IOWA CITY, Iowa – Bob Todd picked up his 900th win at Ohio State as the Buckeyes topped Iowa, 11-6, Sunday afternoon in Iowa City.

Bob Todd Wins No. 900 at Ohio State

With the win, Ohio State moves to 27-21 on the season, 10-11 in the Big Ten while Iowa drops to 23-26, [...]]]> Courtesy: OhioStateBuckeyes.com

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Bob Todd picked up his 900th win at Ohio State as the Buckeyes topped Iowa, 11-6, Sunday afternoon in Iowa City.

Bob Todd Wins No. 900 at Ohio State

With the win, Ohio State moves to 27-21 on the season, 10-11 in the Big Ten while Iowa drops to 23-26, also 10-11 in the Big Ten.

Jared Strayer picked up his second win of the week in relief for the Buckeyes, tossing four innings, giving up five hits and just one earned run. Ryan Dew finished 2-for-5 with four runs batted in and two runs scored and Cory Rupert went 3-for-4 with a run batted in.

Like the first two games of the series, Zach Hurley led off the first inning with a single. After a fly out by Cory Kovanda, Dan Burkhart walked and Michael Stephens singled to right to load the bases. Dew then took Phil Schreiber offering deep to right for a grand slam to give the Buckeyes a 4-0 lead. It was Dew’s sixth home run of the season and third in the last five games. Brad Hallberg followed Dew with a walk and Rupert singled through the right side on a perfectly executed hit and run to move Hallberg over to third. Brian DeLucia then pushed the Buckeye lead to 5-0 on an RBI fielder’s choice to shortstop as Hallberg crossed home plate.

After recording the first two outs of the first inning, Ohio State starter Brett McKinney loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk but the freshman right-hander was able to get out of the jam as Mike Corbeil flew out to center to end the threat.

Iowa was able to get one back in the second as Trevor Willis came around to score on a single by Kurt Lee after tripling to lead off the inning.

The Hawkeyes scored two more in the bottom of the fourth when Tyson Blaser led off the inning with a double and Willis followed with his second triple of the game, this time down the right field line. Willis was then driven in on a sacrifice fly to center by Kurtis Muller to cut the Buckeye lead to 5-3 after four.

The Buckeyes answered right back with two of their own in the top of the fifth. Stephens led off the inning with his team-leading ninth home run of the season, a bomb to left center that not only cleared the scoreboard but cleared the street between Duane Banks Field and Carver-Hawkeye Arena, the home of the Iowa basketball and wrestling teams. Dew followed with a single to center to knock Schreiber out of the game. Hallberg then welcomed Iowa reliever Zach Kenyon with a single to right and Rupert then singled to drive in Dew to make it a 7-3 Buckeye lead.

After Rupert popped out to lead off the seventh, DeLucia and Tyler Engle each singled, Hurley walked to load the bases and Kovanda walked as DeLucia scored. Burkhart then singled through the left side to drive in a pair. Kovanda then scored on an error by Lee on a ground ball by Stephens as Ohio State extended the lead to 11-3.

Iowa tacked on one more run on three hits in the eighth and two more in the ninth but it proved to be too little, too late as Ohio State came away with the win.

The Buckeyes return home to Bill Davis Stadium Tuesday to take on Pittsburgh on Columbus City Schools Day at 12:05 p.m.

Follow us on Twitter: CSN_Cincy

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State tight end Jake Ballard was stunned when he was told that with a win against Iowa on Saturday, the Buckeyes are headed to the Rose Bowl.

To get back to the Rose Bowl for the first time since the 1996 season, Ohio State, a team that couldn’t seem to [...]]]> Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State tight end Jake Ballard was stunned when he was told that with a win against Iowa on Saturday, the Buckeyes are headed to the Rose Bowl.

To get back to the Rose Bowl for the first time since the 1996 season, Ohio State, a team that couldn’t seem to win a big game for three years, now must win two in the span of a little more than a week.

The Buckeyes handled then-No. 11 Penn State 24-7 in Happy Valley on Saturday, the same day Iowa lost quarterback Ricky Stanzi and its first game at home against Northwestern, 17-10.

Those two outcomes set the stage for a winner-take-all slugfest at Ohio Stadium. The victor is assured of a Rose Bowl berth against an opponent from the muddled Pac-10 (the front-runners are Arizona and Oregon).

The Buckeyes (8-2, 5-1) have won three games in a row since that 26-18 loss in West Lafayette, Ind. The victory over Penn State ended a string of six losses in a row against higher-ranked teams.

Coach Jim Tressel said his players realize beating the Nittany Lions doesn’t mean much if they don’t follow up.

“They knew once the ball game was over that although that was awfully tough, what lies ahead is even tougher,” he said.

The Buckeyes have been contemplating this stretch of three games ever since the calendar changed.

“It’s going to be a battle in November. Whoever wins November is going to win the Big Ten championship,” defensive end Cameron Heyward said. “You can kind of look at it like a boxing (championship). You can’t just win one fight and win (a title). It’s going to be critical for us to bring it every game.”

Now all that separates the Buckeyes from at least a share of a fifth consecutive conference championship is an Iowa team (9-1, 5-1) that will be starting a redshirt freshman quarterback, James Vandenberg. Stanzi went down in the second quarter with a badly sprained ankle. He has undergone surgery and will not play against Ohio State or in the Hawkeyes’ regular-season finale against Minnesota.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said his team is regrouping after the loss. The Hawkeyes have won their last six on the road, including wins over Big Ten toughies Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan State and last year’s Outback Bowl game against South Carolina.

“It’s not our first road trip this year,” Ferentz said. “We’ve handled it. We haven’t let it be a distraction. From that standpoint I think that’s certainly a positive. But I don’t know if it’s going to be enough for us. We’re going to have to do everything right to win this football game.”

Tressel knows that there’s no margin for error despite the changing fortunes of the two teams.

“It’s pretty hard to be more nervous than I am normally,” he said. “It is harder to handle success, it’s just the truth, but I’m probably most concerned with the fact that I know how good Iowa is.”

An Ohio State win would make the annual rivalry game at Michigan relatively insignificant. If the Buckeyes were to beat Iowa, they would win any tiebreaker with their three closest pursuers (Iowa, Penn State and Wisconsin). The only things on the line might be an outright Big Ten title, not to mention the pride that comes with knocking off your archrival.

The Buckeyes are well aware of the enormity of the Iowa game.

“After it’s all said and done, people looking back on this season will say that Penn State and Iowa were turning points of that season,” Ballard said, finally catching on to what was at stake. “And the Buckeyes really came together.”

MY PICK: Buckeyes 21-17