Jeremiah Smith set two more school records and strengthened his Heisman Trophy candidacy when No. 5 Ohio State earned a 31-14 Big Ten victory over No. 14 Iowa in Iowa City on Saturday.
Smith, a junior, made his 36th career touchdown catch in the third quarter to surpass Chris Olave’s school record and give Ohio State (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) a 24-6 lead.
On Ohio State’s next drive, Smith’s 10th catch of the game was his 206th for the Buckeyes to move one ahead of former record-holder Emeka Egbuka.
Smith finished with 11 catches for 206 yards and struck the Heisman pose in the end zone after his second score against the overmatched Hawkeyes (4-1, 1-1). In the past two games, Smith has compiled 23 catches for 423 yards and six scores.
Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin, a Heisman finalist in 2025, completed 20 of 27 passes for 324 yards and three touchdowns.
Iowa finished with just 238 total yards and lost the turnover battle 2-0.
The Buckeyes started and ended the first half well for a 17-6 lead.
On the game’s first possession, Ohio State’s Kenyatta Jackson Jr. sacked Hank Brown and forced a fumble recovered by Christian Alliegro at the Iowa 14. Devin McCuin made the Hawkeyes pay when he snagged a 15-yard touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead just 1:42 into the game.
The teams exchanged field goals before Iowa’s Caden Buhr nailed a 48-yarder on the last play of the first quarter to cut the Ohio State lead to10-6.
It remained that way until Sayin engineered a nine-play, 84-yard drive that was capped by Smith’s first touchdown. He made a catch at the 3 and stretched his arm across the goal line as he was being tackled with 12 seconds left in the half.
Sayin was 12 of 16 for 177 yards and Smith made six catches for 11 yards through two quarters.
Brown was 12 for 27 for 132 yards and an interception before being injured late in the third quarter.
Jeremy Hecklinski replaced him and led the Hawkeyes 75 yards for a 2-yard scoring run by Braeden Jackson and a two-point conversion for a 31-14 score with 9:30 to go.
Ohio State took the ensuing kickoff and ran out the clock with a 16-play, 55-yard drive.
–Field Level Media
