Game Balls: Ohio State – Black Heart Gold Pants

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Some Hawkeyes still did good things. Some.
Kaleb Johnson
Someone’s getting an offensive game ball – might as well be Kaleb.
Ohio State kept Iowa’s star bottled up in the first half, allowing Johnson just 19 yards on eight carries. He had a better second half but by then, the damage was done. He finished with 15 carries for 86 yards and Iowa’s lone touchdown. It was in garbage time, but he ended Iowa’s embarrassing duck against ranked opponents. Bageled no more!
Jay Higgins
Higgins was everywhere Saturday. The senior finished with 14 tackles, 1 sack, 1 tackle for loss, 1 forced fumble, and 1 fumble recovery. Wow. He went Superman in the second quarter to both strip Ohio State super freshman Jeremiah Smith and also recover the fumble as he kept Iowa in the game after Punt Gate two plays early.
Will Howard
I have to give the ball to an opponent this week. I could’ve chosen Smith, whose one-handed touchdown was one of the plays of the season. He will break Cris Carter’s freshman touchdown record of 8 very soon (he already has 6). Emeka Egbuka had 10 targets, caught 9 of them for 71 yards, and 3 of those catches were for touchdowns.
Howard is the call though. He had maybe two bad throws the whole game? A pick by Sebastian Castro, and he floated another pass that looked getable for the Iowa defense – Cole Fisher was there and it looked like he could make a play on the ball – but Ohio State caught it anyway so whatever. Here’s Howard’s line – 21-25, 209 yards, 4 touchdowns and that 1 bad pick before half that temporarily kept Iowa in the game. He also chipped in 10 carries for 28 yards and a touchdown. I couldn’t have been more impressed by the Buckeyes, but Howard specifically stood out. That seemed like the one weak point for this Ohio State team. If he’s this good, they’re going to roll the league. They might roll everyone.
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