IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Ohio State has lost just five times in three years, including Saturday's 55-24 blowout defeat at Iowa.

Two were decided by one possession and the other three were by 15 or more.

Ohio State has lost to Michigan State in 2015, Penn State and Clemson in 2016, and Oklahoma and Iowa in 2017.

But regardless of outcome, one common trend stands out among the five losses:

J.T. Barrett is getting most of the carries, and is not very efficient with them.

On teams that have had good running options in Curtis Samuel and J.K. Dobbins, Barrett is running the football too much in losses.

In the chart below, I looked at the percentage of carries he had in the five losses, the yards in each game and yards per carry in each game.

Over the last five losses, Barrett has carried on 48.1 percent of Ohio State's running plays (75 of 156). And in those games, he is averaging just 2.63 yards per carry.

Against Iowa, he had his best yards per carry in the five losses.

He had 14 of Ohio State's 30 carries in the loss and averaged 4.5 yards per run.

Dobbins had six rushes for 51 yards (8.5 yards per carry), Mike Weber had five runs for 57 yards (5.4 ypc) and Antonio Williams added four late runs for 23 yards (5.8 ypc).

Barrett had 43.6 percent of the carries a week ago vs. Penn State. But in that game, he rushed for 95 yards in the win.

This isn't to say that Ohio State has lost five games in three years because of Barrett's inefficient running. It's only a part of the problem.

But considering that Dobbins has three career 100-yard games and Weber has four, the fact that they combined for fewer carries than Barrett is bizarre.

And it's happened in both of Ohio State's losses in 2017.

Here are more notes, quotes and nuggets from Saturday's loss:

* On a positive note, Ohio State wide receiver Johnnie Dixon is having a very efficient season. He is averaging a touchdown almost every two catches.

He entered Saturday's game with six touchdowns on 13 receptions.

Dixon added four receptions for 81 yards and two touchdowns, giving him eight TDs on 17 receptions.

* Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz had the quote of the night when asked why his punter, Colten Rastetter, ran a fake punt late in the fourth quarter. On a 4th-and-9 at his 15, Rastetter attempted to run for the first down.

He came up two yards short.

"I'll just say two things. It ain't in our playbook, okay?" Ferentz said. "If the play is not in the playbook, then I didn't call it. So I'll let you connect the dots. I normally don't throw players under the bus, right?"

His punter did throw an 18-yard pass on a fake field goal to help set up another touchdown, converting one fourth down.

* In the third quarter, Ohio State gave up more yards on penalties (25) than it gained on offense (23).

* For the second week in a row, Ohio State trailed, 7-0, within the first 15 seconds of the game. The Buckeyes allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown by Saquon Barkley on Oct. 28 vs. Penn State to start.

The first play of Saturday's game was Amani Hooker's 30-yard interception return for an Iowa touchdown. OSU trailed, 7-0, just eight seconds into the game.

* Kinnick Stadium has not been kind to highly-ranked visitors in the past. Ask Penn State in 2008 or Michigan last year. But the Hawkeyes fell one play short of knocking off Penn State earlier this season.

Ferentz said that was important for his team to not let up despite a 14-point halftime lead.

"You can't leave the door open," he added. "We suffered that fate, six, seven weeks ago, whenever it was. Today was a little different story."