Hayden Fry had won two of his past three games in Ohio Stadium.
His 1995 team featured players still revered in Hawkeye football lore: Running backs Sedrick Shaw and Tavian Banks, receiver and kick returner extraordinaire Tim Dwight, future NFL standouts Ross Verba, Mike Goff, Casey Wiegmann, Jared DeVries and Damien Robinson – and control of their Big Ten destiny heading into November.
These Hawkeyes would go on to defeat a Washington Huskies team which had gone wire-to-wire ranked in both polls while winning all three of its rivalry games – Iowa State, Wisconsin and Minnesota – and placing four players on the All-Big Ten team at season's end.
It was destined to be a battle! Anyway, here's Sportscenter's 48-second recap:
#25 Iowa vs #4 Ohio State (1995) pic.twitter.com/MUFlNrkgQn
— College Football Classics (@ClassicsCFB) June 19, 2025
The Buckeyes scored seven touchdowns on their first six offensive possessions. How is that even possible, math doesn't work like that - yes it does, intrepid reader. It works like that when Greg Bellisari ends two of Iowa's drives with interceptions and Shawn Springs adds a third, which he was kind enough to take all the way back for a touchdown.
It was 56-0 Buckeyes with the 2nd quarter winding down, as Ohio Stadium chanted Ed-die, Ed-die, Ed-die every time eventual Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George got the ball. He ended the half with four touchdowns while Terry Glenn added a couple, making the Hawkeye secondary look foolish with every route.
Glenn entered the game as the nation's premier receiver, with four 100-plus yard games and dazzling, nationally-televised highlights to match, which makes Iowa defensive back Plez Atkins' postgame comments quite puzzling:
"I didn't respect him enough. I played him the way I've played every other receiver to this point - in their face, a little tighter, I took a few more chances. When you take chances, you get beat a lot. And he's fast enough to beat anybody."
He finished the game 1st half with 149 yards on three receptions, including those two scores. Had Glenn played the entire game, we could have gotten a JSN Rose Bowl situation.
If you'd like to watch the entire broadcast, with a spry Mike Tirico in the studio while Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson were in the booth, through the magic of the Internet – here you go:
But there's a reason this game has largely been forgotten – and the way Michigan ended most of Ohio State's seasons that decade only gets an honorable mention in this case. It's hard to revere an afternoon where the opponent ended the game on a 35-0 heater.
Iowa scored its first touchdown right before the half and then four more in a second half where Cooper decided to rest every starter he had. After putting up 49 points in the first half, Ohio State's offense produced just 42 yards of offense after halftime with Stanley Jackson spelling Bobby Hoying under center.
Coop's younger players and bench gained valuable experience against Iowa's 1s, but without any experienced players on the field, the Hawkeye starters feasted. As a result, there were questions in the media following the game if voters who only saw the final score and not how the game transpired would punish the Buckeyes in the polls (they did not - Ohio State remained No. 4 and picked up six first-place votes).
The game effectively broke the Hawkeyes, who dropped out of the polls and lost at home to 3-4 Illinois the following week 26-7. That Illinois team then visited Columbus and was treated to an orgy of pancakes which were Remembered in this space a few weeks ago.
The 56 points were the second-most Ohio State has ever scored against the Hawkeyes, just beating out a 55-point effort Woody Hayes' from 1973 team and 54 from the 2023 Buckeyes. The 1950 Buckeyes, who could only muster three points in the Snow Bowl, beat Iowa a month earlier on the same field by a score of 83-21 - still a program record for most points scored in a conference game.
Barring a postseason meeting this year, Ohio State's next game against Iowa will take place in 2026 when the two programs are set to meet at Kinnick Stadium, date still to be determined.
