COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano got out-coached against Iowa.

That's surely tough to admit for a guy who's been coaching since 1988. Maybe especially so when you consider that the guy who out-smarted him, Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, was born in 1983 and is a first-year coordinator.

Iowa was crisp. Ohio State was under-prepared.

"We didn't do a good job coaching," Schiano said Tuesday, three days removed from an unfathomable 55-24 loss in Iowa City. "We didn't get our guys to understand what exactly was happening."

Here's what was happening:

* The No. 104 offense in the country put up 470 yards and 48 points.

* An offense that normally averages 5.3 yards per play averaged nearly 7.

Was Ohio State also poor on offense? Yes. It was a bad day for everyone. That Iowa looked unstoppable against the Buckeyes' defense? No one saw that coming.

It raised questions of preparedness, and whether or not this is the kind of defense that can hold up against an offense with a strong play-action passing game. And whether the coaches can properly convey in-game adjustments to get their players out of bad positions.

The flaws were shown in a loss to Oklahoma, but against a somewhat similar Penn State offense two weeks ago, the Buckeyes were stout. Iowa does it in a much different way, but Ohio State was again exposed when defenders got pulled out of position by run fakes, unbalanced alignments and motions.

The defense looked lost, with players pointing at each other, trying to figure out who should cover who while the ball was going over their heads.

TD came on yet another sprint out look from Iowa and yet another blown assignment by OSU; they were late getting lined up & no one picked up TE87 coming across on motion. Fundamentals killed the OSU D in this one — Hawkeye Gamefilm (@hawkeyegamefilm) November 8, 2017

Schiano said that Iowa threw some out of character things at Ohio State's defense.

"They did do something quite a bit different," he said. "I'm not going to get into the specifics of it because I don't really want to see it again."

But it wasn't anything he hadn't seen before.

"They did a lot of things that presented issues that they had not done before -- well they did them a few times. In seven games they probably did it eight times. They did it 26 times in one game," he said.

Iowa's plan seemed simple -- find ways to negate the pass rush, then pick apart a back seven that struggles in coverage when the quarterback isn't getting pressured. Running back Arkrum Wadley took advantage of poor run fits, and Iowa chunked Ohio State for 6.4 yards per carry. The Hawkeyes threw more on first down than they usually do, and executed flawlessly.

It took their best game to put on that display against Ohio State's defense. The struggles of Ohio State's linebackers and safeties covering tight ends and running backs persisted. That wasn't new. And it wasn't fixed.

Whenever Iowa had a wrinkle, Schiano and his defensive coaches weren't ready with an adjustment.

"You have to expect things that have not shown up on tape," Schiano said. "And I didn't do a good job of getting our guys adjusted during the game. It's disappointing. But as a coach, and especially as a coordinator, you have to be able to get things fixed faster than we did. You really look, no matter how long you do it, it's an incredibly hard to thing to swallow and get over."

Good news for Schiano, he's now preparing his defense to see something similar this week against Michigan State, but with even more added wrinkles in an offense Schiano said is as multiple as any they've faced this year.

Ohio State's issues don't feel talent-based, though surely there's some expected drop-off when three first rounders leave the secondary and a second-rounder leaves a void at middle linebacker. Schiano said there won't be wholesale personnel changes this week. Doing so would mean playing a lot of true freshmen anyway. Is that a spot you really want to be in when you're still playing for a Big Ten Championship?

No. Coaches are paid to game plan and make adjustments, and Ohio State's seemed to do neither well against Iowa. Michigan State will make them earn their money. Schiano called this a "final exam."

The defensive coaches already have a couple of Fs on their report card.

"We need to get all of it fixed," Schiano said. "It falls on me and the coaching staff to get that done. We have great players. We gotta get them in position to make plays, and we have to get it right fast."