2009 Defense

W

WinOneThisCentury

Well-Known Member
I just watched the Iowa - MSU game from 2009 again. For those who are wondering, McNutt still catches the game ending touchdown. It wasn't a dream. It happened. Holy crap that team could play some defense. Every freaking position was solid. Let me tell you, the 2009 version of Adrian Clayborn was a much different animal than the 2010 version. That defense had no weakness...except for the occasional mental lapse that happens during the course of the season. DL, LBs, CBs, SS, and FS were all very good players. Damn...I know our D will be better this year, but the drop off sure seams like the freaking grand canyon to that team. What a group of LBs, Angerer, Edds, and Hunter.

Damn it was fun to watch that team play defense.
 


WinOneThisCentury said:
I just watched the Iowa - MSU game from 2009 again. For those who are wondering, McNutt still catches the game ending touchdown. It wasn't a dream. It happened. Holy crap that team could play some defense. Every freaking position was solid. Let me tell you, the 2009 version of Adrian Clayborn was a much different animal than the 2010 version. That defense had no weakness...except for the occasional mental lapse that happens during the course of the season. DL, LBs, CBs, SS, and FS were all very good players. Damn...I know our D will be better this year, but the drop off sure seams like the freaking grand canyon to that team. What a group of LBs, Angerer, Edds, and Hunter.

Damn it was fun to watch that team play defense.
Click to expand...
Isn't virtually every player on that defense on an NFL roster? That defense was scary good.
 




2008 D was better overall. 2009 had some insane passing efficiency D numbers but was a relatively poor rushing D by Iowa's standards. 250 yards on the ground by OSU sealed the deal for us in that one. 2008 had the impenetrable front line with King, Kroul, Clayborn, and Ballard, and still had most of the key back 7 players from the next season. It is an absolute CRIME that those teams lost so many close games, and the '09 team in particular should have had several more losses if not for some insane luck.
 


2004 was the best Iowa defense I can remember.

DL- Roth, Babs, DRob and Luebke

LB- Lewis, Greenway, Hodge

DB- Johnson, Allen, Considine, Paschal
 


I remember thinking early that year, going into the PSU game, gosh I hope they improve this week because they are going to be up against it at PSU. They grew up a lot during that game.
 


WeismanFan said:
2008 D was better overall. 2009 had some insane passing efficiency D numbers but was a relatively poor rushing D by Iowa's standards. 250 yards on the ground by OSU sealed the deal for us in that one. 2008 had the impenetrable front line with King, Kroul, Clayborn, and Ballard, and still had most of the key back 7 players from the next season. It is an absolute CRIME that those teams lost so many close games, and the '09 team in particular should have had several more losses if not for some insane luck.
Click to expand...

It's hard to compare year over year stats and then just proclaim one unit better. What most people don't realize is that our offense is key to our defense and in 2008 we had Shonn Greene tearing up clock, which kept the defense fresh. The running attack in 2009 was markedly worse and as such our 2009 defense didn't get as many opportunities to wait on the sidelines while Shonn demoralized an opposing defense. This might be heresy, but I think the 2008 team (the whole unit) from halftime of the PSU game until the final play of the Souf Carolina game may have been the best Iowa team ever built. Every unit was clicking and it was a thing of beauty. That Lois Feldman game was just amazing. Had Kurt talked Greene into coming back for his senior season, oh lordy.
 


Section136 said:
2004 was the best Iowa defense I can remember.

DL- Roth, Babs, DRob and Luebke

LB- Lewis, Greenway, Hodge

DB- Johnson, Allen, Considine, Paschal
Click to expand...

Absolutely amazing unit. Definitely helped by O'Keefe's genius of concocting ways to win without a running game. But nightmares of that Arizona State game keep me from crowning that unit the best ever.
 


okeefe4prez said:
It's hard to compare year over year stats and then just proclaim one unit better. What most people don't realize is that our offense is key to our defense and in 2008 we had Shonn Greene tearing up clock, which kept the defense fresh. The running attack in 2009 was markedly worse and as such our 2009 defense didn't get as many opportunities to wait on the sidelines while Shonn demoralized an opposing defense. This might be heresy, but I think the 2008 team (the whole unit) from halftime of the PSU game until the final play of the Souf Carolina game may have been the best Iowa team ever built. Every unit was clicking and it was a thing of beauty. That Lois Feldman game was just amazing. Had Kurt talked Greene into coming back for his senior season, oh lordy.
Click to expand...

I tip my hat to you O'Keefe. I had to google Lois Feldman.
*chuckling quietly to self*
 


Section136 said:
2004 was the best Iowa defense I can remember.DL- Roth, Babs, DRob and LuebkeLB- Lewis, Greenway, HodgeDB- Johnson, Allen, Considine, Paschal
Click to expand...
Ummmmmmmmmm....no. Iowa had 5 NFL Dlinemen in the rotation in 2008, versus only 2 on the 2004 unit. Edds and Angerer versus Hodge and Greenway is pretty much a wash. Sash and Greenwood get the nod over Considine and Paschal, and I will take Spievey and a senior Bradley Fletcher any day of the week and twice on Sunday over Jovon and AA. It's really not even a close comparison overall.
 


okeefe4prez said:
It's hard to compare year over year stats and then just proclaim one unit better. What most people don't realize is that our offense is key to our defense and in 2008 we had Shonn Greene tearing up clock, which kept the defense fresh. The running attack in 2009 was markedly worse and as such our 2009 defense didn't get as many opportunities to wait on the sidelines while Shonn demoralized an opposing defense. This might be heresy, but I think the 2008 team (the whole unit) from halftime of the PSU game until the final play of the Souf Carolina game may have been the best Iowa team ever built. Every unit was clicking and it was a thing of beauty. That Lois Feldman game was just amazing. Had Kurt talked Greene into coming back for his senior season, oh lordy.
Click to expand...

I have to agree, that was probably the best I have seen an Iowa team as a whole play. We may have been undefeated if Greene had returned in 09.
 


WeismanFan said:
Ummmmmmmmmm....no. Iowa had 5 NFL Dlinemen in the rotation in 2008, versus only 2 on the 2004 unit. Edds and Angerer versus Hodge and Greenway is pretty much a wash. Sash and Greenwood get the nod over Considine and Paschal, and I will take Spievey and a senior Bradley Fletcher any day of the week and twice on Sunday over Jovon and AA. It's really not even a close comparison overall.
Click to expand...

The 2004 line was the best d line in school history. Babs, Roth and DRob have combined for 21 NFL seasons and Babs will keep adding to that. King and Kroul are out of the league and Kroul even got moved to OL with the Jets.

To say Edds and Angerer and Greenway and Hodge are a wash is ridnokulous. Edds and Greenway didn't even play the same position. A more appropriate comparison would be Hunter and Greenway and Edds and George Lewis.

I would take the 2004 safeties and the 2008 corners.

IMO, it all begins and ends with the 2004 d line. That group and the 2002 offensive line were as dominant of units I have seen at Iowa.
 




I definitely think the 2008 unit was better. Fletcher is the key. Don't get me wrong, Prater was a very, very good college corner and was very reliable in 2009. But could you imagine the 2009 defense with Fletcher and Spievey on the outside with Prater as a nickelback? Wow.

Also, concerning the Greene factor keeping the defense fresh: The 2008 team averaged 31:31 TOP, 2009 averaged 30:59. Pretty negligible, IMO. We're talking about a total difference of less than 7 minutes over the course of the two seasons. King and Kroul weren't NFL-caliber players, but there were excellent college players. Tim Tebow isn't an NFL-caliber QB. Doesn't mean he wasn't one of the best college players of all time. The Iowa defense was better with K&K in the middle. Not only were they better college players than Binns and Klug, they brought an extra edge to the defense with their attitude. Angerer had that edge, too. But three guys like that is better than one.
 




Either way boys, those were some fun years to be hawks. The ball certainly fell out Wayne often than not. I don't know if we will ever see a run like that. Four top ten finishes in eight years. I actually looked it up and there were only four or five other teams in that same period that could say that. I can't remember exactly who they were because its been a coue years but I do remember that it was an impressive list to be with.

The real key for the future is to learn how we did it and do it again.
 


Section136 said:
The 2004 line was the best d line in school history.IMO, it all begins and ends with the 2004 d line. That group and the 2002 offensive line were as dominant of units I have seen at Iowa.
Click to expand...
What the hell is your obsession with the 2004 DLine? Yes, Roth and Babs were all-time greats, but that's it in terms of elite players on that line. Iowa has had several better DLs over the years. The 2002, 2003, 2008, and 2009 lines were all superior. '02 had a longtime NFL vet in Colin Cole (and also set the all-time Iowa record for fewest rush yards allowed), '03 had Howard Hodges and Jared Clauss in addition to Roth and Babs. Hell, the 2003 D as a whole was far superior to the 2004 unit, if for no other reason than Bob Freaking Sanders.
 


^^^^^^^^^^^So you are saying the 2004 d line was the 5th best d line in the KF era?Good lord man, get a clue.The rushing yards against record had a lot to do with how far ahead the 2002 team got on their opponents. It made the Hawks pass d look terrible according to the numbers but teams didn't have a choice. They had to throw in order to try and get back in the game. Babs only played half the 2003 season before getting injured.2008 you had a young Clayborn and Ballard. They were a great group by the end of the year, not on the level of the 2004 group though.2009, no. Roth over Clayborn. DRob over a then Sophomore Binns. Babs over Ballard. Klug with a slight edge over Luebke.
 




You must log in or register to reply here.


Latest posts

Share this page






Top