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Iowa vs. Ohio State

Iowa and Ohio State have 68 meetings on file, the first in 1922; officially, Ohio State leads 49–⁠15–⁠3; as played, 50–⁠15–⁠3 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Ohio State 8–⁠2, and Ohio State has won the last 3. The NCAA vacated Ohio State’s win (2010); it doesn’t count officially. This page counts every game as it was played.

Official series
Ohio State leads 49–⁠15–⁠3
Iowa wins on file
15
Ohio State wins on file
50
Ties
3
Earliest on file
1922
Longest streak
16 Ohio State
Current streak
3 Ohio State
Last 10 meetings
Ohio State 8–⁠2
Most recent
2026

The series at a glance

’0’1’2’3’4’5’6’7’8’9W–L
1920s4–⁠3–⁠1
1930s0–⁠1
1940s1–⁠2–⁠1
1950s3–⁠6
1960s2–⁠7
1970s0–⁠9
1980s2–⁠5–⁠1
1990s1–⁠7
2000s1–⁠5
2010s1–⁠2
2020s0–⁠3
Both ranked
19 meetings: Iowa 4, Ohio State 15; 6 both in the top 10
Average margin
17.8 points; 19 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
At Iowa
7–⁠18–⁠2 Iowa’s record at home
At Ohio State
32–⁠8–⁠1 Ohio State’s record at home
Shutouts
10

Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.

Games that tell the story

  1. Iowa’s biggest win2017: Iowa 55, Ohio State 24by 31 points
  2. Ohio State’s biggest win1950: Ohio State 83, Iowa 21by 62 points
  3. Upset1958: Ohio State 38, Iowa 28Ohio State had a 30% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  4. Upset1952: Iowa 8, Ohio State 0Iowa had a 30% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  5. Upset2017: Iowa 55, Ohio State 24Iowa had a 34% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  6. Ranked showdown1960: Iowa 35, Ohio State 12No. 3 Ohio State at No. 5 Iowa
  7. Ranked showdown1985: Ohio State 22, Iowa 13No. 1 Iowa at No. 8 Ohio State
  8. Ranked showdown1983: Iowa 20, Ohio State 14No. 3 Ohio State at No. 7 Iowa

Coach against coach

YearsIowaSeriesOhio State
1924–⁠1928Burton Ingwersen2–⁠2–⁠1John Wilce
1952–⁠1960Forest Evashevski4–⁠4Woody Hayes
1961–⁠1965Jerry Burns1–⁠4Woody Hayes
1966–⁠1968Ray Nagel0–⁠3Woody Hayes
1971–⁠1973Frank Lauterbur0–⁠3Woody Hayes
1974–⁠1978Bob Commings0–⁠5Woody Hayes
1979–⁠1987Hayden Fry2–⁠5Earle Bruce
1988–⁠1998Hayden Fry1–⁠7–⁠1John Cooper
2003–⁠2010Kirk Ferentz1–⁠5Jim Tressel
2022–⁠2026Kirk Ferentz0–⁠3Ryan Day

Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Iowa’s side (Ingwersen 2–⁠2–⁠1 against Wilce). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.

Both programs through the years

End-of-season Elo ratings of Iowa and Ohio State, 1922 on130015001700190019401960198020002020

Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.

Stars of the series

Biggest days

Jeremiah Smith Ohio State11 catches, 206 yards, 2 TD2026 Receiving

Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on).

From the newspapers

  • The South Bend news-times's story of the 1922 game: Iowa Forced to Limit to Win Over Ohio State IL to Locke, HatUkeye's Star, Scores Both TOuchdoWnS In Victory Locke Scores Both Touchdowns That Figure in Hawkeyes Nictory-Ohio State Puts Jp Brilliant Defense, but Attack Lacked Necessary Punch to Win

    1922 · South Bend news-times, South Bend, Ind., Nov 19, 1922

  • The The Birmingham age-herald's story of the 1923 game: Iowa Downs Ohio State

    1923 · The Birmingham age-herald, Oct 28, 1923

  • The The Indianapolis times's story of the 1926 game

    1926 · The Indianapolis times, Indianapolis [Ind.], Oct 25, 1926

  • The The Bismarck tribune. (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current's story of the 1927 game: Thistlethwaite's Charges Take Aggressive in Second Quar- ter-9O-yard Run For Touch down Is Feature - Iowa Beaten by Ohio State, Ii to +

    1927 · The Bismarck tribune. (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, North Dakota, Oct 10, 1927

  • The The Daily Alaska empire's story of the 1945 game: FOOTBALL SCORES

    1945 · The Daily Alaska empire, Alaska, Oct 8, 1945

Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.

On television

ESPN’s College GameDay has broadcast from this game four times: 2026, 2006, 1997, 1996.

2026CBS6.0 million viewers

College GameDay’s sites from Wikipedia’s list of its locations (CC BY-SA). Viewers: Nielsen, as compiled by nschultz7’s ratings tracker.

Every game

Oct 3, 20265Ohio State 31, 14Iowa 14at Iowa
Oct 5, 20243Ohio State 35, Iowa 7at Ohio State
Oct 22, 20222Ohio State 54, Iowa 10at Ohio State
Nov 4, 2017Iowa 55, 3Ohio State 24at Iowa
Oct 19, 20134Ohio State 34, Iowa 24at Ohio State
Nov 20, 20108Ohio State 20, 21Iowa 17vacatedat Iowa
Nov 14, 200910Ohio State 27, 15Iowa 24at Ohio State
Sep 30, 20061Ohio State 38, 13Iowa 17at Iowa
Sep 24, 20058Ohio State 31, 21Iowa 6at Ohio State
Oct 16, 2004Iowa 33, 25Ohio State 7at Iowa
Oct 18, 20038Ohio State 19, 9Iowa 10at Ohio State
Oct 21, 200014Ohio State 38, Iowa 10at Iowa
Oct 30, 199921Ohio State 41, Iowa 11at Ohio State
Nov 14, 19987Ohio State 45, Iowa 14at Iowa
Oct 4, 19977Ohio State 23, 11Iowa 7at Ohio State
Oct 26, 19962Ohio State 38, 20Iowa 26at Iowa
Oct 28, 19954Ohio State 56, 25Iowa 35at Ohio State
Oct 31, 1992Ohio State 38, Iowa 15at Iowa
Nov 2, 199111Iowa 16, 13Ohio State 9at Ohio State
Nov 10, 1990Ohio State 27, 6Iowa 26at Iowa
Nov 11, 1989Ohio State 28, Iowa 0at Ohio State
Nov 12, 1988Iowa 24, Ohio State 24at Iowa
Nov 14, 1987Iowa 29, Ohio State 27at Ohio State
Nov 1, 198617Ohio State 31, 11Iowa 10at Iowa
Nov 2, 19858Ohio State 22, 1Iowa 13at Ohio State
Sep 22, 19845Ohio State 45, 14Iowa 26at Ohio State
Sep 24, 19837Iowa 20, 3Ohio State 14at Iowa
Nov 15, 19807Ohio State 41, Iowa 7at Iowa
Nov 10, 19793Ohio State 34, Iowa 7at Ohio State
Oct 21, 1978Ohio State 31, Iowa 7at Ohio State
Oct 15, 19775Ohio State 27, Iowa 6at Iowa
Oct 9, 197610Ohio State 34, Iowa 14at Iowa
Oct 11, 19751Ohio State 49, Iowa 0at Ohio State
Nov 16, 19744Ohio State 35, Iowa 10at Iowa
Nov 17, 19731Ohio State 55, Iowa 13at Ohio State
Sep 16, 19723Ohio State 21, Iowa 0at Ohio State
Sep 11, 197111Ohio State 52, Iowa 21at Ohio State
Nov 16, 19682Ohio State 33, Iowa 27at Iowa
Nov 18, 1967Ohio State 21, Iowa 10at Ohio State
Nov 12, 1966Ohio State 14, Iowa 10at Iowa
Nov 13, 1965Ohio State 38, Iowa 0at Ohio State
Oct 31, 19641Ohio State 21, Iowa 19at Iowa
Nov 2, 19639Ohio State 7, Iowa 3at Ohio State
Nov 3, 1962Iowa 28, Ohio State 14at Iowa
Nov 4, 1961Ohio State 29, Iowa 13at Ohio State
Nov 12, 19605Iowa 35, 3Ohio State 12at Iowa
Nov 14, 195916Iowa 16, Ohio State 7at Ohio State
Nov 15, 195816Ohio State 38, 2Iowa 28at Iowa
Nov 16, 19576Ohio State 17, 5Iowa 13at Ohio State
Nov 17, 19567Iowa 6, 6Ohio State 0at Iowa
Nov 12, 1955Ohio State 20, Iowa 10at Ohio State
Oct 16, 19544Ohio State 20, 13Iowa 14at Ohio State
Oct 25, 1952Iowa 8, 14Ohio State 0at Iowa
Oct 27, 1951Ohio State 47, Iowa 21at Ohio State
Oct 28, 19506Ohio State 83, Iowa 21at Ohio State
Oct 9, 1948Iowa 14, 11Ohio State 7at Ohio State
Oct 18, 1947Ohio State 13, Iowa 13at Ohio State
Oct 6, 1945Ohio State 42, Iowa 0at Ohio State
Oct 7, 1944Ohio State 34, Iowa 0at Ohio State
Nov 24, 1934Ohio State 40, Iowa 7at Ohio State
Oct 13, 1929Ohio State 7, Iowa 6at Ohio State
Nov 10, 1928Iowa 14, Ohio State 7at Ohio State
Oct 8, 1927Ohio State 13, Iowa 6at Iowa
Oct 23, 1926Ohio State 23, Iowa 6at Ohio State
Oct 24, 1925Iowa 15, Ohio State 0at Ohio State
Oct 11, 1924Iowa 0, Ohio State 0at Iowa
Oct 27, 1923Iowa 20, Ohio State 0at Ohio State
Nov 18, 1922Iowa 12, Ohio State 9at Ohio State

Every game is listed as played on the field; a win the NCAA later vacated is marked “vacated”; the official series above counts them the NCAA’s way.