Iowa Football Stock Report: Hawkeyes' Value Takes a Serious Dip vs. Ohio State

The Iowa Hawkeyes had one of the hottest stocks in all of college football following the improbable road win over the Michigan Wolverines. Like the real stock market, things often find their level, and such was the case against Ohio State.

Iowa fell 31-14 to the Ohio State Buckeyes in a game that truly felt like it was wrapped up at halftime. The Hawkeyes couldn't seem to get much going on offense in this one, which took many Hawkeyes fans back to the days of pain.

As Iowa falls to 4-1, all of the Hawkeyes' goals are still within their grasp, but a short week with a trip to Washington is going to force the issue much sooner than normal.

Stock Up: Boston Everitt

Come on, would it be recapping an Iowa game without mentioning the Hawkeyes' punter? You know better than that. On a day when Iowa needed to try to win the field position battle, Boston Everitt did his job for the Hawkeyes.

Despite the lopsided score, Everitt was only called on to punt four times yet averaged nearly 42 yards, with two punts downed inside Ohio State's 20-yard line. His signature punt checked up around the five-yard line and settled down around the two.

Stock Down: Iowa's run game

This is a serious problem. Iowa has not been able to run the ball against Power Four teams. Once was an anomaly. Twice was weird. Three times is a trend. This is a serious issue for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

For a team that wants to maintain possession and be physical, there is no world in which 21 rushes for 29 yards, an average of 1.9 yards per carry, is acceptable. In fact, it's embarrassing.

Stock Up: Jeremy Hecklinski

It could be Jeremy Hecklinski's offense next week on the road at Washington after Hank Brown left this game banged up. Thrown into a nearly impossible moment, Jeremy Hecklinski played admirably, giving some confidence should Iowa lean on him.

Hecklinski saw some vanilla coverage against Ohio State, as the Buckeyes were trying to close things out, but going 5-for-5 for 67 yards in that moment has to count for something.

Could he get the nod at Washington if Hank Brown is unavailable? Those plays could be huge in building his confidence if so.

Stock Down: Room for error

Sitting at 4-1, all of Iowa's goals are still right in front of it. This isn't an unexpected spot for the Hawkeyes to be, record-wise. Honestly, most Iowa fans would have gladly taken this before the season began.

The College Football Playoff is still in the picture, but Iowa has lost significant room for error. The Hawkeyes didn't just lose to Ohio State. It felt like a different class of football. In all honesty, Iowa could maybe afford one more loss to make the playoff at 10-2, but at 9-3, the Citrus Bowl awaits.

Add us as a preferred source on Google