and Instagram as well.