At Ohio State, Hawkeye defense will see where it really ranks

We spend a lot of ink, bandwidth and such touting the Iowa football team’s defense.

It’s been more than warranted, especially since the start of the 2021 season. Had their defense not been superb, the Hawkeyes would have had a mediocre record last year and would have been 2-4 or even 1-5 heading into Ohio State Saturday.

But with Iowa idle last Saturday, it was a day for a boy in Cedar Rapids to stay home and watch other teams in high-def television. The games were dizzying, entertaining, electrifying.

You had TCU staying unbeaten with its 43-40 double-overtime win over Oklahoma State. You had Tennessee’s wild-and-wooly 52-49 triumph over Alabama. You had Utah rallying for a 43-42 victory over USC.

You had fans storming the field after each of those games ended. The Big 12 fined TCU $50,000. The SEC, never to be outdone, fined Tennessee $100,000. A high time was had by all. They probably drank extra milk that night in Utah.

It made that boy in Cedar Rapids wonder, though. Why don’t the other leagues play defense like the Hawkeyes of Iowa?

Three of the four top teams in the nation in scoring defense are from the Big Ten West in No. 1 Illinois, No. 3 Iowa and No. 4 Minnesota.

What would happen if Utah and USC and TCU and Oklahoma State and Tennessee and Alabama played against those mighty defenses of the Illini, Hawkeyes and Gophers?

They would score plenty of points, that’s what.

The only team with a top-level attack that has played one of those three West teams is Michigan, 22nd in total offense. The Wolverines rushed for 172 yards when they beat Iowa, 27-14.

The Hawkeyes’ four other FBS opponents to date are 62nd, 87th 111th and 123rd in total offense. Minnesota’s are 36th, 62nd, 103rd, 124th and 128th. Illinois’ are 38th, 77th, 96th, 97th and 131st (Iowa).

What happens when America’s No. 3 team in scoring defense meets a team that is first nationally with 48.8 points per game and second in yardage with an average of 543.8?

You probably have a good idea, but you’ll find out for sure when the Hawkeyes face 6-0 Ohio State in the less-than-hospitable environment of Ohio Stadium.

If Iowa can contain Heisman Trophy-candidate quarterback C.J. Stroud (24 touchdown passes) a rushing game that is averaging 228 yards, and receivers Emeka Egbuka and Marvin Harrison, Jr. (a combined 1,191 yards and 15 TDs), it should be fine.

If I find a fat roll of $100 bills on the sidewalk as I enter the Horseshoe on Saturday morning, I’ll be good, too.

Oh, Ohio State also is No. 10 in the country when it comes to scoring defense. Of course, it hasn’t played a team that ranks higher than 68th in total offense. That will change when it faces Michigan, and whomever it meets in the first round of the national playoffs.

While I’m going out on a limb, I’ll predict the Buckeyes win a lot of games next season and in following years. Here’s what guides that hunch:

In June, Ohio State Coach Ryan Day said he believed it would take $13 million in NIL money to keep his roster intact. He has 85 scholarship players.

He was serious.

Day said he believes top quarterbacks require $2 million in NIL money, and standout offensive tackles and defensive ends need $1 million. Otherwise, they’ll say goodbye, Columbus.

“The risk of doing nothing is that you fall behind,” Day said in a May radio interview, “and as we know, that’s not an option at Ohio State.”

Ohio State fan/rich guy Brian Schottenstein started The Foundation, a collective to get Buckeye athletes more than gum-and-cracker money.

“We started working on it last fall because I saw all these schools in the south, like Texas A&M, Texas and Tennessee, what they were doing,” Schottenstein said. “If Ohio State doesn’t have something like The Foundation in place, we’re going to get behind.”

Iowa has so much more than most of its FBS peers, but there always is someone else who has more than you do and wants even more than that. Because this stuff really, really matters.

In football and NIL alike, Ohio State is playing in a 52-49 game, not a 9-6.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com