Ohio State 38, Iowa 17

1234T
OSU (5-0)71471038
IOWA (4-1)370717

Final

8:00 PM ET, September 30, 2006
Kinnick Stadium
IOWA CITY, IA

Heisman display: Smith tosses 4 TDs as No. 1 Ohio State rocks Iowa

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Top 25 Overview
It was over when... Roy Hall caught a 6-yard TD pass from Troy Smith with 2:19 remaining in the half. The score took the wind out of Iowa's sails and gave the Buckeyes a 21-10 lead.
Gameball goes to... Smith, who continues to put distance between himself and the rest of the Heisman candidates. His four TDs and 207 total yards were exactly what Ohio State needed.
Stat of the game... 37.5: Iowa QB Drew Tate completed just 37.5% of his passes, the first time he has finished under 50% since Sept. 10, 2005 -- a 23-3 loss to Iowa State.
Team Stat Comparison
 
1st Downs2318
Total Yards400336
Passing186249
Rushing21487
Penalties3-180-0
3rd Down Conversions6-144-12
4th Down Conversions1-12-2
Turnovers04
Possession40:3019:30
Individual Leaders
Ohio State Passing
 C/ATTYDSTDINT
Smith16/2518640
Iowa Passing
 C/ATTYDSTDINT
Tate19/4124913
Ohio State Rushing
 CARYDSTDLG
Pittman25117123
Wells1478019
Smith720010
Iowa Rushing
 CARYDSTDLG
Young1148115
Sims538021
Tate41011
Ohio State Receiving
 RECYDSTDLG
Ginn Jr.769015
Gonzalez577230
Hall222116
Robiskie112112
Iowa Receiving
 RECYDSTDLG
Chandler687024
Douglas463023
Brodell451127
Grigsby340031
Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTEROSUIOWA
TD11:34ANTHONY GONZALEZ 12 YD PASS FROM TROY SMITH (AARON PETTREY KICK)
Drive info: 7 plays, 54 yards.
70
FG5:19KYLE SCHLICHER 32 YD FG
Drive info: 14 plays, 66 yards.
73
SECOND QUARTEROSUIOWA
TD13:41ANTONIO PITTMAN 4 YD RUN (AARON PETTREY KICK)
Drive info: 3 plays, 30 yards.
143
TD11:10ALBERT YOUNG 15 YD RUN (KYLE SCHLICHER KICK)
Drive info: 7 plays, 80 yards.
1410
TD2:19ROY HALL 6 YD PASS FROM TROY SMITH (AARON PETTREY KICK)
Drive info: 12 plays, 89 yards.
2110
THIRD QUARTEROSUIOWA
TD9:35ANTHONY GONZALEZ 30 YD PASS FROM TROY SMITH (AARON PETTREY KICK)
Drive info: 11 plays, 80 yards.
2810
FOURTH QUARTEROSUIOWA
FG14:51AARON PETTREY 36 YD FG
Drive info: 14 plays, 68 yards.
3110
TD13:08ANDY BRODELL 4 YD PASS FROM DREW TATE (KYLE SCHLICHER KICK)
Drive info: 12 plays, 86 yards.
3117
TD4:23BRIAN ROBISKIE 12 YD PASS FROM TROY SMITH (AARON PETTREY KICK)
Drive info: 3 plays, 14 yards.
3817

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Troy Smith believes to be the best you have to believe you're the best.

The way Ohio State has manhandled the competition so far, there's every reason for the Buckeyes to think they're unbeatable.

Slow down, you move too fast
 Troy Smith
In less than three seasons, we've seen Troy Smith go from a running quarterback to a relaxed, confident pocket passer. In 2006, the 22-year-old senior seems to be scrambling out of necessity rather than by choice, and mostly as a way to buy his receivers time to get open. Think anyone in Columbus is complaining?
2005 2006
Rushing att. 136 22
Rushing yards 611 24
Rushing TDs 11 0
* -- In Saturday's 38-17 win over No. 13 Iowa, Smith completed 16-of-25 passes for 186 yards, 4 TD and 0 INT. He also ran the ball seven times for 20 yards.

Smith threw for 186 yards and four touchdowns and No. 1 Ohio State made another September statement, thumping No. 13 Iowa 38-17 Saturday night and extending the nation's longest winning streak to 12 games.

"I think if there's a guy in the locker room who said that we weren't the No. 1 team in the nation, he'd have a problem with me," Smith said. "You have to have that kind of attitude, that kind of swagger."

Of course, having Smith behind center doesn't hurt. Once again, Smith kept his cool in the toughest of settings -- remember Texas -- and led the Buckeyes (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) to a surprisingly easy win.

Ohio State faced three ranked teams in September -- Texas, Penn State and the Hawkeyes -- and beat them all by at least 17 points.

Saturday's showdown was one of the biggest games in Kinnick Stadium history, and more than 70,000 fans -- about 69,000 of which were decked out in Iowa gold -- did their best to help the Hawkeyes (4-1, 1-1) pick up their first win over a No. 1.

Smith didn't let that happen.

All four of his TD passes gave Ohio State breathing room. His counterpart, Iowa's Drew Tate, threw three picks that helped kill Iowa's upset bid.

"He was in command the whole game," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said of Smith. "I thought he was one of the elite ones [in the nation] before this game. But he keeps getting better."

Not how they Drew it up
 Drew Tate
Hawkeye Nation was primed for history Saturday night. Iowa had been 25-1 over its previous 26 home games, and Drew Tate loves to give the Kinnick Stadium crowd something to cheer about. Too bad Ohio State had other plans. Using superior strength and quickness, the Buckeyes defense pressured Tate all game long, forcing the senior QB to throw three INTs, matching his career high. Here's how Tate's career numbers at home stack up with Saturday night's showing.
Career Saturday
Comp. pct. 65 46.3
Pass yards 6,405 249
TD-INT 32-11 1-3
W-L 13-1 0-1

Tate had his worst game last season against Ohio State. He wasn't much better Saturday. He finished 19-of-41 for 249 yards.

"I gave them two touchdowns," Tate said. "You take two of them away, it's a pretty close ball game."

It looks like smooth sailing for the next six weeks for Ohio State. None of its upcoming opponents, until Michigan comes calling on Nov. 18, are currently ranked.

"That's something we talked about, how brutal that September schedule is," Tressel said. "We've played against some tough teams who brought all they could bring us."

Iowa (4-1, 1-1) fell to 0-10-1 against top-ranked teams. The Hawkeyes couldn't put up much of a fight in the most anticipated game at Kinnick in more than 20 years.

The Buckeyes were just the fifth top-ranked team to visit Kinnick, the last being Miami, who beat Iowa 24-7 in 1992. And the last game to generate this much buzz in Iowa also came in 1985, when the top-ranked Hawkeyes beat No. 2 Michigan 12-10.

All the buzz, and a loud sellout crowd, wasn't enough to stop the Buckeyes.

"By my vantage point, this is the best they've played all year," Ferentz said of the Buckeyes. "This wasn't an easy one to walk into as a visitor."

Ohio State broke open a 21-10 game with long scoring drives on its first two possessions of the second half. Anthony Gonzalez, who caught two touchdown passes, took the air out of the Kinnick crowd with a spectacular 30-yard TD catch that put the Buckeyes ahead 28-10 early in the second half.

Gonzalez caught the ball on the left hashmark, cut back toward the right sideline -- using his hand to keep from falling down -- and fought through a tackle to reach the pylon.

Ohio State's next drive only netted an Aaron Pettrey field goal. But it ate almost eight minutes off the clock and gave the Buckeyes a 21-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Hawkeyes pulled within 31-17 on a 4-yard TD pass from Tate on fourth down. But Ohio State forced a fumble and two interception on Iowa's next three possessions. Smith put Iowa's comeback hopes to rest with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Brian Robiskie.

Antonio Pittman and Chris Wells combined for 55 yards rushing on a 12-play, 89-yard scoring drive late in the second quarter. Smith capped it with a 6-yard strike to seldom-used senior Roy Hall.

The Buckeyes rushed for 124 yards in the first half -- just 15 shy of their game average heading into Saturday -- and picked up 5.9 yards a carry against an Iowa defensive line considered one of the Big Ten's strongest.

"The run is what killed us," Iowa cornerback Charles Godfrey said. "They ran the ball down our throats."

Iowa got as close as 14-10 on a 15-yard touchdown run by Albert Young.

The Buckeyes moved ahead 14-3 by capitalizing on an interception by Brandon Mitchell, who returned it to the Iowa 30. Pittman followed a 23-yard rush with a 4-yard TD run.

Ohio State scored on the game's opening possession, marching 53 yards in just 2:24. Smith, who finished 16-of-25 passing, found Gonzalez for a 12-yard TD pass to give the Buckeyes a 7-0 lead.

Pittman rushed for 117 yards and a touchdown.

College Football Scores

Other Scores:

Saturday, September 30th
Wisconsin 52 Final
Indiana 17
Illinois 23 Final
Michigan State 20
Purdue 21 Final
Notre Dame 35
Northwestern 7 Final
Penn State 33
Michigan 28 Final
Minnesota 14
Ohio State 38 Final
Iowa 17