By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – It defies explanation and is without question the most incomprehensible three to four hours I’ve spent watching an Iowa football game.

Just mention the score 55-24 and most Hawkeye fans would know exactly to what you’re referring because that was the final score of Iowa’s stunning victory over third-ranked Ohio State on Nov. 4, 2017 at Kinnick Stadium.

The teams will meet again on Saturday for the first time since that improbable Hawkeye beat-down five years ago, but Saturday’s game will be played in Columbus, Ohio and neither team has any current players that participated in the 2017 game.

Ohio State also has a different head coach with Ryan Day having replaced Urban Meyer in 2018, and Ohio State is also favored by 29 points.

Day was an assistant coach for Ohio State in 2017, and he was asked about the loss to Iowa that season earlier this week.

“That’s a scar that doesn’t go away, and I’ve felt it for sure,” Day said.

What happened in that game five years ago will have no impact on Saturday’s game, although as Iowa cornerback Riley Moss said to the media on Tuesday; it shows that anything is possible.

Moss was on his official visit to Iowa on the day Iowa dismantled the Buckeyes.

“It was crazy, storming the field and stuff,” Moss said. “It was nuts. I hear stories from some of my friends who were on that team in 17. So, seeing that and seeing what we can do, it’s possible. Anything is possible in this world. And that’s how we’re looking at it is we’re going to win this game.”

It was surreal enough in 2004 when Iowa pounded the Buckeyes 33-7 at Kinnick Stadium.

But that was an Iowa team that would go on to win a share of the Big Ten title, and 10 games overall, while Ohio State finished 8-4 overall and just 4-4 in conference play that season.

The 2017 Iowa team, on the other hand, finished 8-5 overall, and just 4-5 in conference play, while Ohio State finished 12-2 in 2017, including 8-1 in conference play, and was ranked fifth in the final Associated Press poll.

And just a week after having crushed the Buckeyes in 2017, Iowa unraveled against No. 6 Wisconsin in Madison, losing 38-14 in a game in which the Iowa offense barely fired a shot.

Both of Iowa’s touchdowns came on pick-sixes by All-America cornerback Josh Jackson.

What happened the week after at Wisconsin makes what happened against Ohio State in 2017 even harder to understand because in just seven days the Iowa offense had gone from overpowering one of college football’s true giants to looking helpless against Wisconsin.

Kirk Ferentz was asked at his weekly press conference on Tuesday if the 31-point victory over Ohio State in 2017 was one of the most complete performances he’s witnessed as the Iowa head coach.

Ferentz didn’t really answer the question, but instead he talked about how some things just can’t be explained.

“I wish I could tell you what we did that week that was different than anything else we do,” Kirk Ferentz said of days leading up to the Ohio State game in 2017. “The fact of the matter is sometimes things just happen, and sometimes, rarely, it goes like that one did. Usually, it’s the other way.

“Boy, I didn’t see that coming. And boy, you just get hit by a train. That’s one thing I’ve learned long before I was a head coach that sometimes that just happens. And when it happens on the good side, man, that’s a great feeling. But typically, you go back and look and there’s nothing mystical or magical about it. It just happened. And that day, things really clicked. Hopefully, all the plans we draw up are with the idea of having success, but there’s other days too where, boy, I didn’t see that one coming and nothing worked. And, boy, it’s a tough feeling.

“So, it would be great if they balance out, but they don’t.”

While the outcome might have been surreal, Iowa’s victory over Ohio State in 2017 can easily be explained from a play-by-play standpoint.

Iowa safety Amani Hooker returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, and that helped to set the tone, and set the stage, for an upset.

Iowa led 31-17 at halftime and 38-17 after three quarters as tight ends T.J. Hockenson and Noah Fant combined to score four consecutive touchdowns, two apiece, during a stretch from the second quarter to the third quarter.

While you kept waiting for Ohio State to shift the momentum, because it’s Ohio State, it just never happened.

Iowa kept making plays and pouring it on against a team that usually does the pouring.

Iowa finished with 487 yards and achieved almost perfect balance with 244 passing yards and 243 rushing yards.

Ohio State was held to just 371 yards and threw four interceptions, while Iowa didn’t commit a turnover.

Brian Ferentz was in his first season as the Iowa offensive coordinator, and he pushed all the right buttons in this game as the Buckeyes had no answer for his offense.

Iowa running back Akrum Wadley rushed for 118 yards on 20 carries and also had three catches for 40 yards.

Backup running James Butler also played a key role for Iowa with 70 rushing yards on 10 carries.

Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley passed for 225 yards and five touchdown passes, including one in which an Ohio State defender was wrapped around his leg, but Stanley refused to go down.

That play sort of symbolized Iowa’s dominance in the game.

Stanley’s five touchdown passes tied a Kinnick Stadium record and he also became the first quarterback in 20 years to throw five touchdown passes and zero interceptions against Ohio State.

Josh Jackson also made quite a statement with three of Iowa’s four interceptions in the game, including a one-handed grab that made everyone’s highlight tape.

Some might call what happened that day a fluke or an abberation, but for Iowa fans, it was a milestone moment and something to cherish forever because they might never witness anything like it again.

Iowa has only defeated Ohio State five times since 1963.

The 55 points and the 31-point margin of victory are the most ever by an Iowa team in the 65-game series with the Buckeyes.

To put that in perspecitve, Iowa has only scored 88 points in six games this season.