Defense - How good are we?

[WinOneThisCentury]

I know most of the negativity of this board is typically focused at the offense and, in particular, Brian Ferentz, but I'm pretty concerned about our defense right now. The injuries to an already young group of linebackers, the reliance on freshman corners, and our undersized DTs give you reason to pause and say, how good can we really be with those things going on?

I thought the freshman corners performed way beyond my expectations against Minnesota. They were in good position, and in the second half looked much more comfortable and attacked the ball at the highest point. It was impressive. The thing I will say is that Minnesota didn't really try to fool anyone with formations and routes...they were getting one on one match ups and testing us deep or with slants. The other thing I will say is that Minnesota's receivers were young too...good, but they were freshmen or sophs.

The injuries to the LB position are concerning. We have depth, but it's inexperienced depth. I think you are going to maybe see Hooker more at LB against Indiana and I wouldn't be surprised to see us start in that formation. I think it gives us the best chance to win.

The reality is that our offense gave Minnesota two touchdowns with the turnovers deep in our end...so their offense really only scored 17. I think the issue for me is that history tells you that when you have young inexperienced players and injuries going on at the same time...it's only a matter of time before that catches up to you.

I think we are going to have to outscore one of these upcoming opponents in a high scoring affair.

 

[hwk23]

I know there were injuries involved but I get the impression that the two freshman CBs beat out the starters. I get the impression, maybe wrong, that the coaches are rolling the dice coming out of the bye week knowing they need to get the most talent on the field ASAP to have a chance to go undefeated. It's still a long shot of course.

 

[DDThompson]

Defense is fine and will be fine. But you’re probably right in that we’re just going to need to outscore someone.

The DL will help mitigate inexperience of the LBs and CBs of course. Teams are going to go to 3 step drop like Minnesota did — the downside for the offense is the passing game becomes shorter metriculating downfield with more opportunities of mistakes and/or lower percentage deep throws — like Minnesota did.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Minnesota was hitting quick slant routes, and routinely testing our young DB's on "8" routes up the sideline.

I'd like to see us jump those slant routes by maybe knocking the receiver off his route at the LOS or wherever he can legally do it but mostly I have faith in Parker. He seems to know what he is doing.

 

[MikeyLikesIowa]

If you look at the stats, our defense is actually pretty darn good - even at a national level. This is really impressive IMO considering all the injuries & personnel changes we've had.

 

[uihawk82]

Not sure if Hankins lost his job because of injury. He was not getting picked on much while he was in there so maybe when he comes back it will be Hankins and Brents starting.

 

[BVHawk95]

Fortunately it seems like we finally have some solid depth at the LB position, and as others have said, In Phil We Trust.

If the DL keeps being terrormonsters, that ought to mitigate near-any injury side effects.

 

[uihawk82]

I would say the defense's scoring defense stat is damn good.

Game 1 late TD by NIU
Game 2 held ISU to only early FG
Game 3 Two late TDs by UNI
Game 4 basically held Wisky to 7 earned pts for 59 minutes, but 28 pts overall to mess up the stats
Game 5 only 10 earned pts basically out of the first 24

Really good job of keeping teams out of scoring range, driving the ball, etc.
Tackling has been pretty crisp, pretty good angles on runners and receivers.

 

[AreWeThereYet]

Indiana runs a shotgun offense where the quarterback is a bit shallow (somewhat like a pistol offense). The quarterback will get rid of the ball quickly to neutralize the pass rush, and throw a lot of short passes into the flats.

Michigan State's corners were in press against outside receivers most of the time. This freed up the linebackers to help shut down Indiana's running game (29 yards total). Indiana's quarterback Ramsey had one good 12 yard run early in the game but nothing after that and ended up with only 13 yards on 18 carries. The running backs fared little better. Indiana was able to dink and dunk its way down the field effectively with the short passing game early in the game and had one long passing play (65 yards) for a touchdown. State's defense tightened up as the game progressed. All the short passing by Indiana was vulnerable to interception. Michigan State got two interceptions including jumping the route on short screen pass for a pick 6. Had Michigan State not turned the ball over 4 times, I don't think Indiana would have ever been in the game.

I don't see Iowa's inexperienced cornerbacks being utilized in press coverage like Michigan State's. Iowa's cornerbacks will eventually have to tighten up the zone, otherwise Indiana is going to thrive on quick routes underneath the zone all day. I also see Iowa's linebackers helping out more in coverage, which will open up running lanes for Indiana. I have an idea that Indiana's offense will be effective early. Hopefully, Iowa's defense will tighten up fairly quickly.

 

[BryceC]

Even advanced stats show things are very good for the Hawkeye defense. FEI ratings won't be released for a while, but the just straight points allowed per opponent drive for Iowa is really good - just 1.29 points per drive, 10th in the country.

http://www.bcftoys.com/2018-ppd/

 

[hawkinn3]

The line is very good but against a good line like Wisconsin it was a stalemate.

Linebackers and secondary seem talented but still working on decision making. Hornibrook (who sucks) pulled a Joe Montana on them and beat us.

Any good QB will probably feast if our line doesn’t really get after it.

IND, NW, PSU and Purdue all have better QBs than Wisconsin so it’ll be interesting to say the least.

 

[Stanzi]

Our offense handed 14 points to both Minnesota and Wisconsin. That’s 28 points right there that really isn’t the fault of the defense. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the play of our LB’s since they were a big concern of mine heading into the season. It’s also nice knowing we have depth there and in the secondary.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

We played Wisconsin with two different LBs (Neiman and Hockaday) and two different corners. Now, it's debatable whether the corner changes are a downgrade...based on the way they played in the second half at Minnesota. The linebackers are definitely a downgrade though.

It's going to be interesting to see what Phil does against Indiana. Our corners were in press coverage alot against Minnesota...alot. My guess is that he brings Hooker down to LB, puts Stone at safety, and plays Colbert and Welsh at the other two LB spots. I honestly think that puts the best defense on the field. The one thing it does do is it puts the fastest team on the field.

The Indiana game is going to be interesting. Ramsey presents some problems...and he can exploit weakness much, much better than Annexstad. Annexstad was a sitting duck and couldn't move at all. This is much different and it presents more problems.

 

[BVHawk95]

Our offense handed 14 points to both Minnesota and Wisconsin. That’s 28 points right there that really isn’t the fault of the defense. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the play of our LB’s since they were a big concern of mine heading into the season. It’s also nice knowing we have depth there and in the secondary.

That's the one thing I've been surprised about the offense this year, is how sloppy they are. Even Ferentz's worst offenses usually have few penalties and take good care of the ball, but that doesn't seem to be the case so far this season.

 

[skinnykilmer17]

Injuries are part of the game obviously. I don't know if our offense could have sustained the number of injuries the defense has experienced and still be productive.

Basically I have MUCH more faith in Parker than Brian to plug the holes. I have mentioned it before but our oline has to stay healthy. Mixed bag on their performace so far but it could be worse with a lack of unproven depth at this point. One game for Kallenberger and Paulsen's kind of treading water. 12 of 20 lineman on roster are freshman or RS freshman.

 

[Ree4]

Even advanced stats show things are very good for the Hawkeye defense. FEI ratings won't be released for a while, but the just straight points allowed per opponent drive for Iowa is really good - just 1.29 points per drive, 10th in the country.

http://www.bcftoys.com/2018-ppd/

Hey that's the stat I've been clamoring for! Who's cherry picking now??

I'll say it again so ya'll are up to speed - Points scored per drive and points allowed per drive are more important stats than Total offense and total defense. Just need to find a way to account for the field position variable

 

[Knight78]

Indiana runs a shotgun offense where the quarterback is a bit shallow (somewhat like a pistol offense).

You do realize the depth of the QB behind center has no bearing on whether the offense is a shotgun or a pistol offense, right? The pistol offense has a RB behind the QB, kind of like an I-formation. The shotgun has the QB with no RB behind him and often has the RB to his right or left.

Yes, typically the pistol offense typically has the QB closer to the line, but it is so the RB has the "7 yards from the line" split.

 

[uihawk82]

Hey that's the stat I've been clamoring for! Who's cherry picking now??

I'll say it again so ya'll are up to speed - Points scored per drive and points allowed per drive are more important stats than Total offense and total defense. Just need to find a way to account for the field position variable

You could factor the length of drive as a variable to skew the data. Multiply by a percentage of 100 yards or just subtract out for drives less than 30 yards, 31-50, over 50.

 

[AreWeThereYet]

You do realize the depth of the QB behind center has no bearing on whether the offense is a shotgun or a pistol offense, right? The pistol offense has a RB behind the QB, kind of like an I-formation. The shotgun has the QB with no RB behind him and often has the RB to his right or left.

Yes, typically the pistol offense typically has the QB closer to the line, but it is so the RB has the "7 yards from the line" split.

I am aware, to a very limited extent. The truth of it is I am not a football guy with any sort of extensive knowledge. Just a fan trying to keep up with what is happening, and not be totally ignorant about what I am watching. So yes, I was generally aware that the pistol formation had the RB directly behind the QB. I am also aware that either are more of a formation than a system. These days either formation is used either as a basis for third and long plays or as the basis of an entire offensive schemes. Don't ask me for too many details on who is running what system. I don't know.