Fun Facts: Iowa-Ohio State, the Gus Johnson edition

The first entry you get when you Google “fun” is the dictionary’s definition of the word. It should instead be these Fun Facts about the Iowa-Ohio State game. Like:

1. Ohio State has defeated Indiana and Rutgers eight times apiece since the last time it beat Iowa, in 2013. That was the last time the Hawkeyes played in Columbus.

2. The Buckeyes are first in the nation in scoring with 48.8 points per game. The Hawkeyes are third in the nation in scoring defense, allowing 9.8 points per game.

3. OSU’s Emeka Egbuka has seven touchdowns. Buckeye running back Miyan Williams has eight. Marvin Harrison Jr. has nine. Iowa’s offense has seven.

4. Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud’s full name is Coleridge Bernard Stroud IV.

5. Sam LaPorta of Iowa is third in the nation in catches per game by a tight end, with 5.

6. Harrison is the only player in school history with three games of three touchdown catches. Harrison’s father, Marvin Harrison, had 1,102 catches for 14,580 yards and 128 touchdowns in his NFL career.

7. Iowa has held five of its first six opponents to 10 points or less for the first time since 1933. The 59 points the Hawkeyes have allowed are the fewest they’ve surrendered in their first six games since 1956.

8. The Buckeyes haven’t covered the spread in their last five games against Iowa.

9. Ohio State has played one team that currently has a winning record, Toledo.

10. This is the second-straight Iowa road game in which the fans were urged to wear scarlet to the stadium. Rutgers had a “Scarlet Out” and Ohio State is pushing a “Scarlet the Shoe.”

11. Ohio State has a Big Ten-record 27 straight home wins in Big Ten games.

12. Iowa’s 3-3 mark is its worst through six games since it was 3-3 in 2008. It finished that season 9-4.

13. The Buckeyes have a starting linebacker named Steele Chambers.

14. The last team from Ohio to participate in the College Football Playoff was Cincinnati.

15. People who have dotted the “i” in the OSU marching band’s Script Ohio since the tradition began in 1936 include James “Buster” Douglas, Jack Nicklaus, Bob Hope and John Glenn.

16. Ohio Stadium is 100 years old. When it opened in 1922, there were no restrooms for women. At the time, it was considered unfashionable for women to attend sporting events.

17. Gus Johnson will do play-by-play for Fox’s telecast of this game. A different Gus Johnson averaged 16.2 points and 12.1 rebounds over 631 career NBA games. He is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

18. According to the USDA, every part of the buckeye tree is highly toxic if ingested, causing symptoms of muscle weakness and paralysis, dilated pupils, vomiting, diarrhea, depression, paralysis, and stupor.

19. The Main Street Bridge in Columbus, Ohio is a 660-foot inclined tied arch bridge over the Scioto River that cost $60 million to build. It is 12 years old. The Lover’s Leap Swinging Bridge in Columbus Junction, Iowa is 262 feet long, and is 100 years old.

20. Richard Lewis, one of the best great stand-up comedians of the last century and a fine actor to boot, is an Ohio State graduate. He is 75. He says he hasn’t missed an Ohio State-Michigan game since he was 17.