Iowa to Lean on Johnson's Underdog Mentality vs. Heavily Favored OSU

Iowa star running back Kaleb Johnson is the leading rusher in the Big Ten and Power 4 football, with 685 yards and nine touchdowns so far in 2024. Despite being a four-star prospect and native of Hamilton, Ohio, Johnson never got an offer from Ohio State in high school.

With that in mind, some may assume Johnson is entering Saturday's game with the mindset of punishing the Buckeyes for skipping on him. He's decided to not take it personally -- he just wants to win.

"I really don't care about the offers and stuff like that," he said at Tuesday's media availability. "I'm entering with a chip on my shoulder no matter what, because it's Ohio State. I want to beat them."

Looking back, he doesn't think he would have even considered the Buckeyes out of high school.

"Even if they offered me, I don't think I would have gone there," he said. "I'm the type of person that wants to beat the top dogs. I don't want to be with them. I want to beat them. It's always been a game for me to show what I've got against some of the best people in the country."

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He's all-in on the underdog mentality this weekend, as the Buckeyes are currently favored by 20.5 points.

"People expect us to lose," he said. "I look at it as motivation. If I do well and my team does well, we're going to win."

Johnson likes facing the adversity of an away stadium, too.

"I like the noise, and when you score, how quiet it gets," he smiled. "I like hearing the 'You suck!' and all that from the crowd. It's great going against a team like Minnesota and shutting the crowd up."

From that vantage point, Johnson actually prefers playing on the road.

"I like the silence of the crowd -- how loud they were, and then how silent they get," he said.

It will be quite loud in Columbus this weekend, as The Shoe holds more than 100,000 people.

"I'd put them as the second or third best place to play in the Big Ten," he said. "Last time we were there it was really loud."

Johnson knows he'll need to perform at his best, and so does Iowa's head coach, Kirk Ferentz, who was happy to heap some praise on his bell-cow running back Tuesday afternoon.

"He's been running well this year, as all of us know," Ferentz said. "He's been focused and motivated. I think he's really focused on the right things now, and it's showing up in his performance, he just has a better understanding the challenges of college football. It'll be a challenge this week; nobody has run through these guys very effectively. It's going to be a real tough challenge. The holes are going to close quick."

OSU isn't going to make things easy, but if anyone can give them a shot to compete against the Buckeyes, it's Johnson.

"It's going to take everybody's best performance and certainly Kaleb can help us out," Ferentz said. "But he's doing a really nice job."