COLUMBUS — One more piece of business lay in front of it before next week’s showdown at Oregon, and No. 3 Ohio State handled it with ease, using a dominant second-half effort to roll to a 35-7 thrashing of the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Buckeye quarterback Will Howard tossed four touchdown passes, including a trio to Emeka Egbuka, and added another score on the ground for his first five-touchdown performance as a Buckeye.

Egbuka finished with a game-high nine catches for 71 yards to go along with the three touchdowns, giving him five for the season.

As is the case anytime Ohio State and Iowa meet, much was made of the battle at the line of scrimmage between both teams. It was a battle the Buckeyes repeatedly won, holding star Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson to 48 yards rushing before Johnson padded his stats in the fourth quarter against Ohio State’s second unit.

Ohio State’s running back tandem of TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins combined for 139 yards on 24 carries but were both held scoreless for the first time this season. As a team, the Buckeyes rushed for 209 yards, the first time a team has surpassed the 200-yard mark against Iowa this season.

“That was the challenge coming in,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said after the game. “We say it’s 60 minutes of inside drill and then figure out where we are running the ball and stopping the run. We now have a reference point moving forward, and I think this can give us a lot of confidence moving forward because it was a big challenge to our team about physicality and toughness. I thought we answered that.”

After forcing a punt on the game’s opening possession, Ohio State delivered an early statement to take its first lead despite beginning with poor field position. Howard’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Egbuka capped a 14-play, 88-yard drive to give Ohio State a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter, and it appeared the Buckeyes were on their way to throttling the overmatched Hawkeyes.

With Iowa (3-2, 1-1) still struggling to find any footing offensively, Ohio State threatened twice to increase its lead, crossing into Iowa territory each time. A failed fourth-down attempt and a fumble by Jeremiah Smith ended both drives, however, as Ohio State couldn’t land a potential knockout blow.

Following an Iowa punt from deep inside its territory, Ohio State was set up again to add to its lead late in the half before another drive ended prematurely. Howard’s second-down pass was intercepted at the Iowa 38 by defensive back Sebastian Castro, thwarting the opportunity and sending the two teams into the locker room with just a touchdown separating them.

Ohio State compiled 199 yards of total offense in the half, including 110 yards on the ground against Iowa’s vaunted rushing attack, but two Buckeye turnovers kept Iowa in the game heading into the break. Iowa was limited to 90 yards of offense, including just 19 rushing yards for Johnson.

Day called the halftime locker room a “mixture of feelings” given his team’s statistical success on both sides of the ball but lack of points to show for it.

“On defense, there was an energy,” Day said. “But even on offense, it was like, if we just take care of the football, we can turn this thing and get going because the score was probably different if we took care of the ball.”

Despite the rough half, Ohip State shrugged it off to begin the second half much the same as it began the game. After receiving the opening kick, Howard and Smith connected for a 53-yard gain to move Ohio State to the doorstep of increasing the lead, and the duo wasn’t done.

One play later, it was Smith again on the receiving end of a Howard pass, and Smith turned in his latest highlight-reel play. With a defender draped all over him, Smith reached up and plucked Howard’s pass out of the air with his right hand in the end zone.

The one-handed touchdown grab sent the Ohio Stadium crowd into a frenzy and gave the Buckeyes a 14-0 lead that teetered on being insurmountable for the inept Iowa offense.

“One-on-one, they’re open,” Howard of the catch. “I have all the trust in the world in those guys. I’ve seen them do it in practice, and it makes my job easy … That one-handed catch from (Smith), it’s just stupid (good). It’s fun to watch and makes my job pretty nice.”

Any remaining life left on the Iowa sideline was promptly erased on the ensuing drive when Jack Sawyer stripped Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara of the ball on the first play of the possession. Cody Simon pounced on the loose ball, sending the Ohio State offense back onto the field for the kill shot.

Howard delivered that shot three plays later, scampering into the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown run to up the Buckeye lead to 21-0 and slam the door on any potential upset. The rushing touchdown was the fourth of the year for Howard and his fourth consecutive game with a rushing touchdown.

Already in firm control, Ohio State piled on with a pair of Howard touchdown passes to Egbuka to take a 35-0 lead early in the fourth as the Buckeyes rolled to the win.

“He doesn’t get rattled,” Day said Howard’s ability to shake off the tough first half. “There are times time when I even try to rattle him in practice and he doesn’t. That’s a good sign for a quarterback. I know he’d like to have that (interception) back and a couple of other things, but some of those throws down in the red zone were tremendous throws and catches … And then when you add in him making some plays with his feet, that’s the x-factor right there.”

Once the win was secured, it didn’t take long for Day and his team to turn their attention towards what awaits them next week.

“If we can keep grinding on these Tuesday and Wednesday practices, we can keep building on this because that’s, to me, what the difference is. And we’re going to need a big week of work this week for Oregon,” Day said.

He added, “They’re all big, but just the way that the schedule has played out, our competition has ramped up each week. So here we go. This is going to be a great opponent, and we’re looking forward to going across the country and playing it.”

Reach Dillon Davis at 740-413-0904. Follow him on X @DillonDavis56.