Iowa #2 in Nation in Defense

#2 in Points Allowed (sadly points from Pick 6s and ST are counted here)
#5 in Avg Yards Allowed Per Game (unfortunately when people talk about defensive rankings
they use this)
#4 in Total Rush Yards Allowed (lowest for a team that has played 5 games meaning Iowa is
actually only 2nd to Kent State in average rush yards allowed per game)
#49 in Total Pass Yards Allowed (these past two aren't shown as per game)
T-#28 in Total INTs
T-#6 in Total Pick 6s
 
Not when you look at the total D and pass efficiency D. Basically just means that nobody can run on us, so they have to throw.
 
And you have to look at most of the passes against the D are underneath except for a few long balls in a couple of games. You are going to have that when you have a defense that is choking the life out of offenses. Occasionally, they have to throw the long ball.
 
bhawk326 said:
#2 in Points Allowed (sadly points from Pick 6s and ST are counted here)
#5 in Avg Yards Allowed Per Game (unfortunately when people talk about defensive rankings
they use this)
#4 in Total Rush Yards Allowed (lowest for a team that has played 5 games meaning Iowa is
actually only 2nd to Kent State in average rush yards allowed per game)
#49 in Total Pass Yards Allowed (these past two aren't shown as per game)
T-#28 in Total INTs
T-#6 in Total Pick 6s
Click to expand...

You actually can get the rushing and passing yards allowed per game, but you have to click on the Rushing and Passing headers after selecting the Defense category. Iowa is 2nd, like you mentioned, in rushing yards allowed per game and 35th in passing yards allowed per game.
 
WVHawk said:
#49 in pass defense is a concern.
Click to expand...

I seriously would not worry - that number is extremely misleading.

In general, when a team plays great run defense (like we do) and has been playing with leads (in all of our games but 1), the pass D numbers are going to get distorted from a pure yds allowed perspective.

Furthermore, Iowa's defensive scheme specifically does allow teams to have certain nickel & dime stuff if they are patient and executing cleanly enough to take it.

In my experience, the far more telling number for how you are doing defending the pass is to look at opp pass efficiency. Looking at this, Iowa is doing very, very well - 102.06, which is good enough for #14 in the country!

cfbstats.com - 2010 National Team Leaders

In conclusion, don't sweat the total yds! :)
 
I wouldn't sweat the overall pass ranking. It seems to me that every year Iowa's M.O. is to take away the run and force teams to be one dimensional, i.e., beating us with the passing game. We are content to give up the underneath stuff, and that is why our passing defense "gives up" more yards. It has been that way for some of our best defenses under Ferentz's tenure - that's bend but don't break. Love it or leave it.

The one concern that I have with our pass defense is that we have given up a handful of deep balls so far, and usually it is our defensive philosophy not to give those up. I hope we get that aspect of the pass defense shored up.
 
the defense has played great but Id wait until we play some decent offenses before proclaiming it as one of the best in the country.
 
The big drop in pass yards is a result of losing three great pass defenders to the draft and the run defense improving quite a bit. We have only played one decent running team so far, as well, in ISU. We will know a lot more after the next three games. If we are still top 5 in total defense and scoring defense after the next three games, then we will be in darned good shape.
 
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