Iowa Football's 2017 Beatdown of Ohio State Needs A Second Look

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Iowa football's 2017 season was a roller coaster, but nothing could've prepared Hawkeye fans for Nov. 4, 2017. 

Iowa woke up that morning sitting at a precarious 5-3 overall and 2-3 in Big Ten play, and if the mediocre record wasn't enough, the Hawkeyes were staring at a daunting matchup against No. 6 Ohio State. 

Though they stumbled to Oklahoma at home in the second game of the year, the Buckeyes were still very much in Big Ten and College Football Playoff contention by November, and the dramatic comeback win over No. 2 Penn State the previous week only fueled those dreams. 

Ohio State entered the contest as a 20.5-point favorite, but what happened next still probably gives Buckeye coach Urban Meyer nightmares to this day. 

The Rundown 

Iowa featured three NFL Draft selections on its 2017 roster, but like many other seasons in the Kirk Ferentz era, it was marred by close losses.

The Hawkeyes had No. 3 Penn State on the ropes in Week 3, but the Nittany Lions silenced Kinnick Stadium with a game-winning touchdown on the last play of the game.

Iowaa  followed this up with a 17-10 loss at Michigan State the following week, and duplicated the same disappointing score at Northwestern two weeks later. The win over Minnesota (again by a 17-10 score) the week before the Ohio State game was a much-needed morale boost, but barely beating an eventual 5-7 Gopher team didn't give Hawkeye fans much optimism for this contest. 

For the Buckeyes, the formula to reaching a third College Football Playoff was simple – win the rest of their regular season games and the Big Ten Championship Game. 

Thousands of Ohio State fans made the trip to Kinnick Stadium anticipating step one of this process to be fulfilled, but it only took one play for everything to go awry. 

Quarterback J.T. Barrett led his explosive Buckeye offense (41.1 PPG in 2017) on the field for the opening possession, but his first pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Amani Hooker to give Iowa a stunning 7-0 lead. 

Both teams traded touchdowns for most of the first half, but things began to turn in the Hawkeyes' favor when standout defensive end Nick Bosa was ejected for targeting on third down. 

This gave Iowa new life, and Stanley responded by finding tight end Noah Fant for a touchdown on the very next play to give the Hawkeyes the lead for good.

Scott Dochterman of The Athletic later revealed that then-offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz noticed the Buckeye defense wasn't great at defending tight ends, so Iowa responded by using its star tight ends (T.J. Hockenson was on this team, too) to its full advantage. 

All-American cornerback Josh Jackson intercepted Barrett three times after this, with the first one leading to another Hawkeye score just before halftime.

The Buckeyes were mentally beat by this point, and Ferentz took the opportunity to rub it in their face even more by successfully attempting a fake field goal that hilariously ended with future Iowa podcaster Tyler Kluver stumbling over his own two feet before crossing the goal line. 

The Hawkeyes averaged 28.2 points per game during the season, but they ended this memorable day with a whopping 55 points.

The final score read: Iowa 55, Ohio State 24, and the contest is affectionally known by Iowa fans as "Woodshed." 

Iowa fans stormed the field in celebration, but this would be the last hurrah for the 2017 team. The Hawks didn't even score an offensive touchdown the following week at Wisconsin, and finished 8-5 overall and 4-5 in Big Ten play.

The win remains just one of two times the Hawkeyes have managed to defeat the Buckeyes under Ferentz, but Iowa will have a chance to pull another upset when Ohio State returns to Iowa City on Oct. 3. 

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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at bradschultz@roundtable.io

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