Iowa's pass efficiency defense last year was ranked 6th at 110.46.
The passing offense was so bad (#117 at 111.72) that a typical game for our passing offense was statistically indistinguishable from our opponents.
Iowa's defense was 7th in YPP at 4.72. But as good as they were, Iowa's opponents ran significantly more plays than Iowa's offense (976 to 911).
As great as Iowa's defense was last year, think about how great they would have been with an offense that was just good enough to possess the football for a little while (keeping the defense fresh) and playing with a lead (forcing the opponent to take more risks).
There's no reason to believe that this year's defense won't put up a similar performance to last year's. It shouldn't be asking too much for the offense to at least improve to a ranking of ~80th and help the defense out, but it's difficult to be optimistic, especially about a significant improvement in the passing game.
The passing offense was so bad (#117 at 111.72) that a typical game for our passing offense was statistically indistinguishable from our opponents.
Iowa's defense was 7th in YPP at 4.72. But as good as they were, Iowa's opponents ran significantly more plays than Iowa's offense (976 to 911).
As great as Iowa's defense was last year, think about how great they would have been with an offense that was just good enough to possess the football for a little while (keeping the defense fresh) and playing with a lead (forcing the opponent to take more risks).
There's no reason to believe that this year's defense won't put up a similar performance to last year's. It shouldn't be asking too much for the offense to at least improve to a ranking of ~80th and help the defense out, but it's difficult to be optimistic, especially about a significant improvement in the passing game.