Except for its 35-0 first half against Western Michigan, Ohio State hasn’t looked great coming out of the gates this season. The Buckeyes only led by 14 points at halftime against Akron and Marshall and didn’t lead by more than 10 points until the final 29 seconds of the first half against Michigan State. In the fifth game of the season against Iowa on Saturday, Ohio State only took a 7-0 lead into the break.

In the third quarter of every game so far this season, however, the Buckeyes have done everything they’ve needed to do to seize firm control of the contest.

Ohio State outscored Akron 21-3 in the third quarter, then won the third frame 14-0 in each of its next three games against WMU, Marshall and Michigan State. Against Iowa, Ohio State had its most dominant third quarter yet, outsourcing the Hawkeyes 21-0 in the first 15 minutes of the second half. The Buckeyes scored on all three of their third-quarter possessions while their defense forced three straight turnovers – the third of which came on the first play of the fourth quarter – before scoring another touchdown just over four minutes into the fourth quarter to put the game away completely, taking a 35-0 lead in a game they’d ultimately win 35-7.

Altogether, the Buckeyes have now outscored their opponents 84-3 in the third quarter through five games.

Going into the fifth game of the season for both teams, Iowa had also been a third-quarter team in 2024, ranking third in the country with 12.25 third-quarter points per game this season. But Ohio State, who entered the week ranked second in the country with 15.75 third-quarter points per game and tied for fourth in the country with 0.75 third-quarter points allowed per game, continued to establish itself as the best third-quarter team in the country against the Hawkeyes.

While Ohio State certainly wanted to play better than it did in the first half, Ryan Day felt confident that his team would take care of business in the second half as long as it kept playing its game. After all, the Buckeyes had outgained Iowa with 199 yards to the Hawkeyes’ 90 – a pair of turnovers by Ohio State in the second quarter was the biggest reason why the game was as tight as it was.

“On defense, there was energy, but also even on offense, it’s like if we just take care of the football, we can turn this thing and get going because the score was probably a little bit different if we take care of the ball,” Day said. “We really wanted to come out and have a great drive to start the third quarter, and then we started getting the short fields and the turnovers, and the game just flipped there.”

Ohio State left guard Donovan Jackson believes one factor in the Buckeyes’ repeated dominance in the third quarter is how they’ve utilized the iPads they’re now allowed to use during games this season to make halftime adjustments in the locker room.

“The rule change with the iPads, I think that certainly helps because you can actually see what you did wrong. You can see what you can correct,” Jackson said. “Before it was like, ‘Hey, I think we did this. Let’s try to do this.’ Now we can actually see, like, ‘Okay, this is what happened. Let’s try to fix this.’ So I feel like that’s a huge help.

“But also just having confidence in us as a team. We know that we have a fantastic defense to help us in the back end, and we know that if we just keep pounding the rock that eventually TreVeyon, Quinshon or any one of our backs are going to make it work. And then we just got to stay on our blocks, make sure we’re ID’d and fitted to the right people, and just execute the plays that are called.”

Another factor is simply that it’s been a big point of emphasis for the Buckeyes to start the second half strong. Day has spoken to his players repeatedly this year about the importance of winning the “middle eight” – that being the final four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half. While the Buckeyes squandered their opportunity to score late in the second quarter when Will Howard threw his only interception of the game, they made up for it by scoring 14 points in the first six minutes and one second of the third quarter.

“We just came out and we said, ‘It’s a new half,’” Howard said of the Buckeyes’ strong start in the third quarter. “We always put the emphasis on that middle eight and ending the first half the right way and starting the second half the right way. We did not execute the middle half in the first half, but coming out of the halftime, going down and getting a score, getting a couple turnovers, that was huge. That was our emphasis was like, ‘We have to come out and start fast. We’ve got to go down and get a score … and then we’ve got to come out and get some stops.’”

Ohio State’s seven-point first half gives the Buckeyes plenty to work on as they prepare for their first marquee game of the season against Oregon next week. While they were able to get away with a slow start offensively against Iowa, they might not be able to do so against the Ducks, easily the best offensive team Ohio State will face in the first half of the season – though Oregon has had some slow starts against lesser opponents, too, only winning the first half by an average of 11 points in its five wins so far this year.

But while the Buckeyes haven’t played as well as they would have liked in most of their first halves this season, they’ve never allowed that to rattle them for the second half. Saturday’s second-half response against the best team Ohio State had played so far this season was the most impressive yet, giving Day reason to feel good about his team’s ability to respond to adversity.

“That was good to see,” Day said of Ohio State’s second-half response. “You know, not that you’d like to see those kind of things (the mistakes in the first half), but it is good to face a little bit of adversity and see how our team responds, and so all things we can learn from.”

Two people are dead after a house fire in northern Ohio on Saturday morning.

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The fire was reported in Wakeman, which is in Huron County, around 8:15 a.m.

TRENDING STORIES:

Wakeman Assistant Fire Chief Eschen confirmed to WOIO in Cleveland that a mother and daughter were killed in the fire.

No other injuries were reported.

The Wakeman Fire District took to social media to thank the other fire departments who helped put the fire out.

The fire remains under investigation.

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Ohio State hosts Iowa in what’s expected to be the toughest test of the season to date for the Buckeyes. While Ohio State largely cruised through September, winning all of their first three games by at least 31 points, the Hawkeyes bring one of the nation’s best rushing offenses and a strong defense – particularly against the run – to the Shoe for the Buckeyes’ fifth game of the year.

RELATED Ohio State vs. Iowa Preview: Hawkeyes Set to Test Buckeyes’ Ground Game on Both Sides of the Ball

With an increased challenge on tap today, we delve into our biggest questions for Ohio State entering today’s game and pick our top players to watch before making some predictions for how the game will play out.

Questions

Can Ohio State win the ground game?

The answer to this question could make all the difference between a comfortable Buckeye win or a tight four-quarter battle.

Ohio State’s passing game is far more explosive than Iowa’s, giving the Buckeyes a clear advantage on paper. But few teams in college football are better at controlling the game on the ground than Iowa.

Iowa’s rushing offense and run defense are both by far the best Ohio State has faced so far this season, and the Hawkeyes could threaten an upset if they can put together long drives with their run game and bottle up the Buckeyes’ rushing attack. On the other hand, Ohio State could make the game a blowout if it can continue running the ball as well as it has so far this season and force Iowa to make plays through the air against an Ohio State secondary that’s much better than Iowa’s receiving corps.

– Dan Hope

Will Ohio State win the turnover battle and field position game?

On The Ryan Day Radio Show, Ohio State’s head coach called Iowa “the epitome of winning the turnover battle and field position game.” He then explained that the Hawkeyes excel at taking care of the football while also forcing their opponents to make mistakes. They are also satisfied with an offensive drive that stalls at the 50-yard line if it means they can pin a punt inside the 5-yard line. All of that said, the Buckeyes will need to be to protect the ball and have a Rolodex of plays ready if their backs are against the wall on Saturday.

– Chase Brown

Do the linebackers take a step forward?

With the threat Iowa poses on the ground, gap-sound and decisive linebacker play will be important for the Buckeyes to separate from the Hawkeyes on Saturday. The unit’s faced some criticism for their play against Marshall and Michigan State, particularly Sonny Styles, though he does lead the team with 23 tackles. Arvell Reese should also see plenty of time in 4-3 packages against some of the Hawkeyes’ heavier fronts.

– Andy Anders

Is there a little bit of a lull before Ohio State’s biggest game of the year?

Ryan Day has gone out of his way to avoid complacency and praise Iowa all week, but considering most of the players are between 18-22 years old, you have to wonder if there might be just a little bit of a lull in the start of Ohio State’s matchup against the Hawkeyes considering the Buckeyes face what could be their stiffest test of the year against Oregon next week. I’m not expecting that this team will let that happen, but it’s certainly happened before to other teams a week before big matchups.

– Garrick Hodge

Players to Watch

Tyleik Williams

Ohio State’s defensive line hasn’t looked as dominant in the last two games without Williams as it was in the first two games without Williams. Having Williams return at full strength today would go a long way toward slowing down that’s rushed for more than 200 yards in all four of its games so far this season.

– Dan Hope

Will Howard

I picked him last week; I’ll pick him again this week. Iowa’s defense is one of the best in college football. According to Bill Connelly of ESPN and his SP+ model, the Hawkeyes have the best defense in college football. With solid performances in Ohio State’s wins over Akron, Western Michigan, Marshall and Michigan State, I’m looking to see how Howard looks against Phil Parker’s well-renowned unit. How many times will he throw it? How many times will he run it? Can he take care of the football and make the routine plays routinely?

– Chase Brown

Jeremiah Smith

Pass defense is easily the weaker portion of Iowa’s defense as the Hawkeyes rank 69th nationally in pass yards allowed per game. Smith has been Ohio State’s brightest star at wide receiver through four games; expect the freshman sensation to post another big outing as his legend grows.

– Andy Anders

Cody Simon

Similar to Dan’s reasoning with picking Tyleik, Simon will be instrumental in helping to slow down Iowa’s vaunted rushing attack, primarily standout running back Kaleb Johnson. The linebackers will need to have a big day on Saturday, and that starts with Simon.

– Garrick Hodge

Predictions

Will Howard has his first 300-yard game as a Buckeye

Will Howard has one career 300-yard passing game and came up eight yards short of the mark in his second game with Ohio State against Western Michigan in Week 2. He’s yet to play four full quarters, which he could be in store for if Iowa manages to keep this one a little closer, and the secondary is once again the matchup for the Buckeyes’ offense to expose. Seems ripe for a big day throwing the ball.

– Andy Anders

Denzel Burke gets a pick-six

There might not be any player on Ohio State’s roster who’s hungrier for revenge against Michigan than Burke. The senior cornerback could get a small slice of revenge on Saturday by picking off Cade McNamara, who quarterbacked Michigan to a win over Ohio State during Burke’s freshman season in 2021. Burke leads the Buckeyes with two interceptions this season; I think he gets his third against the Hawkeyes, and I’ll take it a step further by saying he predicting he returns said interception for his second career pick-six.

– Dan Hope

Caleb Downs records an interception or a forced fumble

I won’t be as bold as Dan and predict a pick-six, but I think the standout safety will force his first turnover of the season against Iowa via either an interception or a forced fumble. In doing so, Downs will continue his “activation” at the backend of Ohio State’s defense, as Jim Knowles called it this week.

– Chase Brown

Cade McNamara is held to less than 100 passing yards again

Maybe this isn’t as bold as you may think considering McNamara has done this feat in two of his three games against FBS opponents this season, but it could be a testament to how stout OSU’s secondary may be considering I expect OSU to get ahead early and force Iowa to lean on the pass a little more than it would like. The Buckeyes’ cornerbacks see better skill position players in practice daily than any of Iowa’s receivers, and that should be reflected in OSU’s pass defense statistics this week. 

– Garrick Hodge