Ohio State rolls into Iowa City as the blue blood with the receiver everyone game-plans around. Iowa's counting on Kinnick Stadium and Kirk Ferentz stubbornness to make it a fight anyway.
Bush’s Picks
OSUIOWA
OSUIOWA
OverUnder
Best BetOhio State
Ohio State's roster talent, led by Sayin and Jeremiah Smith, is a tier above what Iowa's shaky QB battle can be expected to counter this early in the season. The Buckeyes' defensive rebuild is the real variable, but even a diminished Patricia unit should be enough to control a Hawkeyes offense that hasn't found its passer yet.
Ohio State
+Julian Sayin completed FBS-best 77% of passes in 2025
+Jeremiah Smith is the nation's top receiver
+Experienced offensive line returns intact
−Lost 8 defensive starters, including 3 first-round picks
−Blew 12-0 start, lost B1G title game to Indiana
−Linebacker corps completely unproven
Iowa
+Went 9-4, won ReliaQuest Bowl over Vanderbilt
+Ferentz holds Big Ten record for coach bowl wins
+Kinnick Stadium a tough road environment historically
−Lost graduate transfer QB Mark Gronowski to the draft
−QB battle between Hecklinski and Brown still unresolved
−Offense has a track record of stalling out
This is a QB-picture mismatch on paper. Julian Sayin is back for year two as Ohio State's starter after completing an FBS-best 77% of his passes with 32 touchdowns in 2025, throwing to the best receiver in college football in Jeremiah Smith behind an experienced offensive line. Iowa, meanwhile, is still sorting out who takes the first snap after Mark Gronowski's lone, bowl-MVP season in Iowa City ran out of eligibility. Wake Forest transfer Jeremy Hecklinski and returner Hank Brown have been trading reps all offseason, and neither has locked it down.
The story behind Ohio State's talent edge is that it comes with real questions attached. The Buckeyes went 12-0 in the regular season last year and still lost the Big Ten title game to Indiana 13-10, then got bounced from the CFP quarterfinals by Miami. Worse for 2026, they lost 8 defensive starters off that group, including linebackers Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles and safety Caleb Downs, all first-round-caliber picks in this year's draft. Matt Patricia is rebuilding a defense that used to be the sport's best, and a road trip to a rowdy Kinnick crowd is a tough early proving ground.
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OSU Ohio State
IOWA Iowa
Iowa isn't walking in as a pushover, either. The Hawkeyes finished 9-4 last season, capped it with a 34-27 win over Vanderbilt in the ReliaQuest Bowl, and gave Ferentz the Big Ten record for bowl wins by a coach. That program identity — physical, ball-control, hard to play against at home — doesn't disappear just because the QB room is in flux. New OC Tim Lester is tasked with squeezing more out of an offense that's had its moments of being unwatchable, and this early-October test against a national-title-hopeful roster will tell you a lot about where that project stands.
Ohio State Buckeyes
Sep 25?vs Illinois—
Sep 19?vs Kent State—
Sep 12?@ Texas—
Sep 5?vs Ball State—
Iowa Hawkeyes
Sep 25?@ Michigan—
Sep 19?vs Northern Iowa—
Sep 12?vs Iowa State—
Sep 5?vs Northern Illinois—
Recent form.
Watch how Ohio State's new-look linebacker corps handles Iowa's downhill running game — that matchup says more about the Buckeyes' ceiling than anything Sayin does through the air. On the other side, whichever of Hecklinski or Brown is under center needs to hold up against a defensive line that, even rebuilding, still has NFL-bound pieces up front. If Iowa can't establish the run and stress a green Ohio State front seven, this could get out of hand fast.
Ohio State Buckeyes
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Iowa Hawkeyes
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
Friday-night games at Kinnick have a way of getting weird — the crowd, the temperature drop, the fact that a shaky new starter is playing his first real road environment for OSU or first true test for Iowa's guy. Neither program is walking in clean, which is exactly why this one's worth circling early in the season.
