When it comes to Iowa facing Ohio State, there simply aren’t many wins over the years for the Hawkeyes.

In fact, since Iowa won in their first three trips in Columbus in the early 1920’s, the Hawkeyes have won a total of five other times against the Buckeyes.

Here’s the crazy thing, two of those road wins took place on November 14th.

One was in 1959 when the Hawkeyes beat the Woody Hayes led Ohio State team. The second one is one of the most famous games of the Hayden Fry era, when Iowa beat an Earle Bruce led team.

So, let’s start with the 1987 game because it’s really one of the signature wins of the Fry era. It’s one of those games that Iowa fans immediately remember where they were when Marv Cook caught a last second touchdown pass for the victory.

The Hawkeyes came into the game in 1987 game riding a three game winning streak. Meanwhile the Buckeyes were riding a two game losing streak after losses to Michigan State and Wisconsin.

Still, Columbus had been a house of horrors for the Hawkeyes over the years with some really ugly losses.

Fun fact for this game, the Ohio State quarterback was Tom Tupa, who was also their punter and was known more as a punter. The Buckeyes struck first with a pass from Tupa to Everett Ross for a 24 yard touchdown.

Iowa answered back with a field goal after Chuck Hartlieb hit Mike Flagg for a 38 yard gain before the drive stalled out. Ross struck again in the second quarter, this time with a 60 yard pass from Tupa, where he did a good amount of the work. It was 14-3 early in the second quarter and things were not looking good for Iowa.

Iowa answered right back with Kevin Harmon scoring on a 50 yard run. Interestingly, Fry went for two after the score and did not convert to make it 14-9. The Hawkeyes stuffed the Buckeyes on the next drive and then mounted on of their own that eventually stalled out at the Ohio State 24. Rob Houghtlin hit his second field goal of the day from 41 yards out to make it 14-12.

Then Carlos Snow fumbled for the Buckeyes on the next drive and Iowa was in business to potentially take the lead just before halftime. Hartlieb hit Cook to get Iowa into the red zone with 26 seconds left. He found Cook once again and Iowa was inside the five with just a few seconds left. The Hawkeyes settled for a short field goal and went to the locker room with a 15-14 lead.

After the teams traded three punts, Ohio State had a strong drive and Tupa found tight end Jeff Ellis from 20 yards out to put the Buckeyes up 21-15. Headed into the fourth quarter, Iowa was looking for more points. On their second drive of the quarter they found them. David Hutson capped a drive that started with a partially blocked punt and dove into the end zone from one yard out. Iowa moved ahead 22-21 with 9:06 left in the game.

Of course, the Buckeyes went right back at the Hawkeyes and Snow made up for his earlier mistakes. He carried eight times on the drive and in the last one he rushed in from 14 yards out to give the Buckeyes a lead. They went for two, which was the right decision, and failed. Ohio State led 27-22 with 2:45 left in the game.

The Hawkeyes started their drive at their own 36. Five plays in they had made it to near midfield. Then Hartlieb hit Cook for 27 yards and Iowa was in business at the Buckeyes 24 with 1:20 left. The Hawkeyes got to the Ohio State 15 before Eric Kumerow sacked Hartileb for a sack. Then Kumerow blew up another play for a loss and following an incomplete pass, Iowa was staring at 4th down and 23 yards for the Ohio State 28 yard line. Basically, Iowa was in deep trouble.

Then Hartlieb dropped back and found Cook near the sidelines. He caught the ball and drove hard for the end zone and barely made it with just a few seconds left. Jim Zabel said Ed Podolak was hugging and kissing him and the celebration was underway as Iowa beat Ohio State, 29-27. Crazy ending that if you wrote it wouldn’t seem believable.

The other interesting game was the 1959 victory over the Buckeyes.

Like I said earlier, Iowa just never won very often in Columbus and even rarer was a win over Woody Hayes.

But, this was a rare down year for the Buckeyes under Hayes. Looking it up it was shocking to see that season Ohio State finished the year 3-5-1. It also wasn’t a great year for Iowa under Forest Evashevski. Iowa was coming off three straight one loss seasons that included victories in a pair of Rose Bowls. But, going into that game, Iowa was 4-3 on the year.

Ohio State scored first in the first quarter to go up 7-0. Iowa matched the touchdown on a pass from quarterback Wilburn Hollis to Bill Whisler, but Iowa went for two and didn’t make it to make the score 7-6. That’s the way the score remained until the fourth quarter when Iowa moved again thanks to a field goal from Tom Moore, yes that Tom Moore. With the score 9-7 Iowa, the Hawkeyes mounted a game clinching driving leaning on running back Jerry Mauren. His 14 yard touchdown run gave Iowa a 16-7, which ended up being the final in the game.

Here’s a look at the other Iowa football games played on November 14th.

1896 Grinnell W 15-6

1903 @Missouri 16-0

1908 Drake L 12-6

1914 @Iowa State W 26-6

1925 @Minnesota L 33-0

1933 @Purdue L 22-0

1936 Purdue W 13-0

1942 @Minnesota L 27-7

1953 Minnesota W 27-0

1959 @Ohio State W 16-7

1964 Michigan L 20-14

1970 @Michigan L 55-0

1981 @Wisconsin W 17-7

1987 @Ohio State W 29-27

1992 Northwestern W 56-14

1998 Ohio State L 45-14

2009 Ohio State L 27-24

2015 Minnesota W 40-35