Ohio State’s defense showed up in a big way once again against Iowa and it helped the Buckeyes move to 5-0 on the season.
The Buckeyes allowed just a garbage time touchdown to hand Iowa a 35-7 win in Big Ten play. It was a focused win for Ohio State, who showed they were focused on the task at hand, and not yet looking forward to Oregon.
The defense allowed just 226 total yards of offense and forced three turnovers. Superficially, linebacker Sonny Styles was one player that really shined at times. It couldn’t have come at a better time for Styles, who has been on the wrong end of some criticism lately.
Styles had seven tackles, two tackles for a loss, and a fumble recovery against Iowa. He really flashed playing downhill and even worked sideline to sideline at times and did it in an impressive way. The junior linebacker had a big hand in limiting Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson and their rushing attack .
“You look at Higgins for (Iowa), number 34, he had 174 tackles for them last year. Some of the great linebackers out there, they’ve played a lot,” OSU head coach Ryan Day said after the win over Iowa. “The more Sonny plays, the more he’s able to diagnose plays. Every rep he gets is an investment in his future and he’ll play faster and faster the more he plays.”