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Best Iowa Defense this Century??

jonesy5960

HR Legend
Sep 6, 2012
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Since 2000....

Current National FBS rankings:

Number 1b in rushing yards per attempt at 2.63.

Number 1 in passing yards per attempt at 5.13

Number 1 in total average yards per play allowed at 3.85

Number 3 in yards per game at 264/game

Number 5 in scoring defense at 14.33/game

Iowa has allowed zero touchdowns in 4 out of 9 games and just 1 touchdown in 2 others.

The Hawkeyes currently rank second in the nation behind only Georgia in opponents-adjusted defensive efficiency.


If not the best this century then who would be and by what metrics?
 
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What I took from those stats is that we've played 4 of the top defenses this year and will play our 5th on Saturday.

Our offense could be secretly amazing.
 
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The depth of this defensive line is the best I've ever seen at Iowa! If we don't lose any to transfer, this defense is going to be good for a very long time.

This is the answer….it’s remarkable depth and ability. The DBs are more same
 
The depth of this defensive line is the best I've ever seen at Iowa! If we don't lose any to transfer, this defense is going to be good for a very long time.

This is the answer….it’s remarkable depth and ability. Ever sense they got serious about building depth and playing 8 plus guys, this Defense has taken another jump in my opinion….The DBs are more same. They play a lot of them!

That 2009/2010 team that was so talented I believe is the catalyst to where we are now…

They were legitimate five for sure if memory serves maybe six deep but they’d run out of gas late in games and then they would become undisciplined!

We got gouged badly by quarterback runs in those Ohio State games at the end of both years!
 
The depth of this defensive line is the best I've ever seen at Iowa! If we don't lose any to transfer, this defense is going to be good for a very long time.

This is the answer….it’s remarkable depth and ability. Ever sense they got serious about building depth and playing 8 plus guys, this Defense has taken another jump in my opinion….The DBs are more same. They play a lot of them!

That 2009/2010 team that was so talented I believe is the catalyst to where we are now…

They were legitimate five for sure if memory serves maybe six deep but they’d run out of gas late in games and then they would become undisciplined!

We got gouged badly by quarterback runs in those Ohio State games at the end of both years!
 
The depth of this defensive line is the best I've ever seen at Iowa! If we don't lose any to transfer, this defense is going to be good for a very long time.

This is the answer….it’s remarkable depth and ability. Ever sense they got serious about building depth and playing 8 plus guys, this Defense has taken another jump in my opinion….The DBs are more same. They play a lot of them!

That 2009/2010 team that was so talented I believe is the catalyst to where we are now…

They were legitimate five for sure if memory serves maybe six deep but they’d run out of gas late in games and then they would become undisciplined!

We got gouged badly by quarterback runs in those Ohio State games at the end of both years!
 
Losing 54-10 disqualifies any D from great, no matter how you spin it.
Stop confusing bad offense with great defense. The top Big 10 and SEC and Pac teams would put up plenty of points vs this D.
 
Losing 54-10 disqualifies any D from great, no matter how you spin it.
Stop confusing bad offense with great defense. The top Big 10 and SEC and Pac teams would put up plenty of points vs this D.
 
Losing 54-10 disqualifies any D from great, no matter how you spin it.
Stop confusing bad offense with great defense. The top Big 10 and SEC and Pac teams would put up plenty of points vs this D.

Ok….tell the media so they can get the word out!
 
Don't sleep on the D just two years ago. A younger Campbell, Benson, and Moss to go along with 4 DL currently in the NFL.

Covid was a killer for Iowa in 2020. That was the best Iowa team since 2009.
2000 was a really weird year. That defense was very good but from a metrics perspective this unit is even better. 4.3 yards per play vs 3.85. From an FEI defensive efficiency perspective that team was ranked 8th at .79 vs 2nd at 1.32 for this year's version.
 
Losing 54-10 disqualifies any D from great, no matter how you spin it.
Stop confusing bad offense with great defense. The top Big 10 and SEC and Pac teams would put up plenty of points vs this D.
If you don’t think 6 turnovers and the field position our defense was put in because of those turnovers has anything to do with that outcome, then it’s time to break the tragic news that the tooth fairy isn’t real.

Not to mention the emotional impact of knowing that your offense is so helpless that you can’t win the game.
 
Losing 54-10 disqualifies any D from great, no matter how you spin it.
Stop confusing bad offense with great defense. The top Big 10 and SEC and Pac teams would put up plenty of points vs this D.
Iowa lost that game 54-10 because of horrific offense. OSU is averaging 484 yards per game in conference play and 7.4 yards per play. Iowa allowed 360 yards and 5.8 yards per play. That's about 25% less than they average against everyone else's defense. In the first half Iowa's defense held them to one touchdown and scored one of their own. The Iowa offense gave up the rest.

And here's the best indicator of how good Iowa's defense was particularly in the first half of that game. OSU ranks first in the nation in RZ TD efficiency having scored TD's in 35 of 43 opportunities this year missing out on only 8. Four of those 8 came in the first half against Iowa.
 
Losing 54-10 disqualifies any D from great, no matter how you spin it.
Stop confusing bad offense with great defense. The top Big 10 and SEC and Pac teams would put up plenty of points vs this D.
Clearly you're a troll and didn't even watch the game. But if you do want to educate yourself, go look at stats and see how many yards per carry OSU averaged, and what the Iowa offensive turnovers did to contribute to OSU scores. Your types are detected from far away.
 
2000 was a really weird year. That defense was very good but from a metrics perspective this unit is even better. 4.3 yards per play vs 3.85. From an FEI defensive efficiency perspective that team was ranked 8th at .79 vs 2nd at 1.32 for this year's version.
Certainly not discounting this years D one bit. That said, this DLine isn't as good as 2020. This D has also had the opportunity to pad stats vs 3 terrible offenses in the non conference where 2020 didn't have that luxury.
 
Certainly not discounting this years D one bit. That said, this DLine isn't as good as 2020. This D has also had the opportunity to pad stats vs 3 terrible offenses in the non conference where 2020 didn't have that luxury.
I actually think this DLine is better because they are deeper
 
Since 2000....

Current National FBS rankings:

Number 1b in rushing yards per attempt at 2.63.

Number 1 in passing yards per attempt at 5.13

Number 1 in total average yards per play allowed at 3.85

Number 3 in yards per game at 264/game

Number 5 in scoring defense at 14.33/game

Iowa has allowed zero touchdowns in 4 out of 9 games and just 1 touchdown in 2 others.

The Hawkeyes currently rank second in the nation behind only Georgia in opponents-adjusted defensive efficiency.


If not the best this century then who would be and by what metrics?
The crazy thing is without the OSU short field disaster in the 2nd half, what would those numbers look like? Even a repeat of the first half of the game, and you could cut those numbers by 30% probably.Amazing.....
 
Certainly not discounting this years D one bit. That said, this DLine isn't as good as 2020. This D has also had the opportunity to pad stats vs 3 terrible offenses in the non conference where 2020 didn't have that luxury.
Like I said, 2020 was definitely a weird year. Individual units aside, adjusted defensive efficiency accounts for the strength of the opponent's offense. This year's defense ranks significantly higher in this metric. Iowa also didn’t play Ohio State and Michigan during that shortened year either.
 
I actually think this DLine is better because they are deeper
To be fair a lot of the guys playing now were on that team they just couldn't get time with Nixon, Golston, Heflin, and VanVlakenberg absolutely dominating teams.

Nixon had the best year of any DT under KF.
 
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To be fair a lot of the guys playing now were on that team they just couldn't get time with Nixon, Golston, Heflin, and VanVlakenberg absolutely dominating teams.

Nixon had the best year of any DT under KF.
Christian Ballard & Jonathan Babineaux would like a word.
 
To be fair a lot of the guys playing now were on that team they just couldn't get time with Nixon, Golston, Heflin, and VanVlakenberg absolutely dominating teams.

Nixon had the best year of any DT under KF.

there’s some truth to that, but the level of athlete we have on that line now, although still underweight at times but they’ve got a plethora of guys 6-4 265 to 6-5 296 and they all can move!!!

Logan Lee has had a hell of a year, so has Deontae Craig, Ethan Hurkett is going to be a hell of a player… I am of course just talking about players coming back. Another guy that has had a hell of a season is Noah Shannon, but he’s done this year.
 
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there’s some truth to that, but the level of athlete we have on that line now, although still underweight at times but they’ve got a plethora of guys 6-4 265 to 6-5 296 and they all can move!!!

Logan Lee has had a hell of a year, so has Deontae Craig, Ethan Hurkett is going to be a hell of a player… I am of course just talking about players coming back. Another guy that has had a hell of a season is Noah Shannon, but he’s done this year.
What do you mean Shannon is done this year?
 
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