Buckeyes letdown? More like beatdown

IOWA CITY, IOWA » Big Ten teams with national title hopes should know by now to be wary of Kinnick Stadium in November.

The Ohio State Buckeyes weren’t — and their playoff aspirations are likely cooked because of it.

Nate Stanley threw for 226 yards and five touchdowns, and Iowa throttled third-ranked Ohio State, 55-24, on Nov. 4, dealing what’s likely to be a fatal blow to the Buckeyes’ hopes of reaching college football’s Final Four.

Josh Jackson added three interceptions for the Hawkeyes (63, 3-3), who beat their fourth top-5 opponent in their last five tries at home. Iowa also knocked off unbeaten teams Michigan (2016)

and Penn State (2008) in the regular season’s final month.

“I didn’t see any signs. Usually I see signs and if I do I address them,” Meyer said when asked if his team suffered a letdown after coming off an emotional 3938 comeback win over Penn State last week.

Iowa went up 7-0 on the game’s first play — a picksix of J.T. Barrett — and raced out to a 31-17 halftime lead on a pair of Stanley TD passes to Noah Fant.

Stanley, following a successful and highly unusual fake field goal, later fired a 2-yard TD pass with a defender hanging onto his foot that put the Hawkeyes ahead 38-17 late in the third quarter.

“Our guys played with a lot of heart and toughness,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said.

Ohio State (7-2, 5-1, No. 6 CFP) allowed its most points in a game under Meyer, and Barrett had a career-high four interceptions.

“They were baiting him ... that’s their coverage,” Meyer said. “We just didn’t play very well.”

Defensive end Nick Bosa was also ejected for targeting in the first half, and the Buckeyes committed nine penalties in their most lopsided defeat since last year’s 31-0 loss to eventual national champion Clemson in the playoff.

The takeaway

OHIO STATE » It’s almost impossible to see a path that

takes the two-loss Buckeyes to the playoff after a loss like this. All Ohio State can do now is win out — and blow out an unbeaten Wisconsin in the league title game like in 2014 — and hope that enough chaos has broken out across the country that a two-loss team might get a look from the committee. But after how bad the Buckeyes looked in Iowa City, would even that be enough?

Iowa: The Hawkeyes had scored just 27 points in their last two games against Northwestern and Minnesota. But weird things happen in Kinnick Stadium in November — and Iowa just changed the narrative of its entire season thanks to an afternoon Hawkeyes fans will never forget.

CHARLIE NEIBERGALL — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Iowa running back Toren Young scores on a 6-yard touchdown run ahead of Ohio State safety Damon Webb during the second half.