Buckeye Rosters

Recap

Iowa City, IA — No. 7 Ohio State put itself back on the winning track with a dominating 45-14 win over Iowa. The Buckeyes were paced by Joe Montgomery’s 144 yards rushing, David Boston’s 163 yards receiving, Joe Germaine’s 319 yards passing and a punishing defense which recorded a school-record 11 sacks.

The game started off in Iowa’s favor. On Ohio State’s first possession, quarterback Joe Germaine misfired a ball into the hands of Iowa cornerback K.J. Johnson at the Iowa 16-yard line who immediately returned the ball 73 yards to the OSU 11. On the next play, Iowa quarterback Scott Mullen called his own number and rushed in for a touchdown to give Iowa its only lead of the game. This set the stage for Montgomery’s heroics. On the very next play from scrimmage, the senior tailback found a seam, got a great downfield block from Boston, and scored a career-long 80-yard touchdown run. OSU increased its lead to 14-7 with just six seconds remaining in the first quarter when Germaine found Boston streaking across the center of the field for a 54-yard touchdown strike. Momentum would continue to go into OSU’s favor 1-minute and 11-seconds into the second quarter. The OSU defense flushed Mullen out of the pocket and into the hands of Brent Johnson. Mullen panicked and misfired the ball into the hands of defensive tackle Mike Collins, who galloped 22-yards for his first career interception and touchdown.

Iowa mustered its final threat of the afternoon when reserve quarterback Kyle McCann rushed in from 13 yards out to bring the score to 21-14. Ohio State scored 24 unanswered points from this point. With just 27 seconds remaining in the half, the Germaine to Boston connection struck again, this time for a 17-yard score. The Buckeyes went into halftime with a 28-14 lead. OSU’s first score of the second half was set up by a 27-yard punt return by Boston to put the Buckeyes at the Iowa 22-yard line with six minutes remaining in the third stanza. Three plays later, Germaine found fullback Matt Keller for a 16-yard touchdown reception to increase the OSU lead 35-14. OSU kicker Dan Stultz added three points to the lead with a 27-yard field goal with 13:10 remaining in the game. With 5:09 left in the contest, the Buckeyes added their final exclamation point with fullback Jamar Martin’s 10-yard touchdown run, the first of his career.

NOTES: David Boston’s afternoon of five receptions for 163 yards placed himself into some elite company. His 1,113 yards receiving marks only the third time in school history a Buckeye has gone over the 1,000-yard receiving plateau. He now joins Terry Glenn (1,411 yards in 1995) and Cris Carter (1,127 yards in 1986). Boston increased his all-time school record in receptions to 170.

Tailback Joe Montgomery brings his best to Kinnick Stadium. His 144-yard rushing performance marked his fourth career 100-yard game and two have come at Kinnick Stadium. He rushed for 160 yards at Kinnick in 1996.

Eight Buckeyes recorded a sack against Iowa. Leading the way with two each were Na’il Diggs, Matt LaVrar and Rodney Bailey. Also notching sacks were Andy Katzenmoyer, Mike Collins, Brent Johnson, David Mitchell and Chris Kirk.

In addition to the quarterback sack record, the Buckeyes set team single-game records for tackles-for-loss with 16 and for yardage lost with 93.