Ohio State football: 5 reasons the Buckeyes will beat Iowa

3. The Hawkeyes’ passing defense can’t stop the Buckeyes’ aerial attack.

The Buckeyes have caught everyone off guard this season with their flip in playing style. What was once a run-first offense has now turned into a passing machine out of the blue.

The development of the passing offense for Ohio State has made it extremely difficult for opposing teams to game plan against it. This is because the moment opposing teams decide to pull defenders off the line of scrimmage to defend the pass, the Bucks just hand it off to J.K. Dobbins or Mike Weber instead.

Whether they game plan to stop the pass or not, the Hawkeyes have not been good this season in defending that area. The Hawkeyes rank fourth last in the Big Ten in passing defense by allowing almost 1800 yards through the air.

Barrett has ascended further than ever before. He is now leading the Big Ten in all major categories including completion percentage, yards, and touchdowns. Barrett has only thrown one interception and has accomplished these feats with less passing attempts than four of the nearest quarterbacks behind him.

The Hawkeyes will more than certainly have their hands full on Saturday trying to contain Barrett and one of the nation’s best and most efficient offenses. Barrett is now in the thick of the Heisman race and doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon. He passed test number two against the Nittany Lions’ top tier Big Ten defense so he should be in for some extra credit against this Hawkeyes defense.