Ohio State 31-14 Iowa (Oct 3, 2026) Final Score

Team pages: Ohio State · Iowa

No. 5 Ohio State4-131

No. 14 Iowa4-114Final

Sat, Oct 3 · Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, Iowa · Crowd 69,250

No. 5 Ohio State beat No. 14 Iowa 31-14.

We had Ohio State favored. It won.

Next: Ohio State beat Maryland 45-16, Sat Oct 10

Next: Iowa beat Washington 41-24, Fri Oct 9

Top comment in the game thread

Name a better duo than Ohio state and kicker woes.

Q2 12:23 · r/CFB game thread · Sat, Oct 3

How it swung

Before kickoff, our ratings gave Ohio State a 70% chance, and the closing betting line (Ohio State was a 14.5-point favorite) put it at 88%.

Favored the whole way: Ohio State never fell below 76%.

Iowa never had better than a 24% chance.

FinalOhio State 31-14 IowaOhio State wonMove across the chart, or tap a numbered swing, to see any play.

No single play moved the chance by 20 points.

What fans said, play by play

The line in bold above each quote is written by our model from the thread’s comments and the play-by-play.

Q2 12:23Ohio State misses a 40-yard field goal as fans curse the team's kicking woesQuoted at the top of the page.

Ohio State’s chance to win after every play.

How to read this chart

Starts from the pregame line (Ohio State -14.5), at 78% for Ohio State (the play-by-play feed's kickoff number, moved to match the line; our model's and the betting line's own numbers are in “The betting line, and the fans”). Dots are the biggest swings; ticks under the chart are scores. Under the scores, r/CFB comments per minute from fans with a Iowa or Ohio State flair (1,434 and 4,056); both sides share one scale, regulation only. A gold diamond marks a play fans were reacting to.

Watch the plays

The bar and the arrow show Ohio State’s chance to win after each play; the logo is the team the play helped.

Every drive

Ohio State scored on 5 of its 10 drives; Iowa on 3 of its 10.

Ohio State’s drives are teal, Iowa’s amber. A line runs from where a drive started to where it ended; a filled dot means it scored.

“Oh look, a Department of “War” propaganda ad”

A fan of another team

How fans reacted

Steady

Fans had the most to say in the second quarter.

Jump to the loudest stretch

The jump was steady; the crowd was loud.

Two crowds, one game

The words each side’s fans used far more than the other side, from the game thread.

Ohio State fans

sayin“Sayin is playing pretty well he just needs to be protected from free rushers”

Iowa fans

hecklinski“Hecklinski is about to get a chance to establish his legacy and reopen the QB contest”

secondary“I fear it may just be one of the years we don't have the speed in the secondary to consistently hang”

punting“They should make a sport that is just punting”

stupid“That whole situation was just terrible the flop and the stupid move on a kickoff touchback of all things”

Both sets of fans kept coming back to: day, ball, run, don.

What it cost

Ohio State’s chance to make the playoff rose from 67% to 73%.

Make the playoff

Ohio State · won67% → ▲73%

Iowa · lost6% → ▼4%

Win the conference

Ohio State · won33% → ▲37%

Iowa · lost3% → ▼1%

Win the title

Ohio State · won10% → ▲11%

Iowa · lost0% → 0%

Before the game (October 2, 2026) → after this result, in our model.

Box score

Ohio State 31, Iowa 14

Ohio State covered −14.5 by 2.5. The total, 45, stayed under 46.5.

Team totals	Ohio State	Iowa
Total yards	484	238
Passing	20 of 27, 324 yds	17 of 32, 199 yds
Rushing	47 for 160 yds	21 for 39 yds
First downs	25	15
Third down	8 of 15	5 of 11
Fourth down	1 of 2	0 of 0
Turnovers	0	2
Penalties	9 for 49 yds	6 for 45 yds
Time of possession	38:02	21:58

Ohio State leaders

Passing Julian Sayin 20 of 27, 324 yds, 3 TD
Rushing Ja'Kobi Jackson 14 for 72 yds, 1 TD; Bo Jackson 16 for 70 yds
Receiving Jeremiah Smith 11 for 206 yds, 2 TD; Devin Mccuin 4 for 80 yds, 1 TD

Iowa leaders

Passing Hank Brown 12 of 27, 132 yds, 1 INT
Rushing Kamari Moulton 11 for 27 yds; L.J. Phillips Jr. 4 for 16 yds
Receiving DJ Vonnahme 6 for 64 yds; Tony Diaz 5 for 59 yds

No rain through the game

71° at kickoff · no rain recorded

October game-day temperatures at Kinnick Stadium

Drag along the chart, or step through the game.

First quarter, 14:55 left2:40 p.m.

Ohio State 0, Iowa 0 · Iowa 22% to win

no rain · 70°

Brown 7-yd pass to Diaz

Where this weather comes from

Measured at Iowa City airport, 1.4 miles away. Rain is NOAA's radar-and-gauge estimate at the stadium and wind is an airport reading; neither is measured on the field. Game times come from the play-by-play, good to a minute or two. Source: National Weather Service, through the Iowa Environmental Mesonet; rain radar from NOAA MRMS, through Iowa State University. Field direction from OpenStreetMap contributors.

Before kickoff

Recent games, the series and the betting line below are as they stood going in; the season profile is the season so far.

Recent games

Last 4 games

Ohio State · 3-1

Rated 4th in our preseason ratings, 2nd now.

3-1 in its last 4 — but nothing on this résumé beats a top-40 team yet.

W 42-19 vs Illinois #59 of 668

won by 23 as a 25.5-point favorite

W 59-3 vs Kent State #120 of 668

won by 56 as a 52.5-point favorite

L 23-24 @ TexasTop 25 #4 of 668

lost by 1 as a 2.5-point underdog

W 56-3 vs Ball State #144 of 668

won by 53 as a 50.5-point favorite

Last 4 games

Iowa · 4-0

Rated 13th in our preseason ratings, 16th now.

4 straight wins, capped by a 1-point win over Michigan as a 4.5-point underdog.

W 20-19 @ MichiganTop 25 #20 of 668

won by 1 as a 4.5-point underdog

W 55-0 vs Northern Iowa #160 of 668

won by 55 as a 37.5-point favorite

W 16-13 vs Iowa State #138 of 668

won by 3 as a 14-point favorite

W 40-0 vs Northern Illinois #95 of 668

won by 40 as a 31.5-point favorite

Week by week

Iowa

Wk 1Wvs Northern Illinois40-0
Wk 2Wvs Iowa State16-13
Wk 3Wvs Northern Iowa55-0
Wk 4Wat Michigan20-19

Ohio State

Wk 1Wvs Ball State56-3
Wk 2Lat Texas23-24
Wk 3Wvs Kent State59-3
Wk 4Wvs Illinois42-19

Power rating by week

Ohio State is rated 6.2 points ahead as of week 4. Our power rating by week; higher is better.

Matchups

Biggest mismatch: Ohio State’s passing EPA against Iowa, 69 points

Each row ranks the two sides among all teams. The longer the line, the bigger the mismatch.

Ohio State’s passing EPA against Iowa’s defense
Ohio State offense, 92nd percentile · Iowa defense, 23rd
Iowa’s EPA/play against Ohio State’s defense
Iowa offense, 58th percentile · Ohio State defense, 95th
Iowa’s explosive plays against Ohio State’s defense
Iowa offense, 47th percentile · Ohio State defense, 79th

Season profile, all the rows

Season profile

Ohio StateIowa

EPA/play, offense

EPA/play, defense

Success rate, offense

Success rate, defense

Explosive-play rate, offense

Explosive-play rate, defense

Rush EPA, offense

Rush EPA, defense

Pass EPA, offense

Pass EPA, defense

The series

Ohio State leads the series 49-15-3

67 meetings since 1922 · Ohio State has won the last 2

2024Ohio State 35-7
2022Ohio State 54-10
2017Iowa 55-24
2013Ohio State 34-24
2010Ohio State 20-17

Each line is Iowa’s chance to win through that meeting. Older meetings have no play by play, so no line.

Line, fans and home field

The betting line, and the fans

Iowa fans are in a better mood than Ohio State fans (80th vs 50th among FBS fanbases), even with Ohio State favored.

Ohio State favored by 14.5 · Total 46.5

How games like this usually go

Ohio State by 14.5, and it went to form

Half of games8 in 10 gamesThis game

The band is where a favorite’s chance ran in the 251 games since 2025 with a favorite of 14.5 to 21.5 points.

The market

The spread moved 0.5 points toward Ohio State.

The total rose 2 points.

The books’ cut: 4.2%, the margin built into the odds

Weather at kickoff

Mild and dry. Feels like 71° at kickoff.

Ohio State at Iowa · Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026 · Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City

71°feels like at kickoff
Dryno rain at kickoff
98weather score, Comfortable

At kickoff, Oct. 3, 2026.

Weather score: 0 to 100, higher is better, for the first 3 hours and 20 minutes of the game. Ideal is 100, Comfortable 90 to 99, Mixed 75 to 89, Rough 50 to 74, Harsh under 50.

Kickoff times that Saturday

Games in this time zone used 5 kickoff times that day, local time (kickoffs within 30 minutes of each other count as one). This game is ringed. At Kinnick Stadium that day, a 11 am, 3:15 pm, 6 pm or 6:45 pm kickoff would have scored 100, against 98 at 2:30 pm.

11 am: 100, Ideal
2:30 pm: 98, Comfortable (this game)
3:15 pm: 100, Ideal
6 pm: 100, Ideal
6:45 pm: 100, Ideal

Weather score at each kickoff time.

Tap a dot to read that kickoff time.

At kickoff, Oct. 3, 2026. Wind is not drawn here; gusts are in each score.

Home field

Iowa is worth +2.6 points (±3.7) more at home than on the road since 2018 — bottom third of FBS, 24th percentile.

75% at home, 65% on the road against FBS opponents (39-13 home, 26-14 away).

Our model gives every stadium the same flat 2.3-point home edge (why); the books use about 3. Against the closing line this stadium reads -4.4 at home vs. away over 96 games — inside the ±5.6 noise, so the flat number is the honest one here.

The visitors travel about 460 miles to get here.

Last meeting in our History pages

Iowa 55, Ohio State 24Nov 4, 2017

Where next

Conference standings

Place in the conference, then conference record.

Iowa4th1-0
Ohio State5th1-0

Full Big Ten standings

No. 5 Ohio State beats No. 14 Iowa 31-14