Iowa is losing ground to serious college football rivals while Ohio State is hitting home

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The distance between a good football team and a great football team is about 730 miles and eight hours in a vehicle. The scoreboard reads about 200 yards and 28 points.

Ohio State confirmed Saturday that it is a national title contender, with top talent at every position. Iowa has shown time and time again in recent years that it is a quality program that has good players in many places, but doesn't have enough juice to compete at the highest level.

Once again, No. 3 Ohio State dominated Iowa with a 35-7 win at The Horseshoe. It was the Hawkeyes' ninth straight road loss in the one-sided series, and it should come as no surprise that the Buckeyes' margin of victory in those games is 20.7 points. Only twice during that span did Iowa reach single digits in Columbus; The program's last win at Ohio Stadium came in 1991.

But a decisive loss at Ohio State isn't Iowa's problem. In fact, far from it. These losses have been happening for generations and will happen every four or five years from now until the apocalypse comes or private equity buys Big Ten football. The bigger problem is that Iowa has struggled to compete against all ranked opponents, which used to be the case on a regular basis. And the separation becomes greater every year.

Starting with a 42-3 loss to Michigan in the 2021 Big Ten Championship Game, the Hawkeyes have been outscored 270-51 by their last eight ranked opponents. Only one of those games was competitive, and the combined score of 89-17 in the last two games against Ohio State shows how far Iowa is from becoming a serious contender.

That has to change, but how? Is Iowa even capable of doing that?

“There’s no magic formula,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Just get back to work and try to get better and improve.

“We go back to Jan. 1 (a 35-0 loss to Tennessee); That was probably the last time we had the kind of game you're referring to. I think we’re the better team offensively right now, but only time will tell.”

It wasn't that long ago that Iowa was constantly causing surprises and battling against quality teams for four quarters. From 2008 to 2021, the Hawkeyes faced 16 top-10 opponents and won eight times. Of the eight losses, only the Rose Bowl disaster against Stanford was by a margin of more than 10 points. None of Iowa's last eight straight ranked losses have been competitive at all, save for a 20-17 loss to Kentucky in the Citrus Bowl to close out the 2021 season.

The Hawkeyes' offense was the difference in many of those big wins. Although Iowa has made progress compared to recent years, the offense is not good enough to compete against a team as strong and talented as Ohio State. Unless the offense improves, the results will not improve.

Gone are the days of Iowa using high-octane defense to get a win against a team like Ohio State. Name, image and likeness money, as well as a wide-open transfer portal, have changed this dynamic. In the past, NCAA rules wouldn't have allowed Ohio State to keep its senior defensive backs out of the NFL. A portal of immediate eligibility helped the Buckeyes secure a center, a quarterback, a running back and a left tackle. The stars and newcomers acquired by the Buckeyes minimized their talent gap year-over-year.

“When it comes to talent across the board, I just don't know if a lot of other teams can compete like that,” Iowa linebacker Jay Higgins said. “It’s hard to pinpoint their weaknesses.”

That's been true at Ohio State from the moment Woody Hayes first stepped onto the sideline in 1951, and it will be true in 2051, too. With a reported zero war chest of $20 million, Ohio State kept its team intact and sprinkled with quality players. Just as importantly, Ohio State recruits at a level well above most programs.

Ohio State University five-star freshman Jeremiah Smith, the nation's top recruit in the Class of 2024, opened the game with a 53-yard reception on third-and-6, getting behind the defensive backs in the sixth Year, Quinn Schulte and Jermari Harris came. One play later, Smith hit cornerback Deshaun Lee for a one-handed 4-yard touchdown catch that gave the Buckeyes an insurmountable 14-0 lead.

No matter what the Hawkeyes did on Saturday, it wasn't enough. Not on offense, defense or special teams. The defense played well for a half, but that came after stealing possession with a forced fumble, an interception and a fourth-down stop. The offense was flat for most of the game against an elite defense with no real weakness. Even a missed field goal and a few sunk punts didn't bring any advantage at the edge.

Three turnovers on Iowa's next three possessions led to three Ohio State touchdowns, turning a losing battle into a collapse. That effectively ended all of the Hawkeyes' College Football Playoff hopes — their chances of making the field fell to 3 percent in the latest update to Austin Mock's model.

Iowa needed a close, competitive game in Columbus to make a realistic case that it should be considered for the 12-team field if it wins. Although their weaknesses have been magnified by a superior team, the Hawkeyes still have a good running game and quality defense. But Saturday's result had to be a 10-point loss, not 28. The eye test is still important to the CFP selection committee, and the Hawkeyes honestly can't compete when it counts.

(Photo: Jason Mowry/Getty Images)