Will Hawks Defense be one of the best in the country?
- Thread starter Golden
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Standford made it look pretty average with basically the same personnel.
MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
If talking top 15, probably yes.
tksirius
HN's Love Doctor
Yeah, but most teams don't have a ninja playing for them like Stanford does.
Golden
Well-Known Member
Without question Iowa looked terrible against Stanford. However, I think both Michigan State and Iowa both left their guts on the field in the Big 10 Championship game. Both were throttled in bowl games. With 8 players back on defense and the experience they got, they will no doubt be better than last year. Hesse could be a major factor at the De position
That and they bit on stuff like the fake fumble play. Wasn't just their RB. Our whole team stunk that day and couldn't get out of each other's way.
DBAHawkFan
Well-Known Member
Iowa's defense has traditionally matched up well against the likes of MSU, WI, PSU, etc because they play a more balanced attack on offense.
Where Iowa struggles is against teams that spread things out, and have a QB who's accurate and/or can scramble which tires out our DL completely by the end of games.
Stanford had the complete package. A smart, accurate QB (also playing in the RB multiple times helps), the most dynamic player in CFB, and a very strong, fast DL which blew up our offense (much like MSU, who typically also has a similar DL every year)
The trend for Iowa (at least in my eyes) is this, our scheme works against teams with lower to similar talent level. When we face a team full of 4/5 stars, we get pummeled on both sides of the ball. Look no further than our previous five bowl games.
The good news is these guys that have taken these beatings are back. They should be stronger, and smarter. I think it'll be enough to keep us in games, perhaps win them, in the Big10. Further than that, I don't know.
Where Iowa struggles is against teams that spread things out, and have a QB who's accurate and/or can scramble which tires out our DL completely by the end of games.
Stanford had the complete package. A smart, accurate QB (also playing in the RB multiple times helps), the most dynamic player in CFB, and a very strong, fast DL which blew up our offense (much like MSU, who typically also has a similar DL every year)
The trend for Iowa (at least in my eyes) is this, our scheme works against teams with lower to similar talent level. When we face a team full of 4/5 stars, we get pummeled on both sides of the ball. Look no further than our previous five bowl games.
The good news is these guys that have taken these beatings are back. They should be stronger, and smarter. I think it'll be enough to keep us in games, perhaps win them, in the Big10. Further than that, I don't know.
Yup, we got beat by their recruiting rankings, lol. I hate when those 4/5 stars hit us (see attached picture), lol. After a big loss, The coaches talk a lot about how many 'stars' the opponents players had coming out of high school, in fact when they're game planning, they remind all the players how many 'stars' each starter on the other team had and if they have too many 4 or 5 stars, they tell their team they have no chance to win. The hardest part for the coaches is knowing which recruiting service to believe on whether someone is a 4/5 star or not. If Scout rated a guy a 4 star, but Rivals and 247 rated him a 3 star, does that give us a better chance to win??? Stanford loss= poor game plan, even worse execution, an injured Lomax (who played like complete doodoo) etc...... It happens. Stanford wasn't any more talented than Mich St. and not even better than NW on a 'given saturday'......
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Snyder will be an upgrade from Lomax by the time the conference games start. I believe Bowers/Mends/Hockaday will play as well or better than Fisher (Bowers has already started for most of 2014, so I think he'll get the nod at the Will spot) and Nelson (6'8 275! what a specimen) will be tougher against the run than Meier was. With another year of experience for everyone else, yes, this defense will be better than last year (if healthy) and will definitely be a top 10 defense and could sneak into the top 5 if Mabin and Snyder are as good this year as I think they will be......
Why is next year going to suck? Schedule gets tougher, but we have NO idea how good they will be 'next' year. Defense will still be stout with all the LB's back, both safeties, both DE's, etc... We're in reload mode brother, don't sell them out already, good grief............
Tougher schedule, new QB (primary reason). And by suck I mean 6-7 wins, not Iowa State level sucking.
Face it, without a quantum prediction engine we have no idea how good they will be this year either. I'm not saying they will suck because the potential for an epic performance this season is there. The Hawkeye D looks like it is loaded with future NFL talent. It's all a question of team chemistry and (cough, cough) execution.
I think the defense will be awesome. Will they be as opportunistic (lucky) as last year with getting takeaways? That's such a huge X factor. I don't think teams are going to pick on King nearly as often as he was last year. He had 8 Ints himself last yr it's pretty hard to see that happening again... In a way I think this defense will go as far as the pass rush produces and how Mabin/Snyder do. Because they will be tested early and often and if the pass rush isn't much better then last year they'll have time to scan the field... I agree that the Nelsons should be an upgrade over Meir. But I'm not sold on Hesse just yet but we'll see.
hawkjunkie
Well-Known Member
They did. McCaffery made the Pac12 championship opponent look worse. That guy jukes better than about anyone. Lomax being slowed with a knee injury didn't help.
However we will be improved, and have more speed. That will make a significant difference...
This defense will be good. It will be a lot of fun to watch! Now if the offense could cut loose a little more(wishful thinking), and let CJB show want he is really capable of, this could be one of the most enjoyable teams to watch in the KF Era.
That said, expectations are high. Let us hope KF history is not an indicator of the future...
My theory is that the more talented we are over our opponents, the more careful Kirk is with the game plan. The more careful Kirk is, the easier it is for opponents to move the ball on our "sit back and wait for a mistake" defense, and the less we attack and try to score on offense. That's why we lose so often when we're double digit favorites and that's why we fall on our faces during years where we have a really good team. If careful Kirk doesn't show up this year, we should win at least 10 games. If he does show up, we will lose a bunch of coin flip games against bad teams.
