Buckeyes face tough test in Big Ten today at Iowa

Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa

Nearly everyone familiar with the Big Ten figured the winner of the Ohio State-Iowa game would probably win at least a share of the league title.

That’s still true — for the Buckeyes anyway.

No. 8 Ohio State (9-1, 5-1 Big Ten) can reach the Rose Bowl for the second year in a row if it beats the Hawkeyes and rival Michigan and gets some help. No. 21 Iowa (7-3, 4-2) needs a virtual miracle to make it to Pasadena after blowing a 10-point lead and losing to Northwestern last week.

No one expects that to change the intensity of the showdown in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes might be considered a disappointment this season, but they’re also a veteran bunch used to winning.

“All summer long and all fall long, people have circled this game. It’s not like, ‘oh, who do we have this week?”’ Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. “They know what this game, we know what this game is all about.”

The Buckeyes have won 11 of the last 12 in the series dating to 1992. Last year’s win over the Hawkeyes in Columbus might have stung the most of all.

Iowa, playing without injured quarterback Ricky Stanzi, rallied with two fourth-quarter touchdowns but fell in overtime, 27-24. Both teams went on to win BCS bowl games, and the talent each brought back for 2010 had some predicting this weekend’s game would have national championship ramifications along with the Big Ten title.

Ohio State held up its end of the bargain.

A spot in the national title game is likely out of reach for the Buckeyes after its 31-18 loss to Wisconsin. But they have steamrolled their last three opponents by a combined score of 139-24.

“They’ve been playing well all season, but particularly the last three weeks,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “They are really on a roll right now, playing with great momentum.”

Iowa had momentum, too, after blasting then-No. 5 Michigan State 37-6 to throw the league title chase into a four-team scramble. But the Hawkeyes haven’t looked like the same team in the past two weeks.

Iowa’s defense has had late-game issues in all three of its losses.