COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Emeka Egbuka caught three touchdown passes and Jeremiah Smith made another one-handed grab for a score as Ohio State sputtered early before burying Iowa 35-7 on Saturday. Quarterback Will Howard was 21 for 25 for 209 yards passing and four touchdowns and ran for 28 yards and a score as Ohio State (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) cleaned up its first-half mistakes and put up 21 unanswered points in the third quarter. The Buckeyes, hanging on to a 7-0 halftime lead, seized the momentum in the second half.
Ohio State had a third-and-6 on their own 43 when Howard threw a long ball to Smith who had outrun two defenders. Smith was tackled at the Iowa 3-yard-line, but that gave him a chance to really show off. On the next play, he leaped in the end zone and brought in Howard’s floating pass with his right arm while keeping defensive back Deshaun Lee at bay with his right.
On Iowa's next drive, quarterback Cade McNamara fumbled, and linebacker Cody Simon recovered at the Iowa 19. Three players later, Howard scurried around the left end for a TD to push the Ohio State lead to 21-0. Ohio turned a McNamara interception into a touchdown, capped by a 15-yard TD catch by Egbuka.
Then McNamara fumbled the ball away again, this time deep in Iowa territory, and that ultimately resulted in Egbuka's third TD catch. Iowa: Kaleb Johnson, one of the Hawkeyes' few reliable offensive weapons, gained 100-plus yards in each of their first four games and had a 206-yarder in the last one aga.
