And a bonus question for Eyes: who was the last team Iowa beat that finished the season ranked in the top 25?
What if
- Thread starter Hawqize
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When was the last time we absolutely smoked a top 25 team?
2017? Iowa - 55, #3 Ohio State - 24 [And it wasn't that close]
Ain't no need for the D/ST to go South after implementing a Spread type Offense.
Besides, less pressure on the OLine.
AND, the Offense would be less painful to watch.
The greater point is Iowa hasn’t been remotely competitive in any game they’ve faced a legitimate top 25 team in since 2017.
They have not faired well, but they beat #4 Penn State in 2021.
That PSU team finished 7-6. The last time they beat a team that finished the season in the top 25 was Minnesota in 2019.
This... Hayden opened it up when he had the players. What's the difference if you go 3 & out with a passing offense v. running it up the gut 3 times? Yes, possible INT's, but if eliminate the TO's you still punt it away on 4th down.
Iowa had almost all the same players in 2024 as they did in 2023 minus DeJean. And PP emphasis D the same every year. Sometimes teams offenses scheme better. DeJean took away half the field on passing downs. Iowa didn't have that guy this year. That was a big difference. Nothing to do with "emphasizing" defense and more or any less.
Cooper was clearly a rare level.
Lee and Evans were damn good, no doubt. But Iowa has been reloading from that level of loss for decades.
Sure Cooper could cover for a few issues with his ability to own his side. I'm not sure those issues existed though. Yes, DeShaun only filled in for a few games. But the defense never missed a beat until Tennessee, and I think that scenario went way beyond Lee. Michigan won the Gnat and wasn't able to exploit the loss of Coop. I believe Iowa held Michigan to their least yardage in 5 years in that game.
If true about Wallace, then totally a legitimate point. Continuity in football is infinitely underrated
Well, I will concede we closed the gap on our differences a bit so thats fair. I dont think our current DL is at the same level as it was with Lee/Evans and Coop covered up a lot of issues and that showed in the speed of Tenn. We have some good pieces but a few small gaps I’d love to shore up.
Again, not sure if the Wallace rumors are true but did hear about that earlier in the yr
This is not true.
Bama went spread in 2018 and their D dropped to 16th after being ranked 1st, 1st, and 2nd the previous 3 seasons. Again, that's hard to do with the best players, coaches, facilities, and resources in the country. But not when you switch to spread.
Since that switch, Bama won 1 Gnat in 6 years under Saban, and that was the COVID season. Before the switch, 5 Gnats in 9 years.
Sure, Bama has remained an elite program. But their level of dominance as a program and certainly as a D has dropped.
Even if the gain in offense made up for the drop in D at Bama, which it didn't, that's not the point. A change in offense that drastic at Iowa would undeniably compromise the defense. Can Iowa afford that? To me, there is much suggesting, including this season, that Iowa cannot afford a dip to its defense
Also, they didnt drop any lower than 18th which was still 20ppg and pretty dominate. In that time, their O increased.
1. Again, DeShaun Lee never really got exploited last season and the D was still fabulous with him until the Tennessee game, which went way beyond him.
I will give you that it took a while for PP to settle on DLee this season. Given that PP knows more than we do, it's possible that DLee was a bit of a weak link.
2. No, it doesn't take coaches 5 years to figure out how to exploit what's on film. And everything that's within the past couple years of film on Quinn was on film his first year playing. As a matter of fact, his film has gradually looked better, as he has improved as a player, over each year. This one made me laugh out loud a little bit.
3. Yes, less pressure on the QB this season. Less depth there this season perhaps a contributor. Although Iowa rushes to contain the QB in the pocket far more than people realize, it's a valid point you make.
Also, Iowa blitzed very little this season. That's typical for Iowa. But Iowa did blitz much more last season, and those are the two defenses being compared. Perhaps PP not as confident blitzing without Coop back there. I also think the overall complimentary approach Iowa employs could have played a roll. For example, with an expectation that the offense will put up more points, the staff may not have been willing to take the risk of blitzing as often. Last season they had to take that risk, and were money with their blitzes. The return to more conservative D this season may not have panned out quite as planned.
4. More laughable than #2. Again, coaches have had plenty of tape on Jay for a long time. And didn't he end up an All-american this season?
5. So the biggest reason this season's D wasn't as good as last year's is because last year's wasn't as good as most have made it out to be? First, that's a really weak point, if one at all.
Second, Iowa's D was elite last season. They gave up 4.1 yards/play. They held the national champions to their least yardage in 5 years.
PSU wasn't a good game, but there was also the rest of the season to judge the D by.
And Tennessee, although the D clearly got beat badly that day, it almost felt like a throwaway day, due to a few unique factors. The main one being that Iowa hadn't faced the no-huddle all season. The no-huddle is something that's thrown Iowa off a bit in the past. But after seeing it a little bit, was something that Iowa has been able to get a better handle on in the past. Again, Iowa never had the chance to adjust to having already seen it last season. Tennessee's tempo clearly got the best of the Iowa D. Iowa also had no tape on a very talented opposing QB. The deceptive speed on his 6'6" stride was something Iowa was never able to get a feel for. How often to your see Iowa ever give up the edge on its D? Almost never. It happened multiple times that game. Throw in a potential lack of rhythm from not having played in a few weeks, and I think you have a few factors that contributed to some timing issues for the D.
Iowa is a D that tries to get their teeth into you. Once they do that, and are able to feel you, they know how to take certain things away, and basically squeeze the air out of you. Iowa's D was just never able to get a bead on Tennessee to be able to feel and get their teeth into them.
Anyway, I would guess less team emphasis on the D, and less blitzing were what contributed to the dropoff in D this year. And I would have to guess the situation at corner, too Even though losing Coop didn't necessarily surface as a problem last season, he was clearly a difference-maker level player, and there were clearly struggles at the position this season
What are you not ok with?
To expect any higher level of consistent success from the program would put Iowa in blue blood territory. It's great to keep your standards high. But if you have that high of expectations everywhere in your life, you're probably disappointed quite often.
Iowa is consistently good, with a chance to do something special every handful of years. I don't know what else you can expect. The only reason higher expectations are even somewhat realistic is because of the level of success that KF has established at the program.
It should also be mentioned that people have often assumed me to be ok with things that I can at least see reason to be questioned. No, I don't have a problem with the clip Iowa wins at. But my main point is usually that the level of negativity expressed about these things is not warranted. Even if there's validity to your concerns, those concerns don't even get tabled until Iowa's had a couple seasons of 6 or 7 wins
