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Total defense of Iowa's opponents

dbrocket

HR MVP
Jan 5, 2010
2,335
1,726
113
Our offense is bad, but we've also played a damn gauntlet this year when it comes to defense. Statistically, we've only played two below average defenses and even those two aren't *bad*. Meanwhile, 7 of our 11 opponents are in the top 20. And Purdue is in the top 40 (out of 131).

The only really bad defense on our schedule is coming up next week. So, hopefully our offense can take advantage a little.

(These stats are incomplete because South Dakota state isn't FBS. But I think it's fair to say they'd be an above average FBS defense, at least.)

1. Michigan
2. Illinois
7. Ohio State
8. Minnesota
10. Iowa State
14. Wisconsin
20. Rutgers
37. Purdue
82. Northwestern
89. Nevada
112. Nebraska

(Out of 131)
 
Thanks for posting OP. I disagree with debbie being "the only really bad defense."
I would argue that any team ranked 80th or below (Northwestern and Nevada) are considered bad defenses.
Cheers and GO HAWKS!
 
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Our offense is bad, but we've also played a damn gauntlet this year when it comes to defense. Statistically, we've only played two below average defenses and even those two aren't *bad*. Meanwhile, 7 of our 11 opponents are in the top 20. And Purdue is in the top 40 (out of 131).

The only really bad defense on our schedule is coming up next week. So, hopefully our offense can take advantage a little.

(These stats are incomplete because South Dakota state isn't FBS. But I think it's fair to say they'd be an above average FBS defense, at least.)

1. Michigan
2. Illinois
7. Ohio State
8. Minnesota
10. Iowa State
14. Wisconsin
20. Rutgers
37. Purdue
82. Northwestern
89. Nevada
112. Nebraska

(Out of 131)
I call bullsh*t that Nebber is 112. If that’s true, that’d be their best finish in at least 20 years, right?
 
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I’ve been as critical as anyone - and I believe there is something this. So manning up and eating a little crow is the appropriate thing to do.

Maybe playing those really good defenses have helped Petras improve to passable/average and the OL learn and grow from their mistakes. Getting some WRs healthy has absolutely helped too.

Is the offense still bad - yep! But improving to be able to play complimentary football and take advantage of playing less solid defenses.

And I still believe BF is calling pretty good games given the lacking threats and early issues they’ve faced. The first offensive play against Minn with the inside screen to Laporta is a great example.
 
I’ve been as critical as anyone - and I believe there is something this. So manning up and eating a little crow is the appropriate thing to do.

Maybe playing those really good defenses have helped Petras improve to passable/average and the OL learn and grow from their mistakes. Getting some WRs healthy has absolutely helped too.

Is the offense still bad - yep! But improving to be able to play complimentary football and take advantage of playing less solid defenses.

And I still believe BF is calling pretty good games given the lacking threats and early issues they’ve faced. The first offensive play against Minn with the inside screen to Laporta is a great example.
At this point, the single biggest problem is that we still make too many basic mistakes that blow up otherwise promising drives and kill momentum.

The Center-QB exchange is inconsistent, for example. And we saw that kill one drive. And then Ostrenga (playing because of the injury to LaPorta) got confused and didn't block that CB blitz and killed another drive.

That's not to minimize the lack of receiver production or the fact that our OL can't open holes for the RBs consistently. But we'd at least be okay-ish without the big cock-ups.
 
No guarantee that we win on black friday but if we do the opponent is going to be a top 10 D possibly #1 D again.
Has any team, not just this season but any previous season, not just b1g but entire ncaa, faced top-10 defenses 6 times (possible 7th in bowl) in a single season?
Good question. It seems like it shouldn't be possible, right? Especially since we are one of the top 10 defenses. So we've played 6 of the remaining 9. That's just not fair. Loool.
 
IMO, there is no excuse for our OL to be this bad. Coaches recruit and coaches coach. Kirk can’t convince me that our OL coach is worth a damn. Same goes for the OC.
 
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If you want to be one of the big boys, you have to play with the big boys. Yes, we've played against some tough defenses. If we're a Top 25 program we should be ready for them.
 
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I agree that we've played mostly great defenses this year. I was watching some highlights of the USC/UCLA game, and both defenses just looked small, nobody could tackle or fight through blocks, it was comical. I guess that explains why Oregon lost by 50 to Georgia.
 
Pass blocking was okay yesterday. Spence should have recognized the one blitz where he got creamed for a 10 yard loss.
I can't remember whether it was Jovon Johnson or Jordan Canzeri, but one of them said Ostrenga was supposed to pick that up and got confused. And I think Petras' read was on the other side. So, I wonder if he had reason to believe it would be picked up?
 
IMO, there is no excuse for our OL to be this bad. Coaches recruit and coaches coach. Kirk can’t convince me that our OL coach is worth a damn. Same goes for the OC.

That’s a shocker….you’ve complained about this staff for almost 20 years!! I’ll get conceit you ever start liking someone 😳
 
Why can’t you be both a fan, amazed with the defense, but a fan and pissed about the shitfence

You can, buuuuttttt surely you understand what that kind of consistent negativity does do your own psyche & soul let alone those around you and then when it’s echoed, by a very loud minority over and over and over again you can do quite a bit of damage !
 
Why can’t you be both a fan, amazed with the defense, but a fan and pissed about the shitfence
Because at a certain point you become a total wet blanket like Dargo that refuses to acknowledge anything positive.

There's nobody defending the offense right now. There's just a lot of people that would rather be right and angry than wrong and happy.
 
I was being conservative because they don't play an FBS schedule. But I suspect they'd be top-half if they played in a mid-major.
They're top 5-10 in total defense in the FCS.

They were #3 when I did a similar thread about this topic a few weeks earlier. Not sure what it is now though, but probably hasn't changed much.
 
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That’s a shocker….you’ve complained about this staff for almost 20 years!! I’ll get conceit you ever start liking someone 😳
I like Kirk. And I like Parker. However, I have never liked Kirk’s offense. Can you imagine what could have happened the last two years with a competent offense? Of course, the reverse is true also. Without this elite defense we are looking at FXL type years.
 
Iowa has played some good defenses, however playing against the Iowa offense has also statistically helped the defensive stats for many of these teams.

Here's a breakdown by opponent with their season average points against, pass yards against, rush yards against and total yards against. The stats for the Iowa offense as well as the Iowa offense ranks for each category out of the 11 total games that each opponent has played are also listed. Defensive scores are included so that will bias some of the games. There were three games in which the Iowa offense put up better stats than the average team for each opponent - Michigan, Northwestern and Minnesota. Iowa was statistically worse than the average opponent on offense for the other 8 games.

If you remove the non-conference cupcakes for each opponent (especially Minnesota's incredibly weak non-conf), the stats look worse.

SDSU
AvgIowaIowa Rank (of 11 opponents)
Points
16​
7​
8​
Pass Yds
184​
109​
9​
Rush Yds
71​
57​
7​
Total Yds
255​
166​
9​
ISU
AvgIowaIowa Rank (of 11 opponents)
Points
16​
7​
11​
Pass Yds
172​
92​
11​
Rush Yds
105​
58​
9​
Total Yds
277​
150​
11​
Nevada
AvgIowaIowa Rank (of 11 opponents)
Points
31​
27​
7​
Pass Yds
222​
175​
7​
Rush Yds
175​
162​
7​
Total Yds
397​
337​
7​
Rutgers
AvgIowaIowa Rank (of 11 opponents)
Points
29​
27​
5​
Pass Yds
191​
148​
9​
Rush Yds
144​
129​
6​
Total Yds
335​
277​
8​
Michigan
AvgIowaIowa Rank (of 11 opponents)
Points
12​
14​
5​
Pass Yds
162​
246​
2​
Rush Yds
80​
35​
9​
Total Yds
241​
281​
3​
Illinois
AvgIowaIowa Rank (of 11 opponents)
Points
13​
6​
8​
Pass Yds
165​
170​
8​
Rush Yds
93​
52​
8​
Total Yds
259​
222​
6​
OSU
AvgIowaIowa Rank (of 11 opponents)
Points
17​
10​
8​
Pass Yds
175​
81​
9​
Rush Yds
108​
77​
8​
Total Yds
283​
158​
11​
Northwestern
AvgIowaIowa Rank (of 11 opponents)
Points
27​
33​
2​
Pass Yds
201​
220​
5​
Rush Yds
174​
178​
7​
Total Yds
374​
398​
5​
Purdue
AvgIowaIowa Rank (of 11 opponents)
Points
24​
24​
7​
Pass Yds
220​
192​
8​
Rush Yds
121​
184​
2​
Total Yds
341​
376​
6​
Wisconsin
AvgIowaIowa Rank (of 11 opponents)
Points
20​
24​
4​
Pass Yds
192​
94​
10​
Rush Yds
104​
52​
11​
Total Yds
295​
146​
11​
Minnesota
AvgIowaIowa Rank (of 11 opponents)
Points
13​
13​
4​
Pass Yds
172​
221​
3​
Rush Yds
102​
59​
7​
Total Yds
275​
280​
4​
 
Big10 defenses look good statistically because they get to play against Big10 offenses.

Ohio State has run the gauntlet of these powerful B1G defenses and they put up 52 on Wisconsin
and 54 points on Iowa--both teams with great defenses, but chitty offenses.
 
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IMO, there is no excuse for our OL to be this bad. Coaches recruit and coaches coach. Kirk can’t convince me that our OL coach is worth a damn. Same goes for the OC.

the struggles of the OL are just mindboggling to me. It's not like these guys were mostly no-names recruits - DeJong is the only walk-on, the others were 3 and 4* guys with good offer sheets. it just feels like top-to-bottom things have gone sideways that past year and a half.

but looking at the schedule and the caliber of defenses we've played, it sure exacerbates everything else that has gone wrong.
 
Yup. It's still a bad offense, but might not be as much of a trash fire as it seems. It's hard to speculate, though. That's why I didn't make any specific claims beyond stating the facts.
That's the thing ... the O-play has been rubbish. However, an important ingredient to the "learning curve" of guys is the ability to gain confidence.

I don't know if there is a ton of merit to this argument ... but it certainly seems plausible ... but the fact that our O is young/inexperienced and struggling ... it doesn't help their confidence to face such a gauntlet of tough Ds.
 
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I can't remember whether it was Jovon Johnson or Jordan Canzeri, but one of them said Ostrenga was supposed to pick that up and got confused. And I think Petras' read was on the other side. So, I wonder if he had reason to believe it would be picked up?
But when dropping back your eyes are towards the right for that very reason. It's the left where QB's get screwed. Combo mistake on the TE and QB.
 
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Big10 defenses look good statistically because they get to play against Big10 offenses.

Ohio State has run the gauntlet of these powerful B1G defenses and they put up 52 on Wisconsin
and 54 points on Iowa--both teams with great defenses, but chitty offenses.
There is probably some truth to that, or you could argue that B1G offenses look bad statistically because they play B1G defenses.

That 56 points is really a misleading number. Of the 26 that Ohio St scored in the first half, the defense only allowed 7. The rest was a pick 6 and 4 field goals resulting from bad offense giving OSU the ball inside Iowa territory. Iowa was dominant defensively in that half.
 
the struggles of the OL are just mindboggling to me. It's not like these guys were mostly no-names recruits - DeJong is the only walk-on, the others were 3 and 4* guys with good offer sheets. it just feels like top-to-bottom things have gone sideways that past year and a half.

but looking at the schedule and the caliber of defenses we've played, it sure exacerbates everything else that has gone wrong.
The new center has been the biggest issue by far. Couple that with the player attrition the past few years (some injury, some not) and the injuries early in the season, Iowa's oline has struggled mightily. I am not surprised but I am also not happy about it, especially after last year's offensive debacle. That's why I am not on the BF bandwagon anymore. I still believe in Kirk, but the oline issues cannot continue.
 
The new center has been the biggest issue by far. Couple that with the player attrition the past few years (some injury, some not) and the injuries early in the season, Iowa's oline has struggled mightily. I am not surprised but I am also not happy about it, especially after last year's offensive debacle. That's why I am not on the BF bandwagon anymore. I still believe in Kirk, but the oline issues cannot continue.
I don't expect the OL issues to continue.
 
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Because at a certain point you become a total wet blanket like Dargo that refuses to acknowledge anything positive.

There's nobody defending the offense right now. There's just a lot of people that would rather be right and angry than wrong and happy.
You can be both feeling overwhelmed at the defense, hair they are carrying the trash to the west title, while being pissed that our offense is an abomination.
 
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You can be both feeling overwhelmed at the defense, hair they are carrying the trash to the west title, while being pissed that our offense is an abomination.
If you want to be angry all the time, I guess.

Some people on here are literally mad at others because they don't complain enough. Me bitching on a forum about the offense isn't going to change it, so I'm not gonna waste the time doing it.
 
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