On this date in Ohio State football: Nov. 15, 1958

Taking a look back at a game Ohio State played on this date:

Ohio State 38, Iowa 28

Setup: Talk about your restless natives back in the day: Ohio State had won the 1957 national championship, but coach Woody Hayes was feeling some heat as the '58 season wound down, largely because of an offense that was stuck in the mud. In the three games before a trip to No. 2 Iowa, the Buckeyes had scored only one offensive touchdown, losing once and tying twice. Hayes was criticized for using too few players while opponents had begun employing a platoon system that would soon sweep college football. Furthermore, OSU had been shut out in its past two trips to Iowa City.

Stars: Talk about finding your offense at the right time: Ohio State smashed the defenseless Hawkeyes to the tune of 462 yards, including 397 on the ground. Fullback Bob White led the way with 209 yards on 33 carries, and halfback Don Clark added 152 yards on 15 tries — the first and only time OSU had one back top 200 yards and another 150 until Carlos Hyde and Braxton Miller pulled the trick against Michigan in 2013. Lost in the barrage of yards was the fact that sophomore quarterback Jerry Fields engineered the win in place of injured Frank Kremblas.

Turning point: Ohio State scored first and Iowa answered — a pattern that repeated itself three more times until the teams went to the fourth quarter with the score tied at 28. After White polished off an 80-yard drive with a 1-yard scoring leap to make it 35-28 with 8:55 remaining, Iowa began another drive to tie. But Dick LeBeau intercepted a Randy Duncan pass at the OSU 30-yard line and returned it to midfield, and the Buckeyes drove to a clinching field goal with 2:12 left.

Impact: Iowa already had clinched a spot in the Rose Bowl, so the loss sullied only its bid for an unbeaten season and national title. The Buckeyes, meanwhile, took care of Michigan the next week 20-14 to wrap up a 6-1-2 season, which might have earned a spot in the Outback Bowl these days.

Quotable: "That was the best football game I've ever seen. ... A man can live 10 years on a victory like that." — Hayes, who silenced his critics again (for a while, anyway)

rstein@dispatch.com