These are legitimate questions being brought up in this thread. It can be very frustrating to watch Iowa's defense at times under Kirk Ferentz. We often play a "soft" defensive scheme that is a read and react strategy and it seems to be easily exploited at times.
However, I think what gets overlooked at times is how important it is not to give up big plays. Linked below is an article that analyzes the components of winning football games. While it's no surprise that limiting big plays is important, what is somewhat surprising is how important it is. I'd encourage everyone to read the Points-Per-Play section of the article. Essentially the strategy is summed up in this quote:
Nothing is more demoralizing than giving up a 20-play, 80-yard, nine-minute drive. But unless your team is Navy, that doesn't happen too often. Defensive coaches often teach their squads the concept of leverage -- prevent the ball-carrier from getting the outside lane, steer him to the middle, make the tackle, and live to play another down. It is the bend-don't-break style of defense, and it often works because if you give the offense enough opportunities, they might eventually make a drive-killing mistake, especially at the collegiate level. If you allow them 40 yards in one play, their likelihood of making a drive-killing mistake plummets.
When the bend-don't-break strategy doesn't work, it looks horrible and it also looks like the other team can easily beat this strategy consistently. However, it is important to keep in mind that no strategy works 100% of the time, and that executing a perfect 12+ play drive is not an easy thing to do.
Purdue had a total of two touchdown drives. If you only give up two touchdowns, you're usually going to win. Purdue's first touchdown drive started in Iowa territory and still took 11 plays. Their second touchdown drive took 12 plays. In other words, Iowa's defense made Purdue's offense earn those touchdowns with tough, methodical drives. Moreover, both drives required successful 4th down conversions. Had the score been closer, there's a very good chance that Purdue kicks field goals or punts in both of those drives. Alternatively, if just one play in either of these drives is altered whereby a pass goes incomplete, an offensive penalty is called, or a tackle is not broken, then Iowa does not allow even a single touchdown yesterday.
Yes, it is frustrating to watch Iowa's defense give up these long drives. At the same time, when these long drives happen it is important to recognize that the offensive team beat the odds by executing a dozen plays without a mishap. When Greg Davis first got to Iowa, I believe our offense struggled because we were often the team that had to maintain drives of 10+ plays in order to score. We went to a horizontal passing attack which resulted in high percentage completions, but in order to successfully score we needed to execute the short passing game to perfection. Even if you have a 70-80% of completing these passes, if just one of them falls to the ground then your drive stalls and you're punting or kicking a field goal.
http://www.footballstudyhall.com/2014/1/24/5337968/college-football-five-factors
