No. 3 Ohio State sputters in the first half before blowing out Iowa 35-7

Emeka Egbuka caught three touchdown passes and Jeremiah Smith made another one-handed grab for a score as Ohio State sputtered early before burying Iowa 35-7 on Saturday.

Quarterback Will Howard was 21-for-25 for 209 yards passing and four touchdowns and ran for 28 yards and a score as Ohio State (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) cleaned up its first-half mistakes and put up 21 unanswered points in the third quarter.

The Buckeyes, hanging on to a 7-0 halftime lead, seized the momentum in the second half.

Ohio State had a third-and-6 on its own 43 when Howard threw a long ball to Smith, who had to outrun two defenders.

Smith was tackled at the Iowa 3-yard-line, but that gave him a chance to really show off. On the next play, he leaped in the end zone and brought in Howard's floating pass with his right arm while keeping defensive back Deshaun Lee at bay with his right.

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On Iowa's next drive, quarterback Cade McNamara fumbled, and linebacker Cody Simon recovered at the Iowa 19. Three players later, Howard scurried around the left end for a TD to push the Ohio State lead to 21-0.

Ohio State turned a McNamara interception into a touchdown, capped by a 15-yard TD catch by Egbuka. Then McNamara fumbled the ball away again, this time deep in Iowa territory, and that ultimately resulted in Egbuka's third TD catch.

The takeaway

Iowa: Kaleb Johnson, one of the Hawkeyes' few reliable offensive weapons, gained 100-plus yards in each of their first four games and had a 206-yarder in the last one against Minnesota. Johnson had only 19 yards on eight carries in the first half and finished with 86 yards on 15 carries.

Ohio State: The best performance by the defense this season. The unit held Iowa to 226 total yards, sacked McNamara three times — he fumbled the ball away on two of them — and intercepted him once.

Poll implications

A dominating performance against a Big Ten opponent should keep the Buckeyes at No. 3.

Up next

Iowa: Hosts Washington next Saturday.

Ohio State: At No. 6 Oregon next Saturday night.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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