Iowa football Game Report: Hawkeyes 55, No. 6 Ohio State 24

Numbers, notes and grades from Iowa's 55-24 win over No. 6 Ohio State Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

Play of the Game

The Setup — Through two quarters Saturday night, Iowa had gone step for step with the highest scoring team in the country, and hadn't had much trouble on offense. Capitalizing on turnovers had given the Hawkeyes a 31-17 lead at halftime. Still, 30 minutes of football was a long time against Ohio State.

The third quarter didn't start off all that great, either. Iowa had gone three and out after receiving the second-half kickoff. A week after Ohio State had erased a 15-point deficit the three-and-out and a Nate Stanley punt later, it got a little tense in Kinnick Stadium.

But after forcing a second Buckeyes three-and-out of the second half, the Hawkeyes set up at their own 22 and drove to the Ohio State 20 in seven plays.

Iowa lined up like it was going to kick a 37-yard field goal with Migual Recinos. Then things got a little weird.

What Happened — The Hawkeyes shifted into a swinging-gate-style formation, with five linemen shifted far to the left, the long snapper and two blockers in the middle, and a 'receiver' split to the right with punter — and holder — Colten Rastetter back to receive the snap.

A play affectionately known as the polecat was in order. Ohio State lined up with no safety or linebacker help over the top, which is exactly what longsnapper Tyler Kluver was hoping and waiting for.

Kluver snapped to Rastetter, who waited a beat before tossing it over to Kluver, as 67,669 people watched, trying to figure out what was happening.

'In practice we made sure the defense was kind of like a dummy thing so it looked good,' Kluver said. 'I honestly didn't think it would be the same in the game. I picked my head up (after the snap) and there was nobody there. My heart fluttered a little bit. Then I turned and the ball was already in the air a little bit because they had guys come after Colten. Despite my really great athleticism I fell on the 1-yard line.'

The Results

The pass hung in the air for a beat before falling into the hands of Kluver, who turned and started to run for what would've been a touchdown, but he slipped on the Kinnick Stadium turf and fell down at the 3-yard line.

One play later, Nate Stanley had Buckeyes defensive end Sam Hubbard hanging all over his feet as he threw a three-yard touchdown to T.J. Hockenson, which made the score 38-17 and effectively put the game out of reach for Ohio State with a quarter and a half still to go.

-Jeremiah Davis

Report card

A+ — Encase this one in glass and only let people see it from behind a velvet rope. This was a masterpiece.

-Mike Hlas

A — A work of art.

-Marc Morehouse

A+ — I think a lot of people expected a score similar to the 55-24 final we saw at Kinnick Stadium. Just … not that 55-24.

-Jeremiah Davis

Rouge fake punt

Fakes aren't totally rare for Iowa football. Coach Kirk Ferentz brought up the fake field goal in the Orange Bowl that he called.

But on Saturday night in Iowa's 55-24 upset against No. 6 Ohio State, the fake the Hawkeyes ran in the fourth quarter was decidedly not called by Ferentz.

At his own 15, punter Colten Rastetter took the snap from Tyler Kluver, tucked the ball in and ran to his left for a gain of seven yards on fourth and nine. ESPN cameras caught Ferentz having a conversation with Rastetter after the play in which the head coach looked more than a little confused.

Given the outcome, it was a source of laughter for Ferentz after the game, and while he didn't specifically say Rastetter's name, he made it pretty clear that the fake punt was not a coach's decision.

'I'll just say two things,' Ferentz said through a grin. 'It ain't in our playbook, OK? If the play is not in our playbook, then I didn't call it, so I'll let you connect the dots. I normally don't throw players under the bus, right? I did call the fake-out in the Orange Bowl where it was wild kingdom, but that was a little different situation. I guess this is the same one. But if I call it, it's OK. If somebody else calls it, not so good.'

Thankfully for Rastetter, the ensuing Ohio State touchdown didn't affect the outcome.

-Jeremiah Davis

Hawkeyes participate in the wave

The new, well-documented and well-received tradition of those inside Kinnick Stadium waving to the children and their families inside Stead Family Children's Hospital got an addition on Saturday.

The Hawkeyes players and coaches participated.

Coach Kirk Ferentz had said before this week that his coaches and players wouldn't be participating in the wave because they wanted to remain focused on the task at hand, hoping the children and their families would understand — especially considering the amount of time players spent there on other occasions.

Some on social media had been critical of the optics, especially since opposing teams have participated as well, but those criticisms were silent on Saturday.

-Jeremiah Davis

By the numbers

35 — Most points Iowa had scored on Ohio State all time before Saturday

20.5 — Point spread in Ohio State's favor at kickoff

1 — J.T. Barrett's interceptions headed into Saturday

4 — J.T. Barrett interceptions Saturday

3 — Josh Jackson interceptions Saturday

5 — Nate Stanley touchdowns

571.2 — Yards per game for Ohio State coming into Saturday

371 — Yards of offense for Ohio State on Saturday

7 — Points in the second half for Ohio State

46.2 — Points per game scored by Ohio State before Saturday

18.2 — Points allowed per game by Ohio State before Saturday

9 — Catches for Iowa tight ends

4 — Touchdowns for Iowa tight ends

-Jeremiah Davis

Injury report

The Hawkeyes made it out of Saturday night's game essentially unscathed.

While they still didn't have the services of Brandon Snyder, Iowa only saw one player go down throughout the game with an injury. Defensive tackle Nathan Bazata went down in the second half against Ohio State, and was out briefly before returning to finish the game.

Afterward, both Bazata and head coach Kirk Ferentz said he was OK. Neither seemed concerned about the injury being a long term issue.

-Jeremiah Davis

Up next

Iowa goes back on the road next week, this time to Camp Randall to play No. 9 Wisconsin for the Heartland Trophy. The Hawkeyes head to Madison, Wis., with a 6-3 record overall and a 3-3 record in Big Ten play, while the Badgers remain undefeated at 9-0 overall and 6-0 in the Big Ten after dispatching Indiana, 45-17, on the road. The game will kick off at 2:30 p.m. and will be televised either on ABC or ESPN.

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com