Big 10 Defenses

DunderMifflinHk

DunderMifflinHk

Well-Known Member
Defense wins championships and I believe Iowa has the best defense going into the 2010 Big 10 season. The only other team with 8 returning starters is Michigan and Illinois is the 2nd closest with 7. OSU only returns 5 defensive starters but they usually reload. I still think we will have a better defense though. There will be some stacked offenses this year but I think we'll have the best defense hands down. What do you guys think?
 
Minnesota only returns 2 starters on D; and they lose their entire front 7. Couple that with a terrible offense and its going to be a long season in Gopherville. Wisconsin returns 10 starters from a good offense, and I think 6 starters on D. They will be tough this year.
 
DunderMifflinHk said:
Defense wins championships and I believe Iowa has the best defense going into the 2010 Big 10 season. The only other team with 8 returning starters is Michigan and Illinois is the 2nd closest with 7. OSU only returns 5 defensive starters but they usually reload. I still think we will have a better defense though. There will be some stacked offenses this year but I think we'll have the best defense hands down. What do you guys think?
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One question, though. Do you think we will have the best defense?
 
Not to rain on your parade, but if the Offense doesn't move the ball ( referring to the OL ) I don't care how talented you are you will get worn down. Let's hope this offense can stay onthe field to give the boys some rest on D.
 
PeoriaHWKI said:
Not to rain on your parade, but if the Offense doesn't move the ball ( referring to the OL ) I don't care how talented you are you will get worn down. Let's hope this offense can stay onthe field to give the boys some rest on D.
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Thats what happened in 07.
 
hawkeye2188 said:
Thats what happened in 07.
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Yes ... but the '07 D was rather exploitable at safety AND the D struggled some in coverage when Klink when down to injury (Klink was no Angerer in coverage ... however, he was a veteran and he made significant strides in that area ... he was definitely a lot better in coverage than Coleman).

Also, a critical thing to recognize about the '07 OL was that we were forced to START 2 FR that season on the OL! Also, the '07 OL lacked much of any upperclassmen presence on the OL ... poor Seth Olsen was the ONLY starting upperclassmen on the entire unit ... and he was a JR at the time who had to contend with getting juggled between OT and OG.

To be more specific, the 2007 starting OL was comprised of:

Olsen (JR)
Eubanks (SO)
Bulaga (TR FR)/Meade (SO)
Vandervelde (RS FR)/Doering (SO)
Calloway (SO)

Another thing to recognize is that Grigsby had left the squad in the off-season and Brodell, Moeaki, and Cal Davis each had season ending injuries VERY EARLY in the season, AND Stross had significant hammy issues hindering him throughout the entire season! Thus, for all intents and purposes, Iowa's WR corps was primarily manned by FR!!! Specifically, Iowa was stuck with DJK, Chaney, Cleveland, and Sandeman holding down the fort at WR! In addition to having young WRs, while Myers was a solid TE ... he was also just a first-year starter at TE!

Lastly, if the youth/inexperience weren't enough on the OL or at WR .... we, of course, had to deal with Jake Christensen at QB ... and he too was just a 1st year starter!

Now when you really objectively look at things ... it's absolutely RIDICULOUS to be speaking about the 2010 and 2007 offenses in the same breath. The contrasting differences are ABSOLUTELY STARK!

Specifically ....

- The 2010 WR corps is heavily upperclassmen laden. DJK, Chaney, and Sandeman are all SRs and McNutt is a JR.

- The 2010 TE situation is even a lot better. Reisner has a good bit of prior starting experience. Furthermore, even Herman has faced more game prior game action than Myers had prior to the '07 season.

- Stanzi will be entering his 3rd year as a starter ... and there is NO WAY that anybody will mistake him for Christensen. Christensen was absolutely terrified to make a mistake. Stanzi, on the other hand, pushes puts mistakes behind him like a stinky thong.

- Iowa's 2010 depth on the OL is notably more laden with upperclassmen than the '07 group. Specifically, Iowa has 3 quality SRs in Vandervelde, Haganman, and Koeppel who are or will be working to nab starting gigs and has an additional 4 quality JRs in Zusevics, Gettis, Orne, and Hundertmark who are working to nab starting gigs too! And, if you look at the '07 OL, with both Bruggeman and Richardson injured ... the only truly ELITE O-lineman we had that year was Bulaga ... and he was just a TR FR!!! In contrast, I dare say that the 2010 Iowa OL has significantly more "firepower" than its '07 counterpart ... with at least 2 or 3 guys who are arguably ELITE.
 
I said this a number of times and it bears repeating because there's a lot of truth to it.

Given a team with the best offense against a team with the best defense more times than not the team with the best defense wins the game.

Same is true for championships.

That said if Iowa fields the best defense in the Big Ten next year (and I think they will) Iowa will be a serious contender for the Big Ten title and more.

Where is there a better defense in the Big Ten when you include Ryan Donahue in the mix?
 
OSU brings back 7 starters on D. Larimore, Heyward, Homan, Rolle, Chekwa, Torrence and Hines all started most or part of last season. OSU's only question mark on D will be at safety. DL is very deep and the LB's will be the best group in the B10.
 
fufred said:
OSU brings back 7 starters on D. Larimore, Heyward, Homan, Rolle, Chekwa, Torrence and Hines all started most or part of last season. OSU's only question mark on D will be at safety. DL is very deep and the LB's will be the best group in the B10.
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Yes, OSU will reload, for the most part. But Gibson was a top-flight BT DE, and Kurt Coleman was the leader of that defense, he really was what made them tick. And we were able to handle OSU's secondary pretty well even with Coleman there. Chekwa is overmatched lined up against McNutt, we've already proven that.

Iowa looks to have the better D. Our LB aren't quite as good (yet, but Nielsen and Johnson could turn out to be terrific this year), but our DL is arguably the best in the nation, with 4 legit All-Big Ten candidates, and Sash/Greenwood is possibly the best safety tandem at least in the midwest. And our special teams play from Donahue is invaluable.
 
DunderMifflinHk said:
Defense wins championships and I believe Iowa has the best defense going into the 2010 Big 10 season. The only other team with 8 returning starters is Michigan and Illinois is the 2nd closest with 7. OSU only returns 5 defensive starters but they usually reload. I still think we will have a better defense though. There will be some stacked offenses this year but I think we'll have the best defense hands down. What do you guys think?
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For all intents and purposes, OSU returns 7. Wisconsin 6, MSU 7, PSU 6, NU 6. Also, OSU, Wisconsin, and NU have a ton of depth on D due to a fair amount of injuries last year.

I agree that Iowa will have the best D in the Big 10. "Hands down," no.
 
homerHAWKeye777 said:
Yes ... but the '07 D was rather exploitable at safety AND the D struggled some in coverage when Klink when down to injury (Klink was no Angerer in coverage ... however, he was a veteran and he made significant strides in that area ... he was definitely a lot better in coverage than Coleman).

Also, a critical thing to recognize about the '07 OL was that we were forced to START 2 FR that season on the OL! Also, the '07 OL lacked much of any upperclassmen presence on the OL ... poor Seth Olsen was the ONLY starting upperclassmen on the entire unit ... and he was a JR at the time who had to contend with getting juggled between OT and OG.

To be more specific, the 2007 starting OL was comprised of:

Olsen (JR)
Eubanks (SO)
Bulaga (TR FR)/Meade (SO)
Vandervelde (RS FR)/Doering (SO)
Calloway (SO)

Now when you really objectively look at things ... it's absolutely RIDICULOUS to be speaking about the 2010 and 2007 offenses in the same breath. The contrasting differences are ABSOLUTELY STARK!

- Iowa's 2010 depth on the OL is notably more laden with upperclassmen than the '07 group. Specifically, Iowa has 3 quality SRs in Vandervelde, Haganman, and Koeppel who are or will be working to nab starting gigs and has an additional 4 quality JRs in Zusevics, Gettis, Orne, and Hundertmark who are working to nab starting gigs too! And, if you look at the '07 OL, with both Bruggeman and Richardson injured ... the only truly ELITE O-lineman we had that year was Bulaga ... and he was just a TR FR!!! In contrast, I dare say that the 2010 Iowa OL has significantly more "firepower" than its '07 counterpart ... with at least 2 or 3 guys who are arguably ELITE.
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Don't forget how well R. Rief (sp?) played. He (IMO) has the most potential for improvement from 2009 to 2010... he could be our next monster tackle. Due to inexperience, we had no one we could even consider at that level in '07'.
 
Husky28 said:
Don't forget how well R. Rief (sp?) played. He (IMO) has the most potential for improvement from 2009 to 2010... he could be our next monster tackle. Due to inexperience, we had no one we could even consider at that level in '07'.
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I didn't forget ... he's one of the elite guys I was referring to. And, just as you rightly pointed out ... unlike Bulaga in '07, Reiff will be a RS SO in '10 and already has a full season of starts under his belt. As a fun parallel ... Bulaga's 2nd season as a starter was a good one, to say the least ... and that was still his first time starting at LT. In contrast, Reiff owns starts at LT, OG, and RT. I definitely agree with you that he could be poised to have a really nice season in 2010.
 
fufred said:
OSU brings back 7 starters on D. Larimore, Heyward, Homan, Rolle, Chekwa, Torrence and Hines all started most or part of last season. OSU's only question mark on D will be at safety. DL is very deep and the LB's will be the best group in the B10.
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fufred -

I'm not so certain that tOSU will have the best group of LBs in the Big 10. At least in the preseason, I'd give that honor to Michigan State. However, due to the fact that tOSU's LBs have a better DL in front of them, they will likely be more productive than MSU's group.

As for depth on the DL ... there is depth there in terms of body count ... however, with respect to the combo of talented and experienced depth ... the tOSU DL took a significant hit due to graduation. Of course, like PSU and Iowa, tOSU DLs are VERY well coached and you can expect them to be tough as nails and play great football .... however, it will still take until nearly mid-season until the DL depth is quite to the point where you claim it is.
 
I'd like to see our defense score more points this year. If memory serves the "pin ball" INT by Sash and the Clayborn blocked punt return were the only scores we had on defense (unless you count Clayborn's as a special team score). My point is that Iowa generated a lot of turnovers, but didn't seem to captalize on them as often as I would like...especially if/when the offense is struggling. In my opinion, there is nothing more demoralizing for the opposing team than to have points put on the scoreboard by the opposition's defensive squad...and that is where I think this already stout Iowa defense could make some improvements that would generate more seperation between us and the other teams in the Big Ten.
 
Osu has the best depth for sure at Linebacker. Iowa may have better depth than MSU at that position. This will be the deepest Iowa defense in many seasons. I also think if the linebackers step up it will be an even better unit than last season. I think that Ballard will make a leap like Clayborn did last season. Our D-line should be a top-3 unit in all of College Football.
 
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