Jeff Brohm in at Purdue.

[HomerChampless]

So you can figure it out but Jim Harbaugh and Mike Riley cannot? Unless you're a millionaire you're in the wrong profession.

Iowa was 109th in time of possession this year out of 128 schools. But I suppose that doesn't matter either? Our defense was out on the field almost 10 minutes longer per game than the top teams. How many plays does that equate to over 12 games? That says something to me.

Yeah, what's LSU's offensive rating? I bet it's pretty low, yet they're in most games, even Alabama.

 

[Joshbrown]

Iowa's offense had, what, 3 possessions in the second half against SDS? Iowa's defense couldn't get off the field the whole second half, but that's not all that unusual.

But doesn't that work both ways? When the offense can't sustain drives, doesn't that mean they are sending the defense out there to win the game? You would agree with me wouldn't you that Kirk puts the burden of winning games on his defense much more so than he does the offense?

 

[HomerChampless]

But doesn't that work both ways? When the offense can't sustain drives, doesn't that mean they are sending the defense out there to win the game? You would agree with me wouldn't you that Kirk puts the burden of winning games on his defense much more so than he does the offense?

Iowa's offense is intentionally a time consuming offense. That's KF's design. Not Davis'. Don't score points. Lord knows, just play for field position. No one on the Iowa staff thought Iowa would have so few possessions on offense in the second half especially after the first half. The defense failed to stop SDS in the second half...period...and the two periods just melted away.

 

[Joshbrown]

Iowa's offense is intentionally a time consuming offense. That's KF's design. Not Davis'. Don't score points. Lord knows, just play for field position. No one on the Iowa staff thought Iowa would have so few possessions on offense in the second half especially after the first half. The defense failed to stop SDS in the second half...period.

So the fact that the scoring defense has been better than the scoring offense for 18 years doesn't cause you to think putting the blame on the defense is hard to defend?

 

[ottoman89]

I crapped my pants at first because I thought I read he came from Western Michigan.. was like, the dude in the BCS game?

I'm ok now.

 

[BVHawk95]

Iowa's offense had, what, 3 possessions in the second half against SDS? Iowa's defense couldn't get off the field the whole second half, but that's not all that unusual.

The defense only gave up 16 points in the game, while another 7 were on the pick-6. NDSU was a whole-team loss, but the defense was still better than the offense.

SDS, Northwestern, Purdue, even though Iowa won, was a defensive nightmare for Iowa. Iowa was behind Tennessee and Stanford by about 3 scores in the first quarter. Pretty hard for any OC to devise an effective game plan after that.

Purdue didn't cut into the lead until the second-string defense came in, then we got burned on a few deep balls. As soon as the first team came back in, we shut them down again.

There are plenty of things to complain about this year, and the defense was far from perfect, but it also wasn't the mess you make it out to be. Phil Parker is a good DC, he just has to deal with our high expectations due to having Norm for so long.

 

[HomerChampless]

So the fact that the scoring defense has been better than the scoring offense for 18 years doesn't cause you to think putting the blame on the defense is hard to defend?

I'm pointing out problems with Iowa's defense...in, at least, the NDSU game. Don't tell me Iowa's defense is 'great' (or is, at least, better than the offense). If Iowa's defense had gotten off the field,just once, in the second half of the NDSU game, Iowa would've won. Iowa's defense couldn't stop a division I NCAA school in the second half of that game. Problems against NDSU and the problems Iowa's defense traditionally has with offenses that put athleticism in space would lead any non-biased individuals to believe Iowa's defense isn't that great.

People still want to say Iowa's defense doesn't need reworking. In which universe? The universe where Iowa's defense plays against offenses with a wounded QB like Nebraska? In the universe against offenses like Illinois that are putrid? In the universe against offenses like Michigan's whose staff had so much bravado they decided to design plays to run at the strength of Iowa's defense even though there was such athleticism on that offense?

I don't get you. You want to stubbornly cling to Iowa's defense being great, yet you lament Wisconsin's success in the West Division of the B1G. I'm laying it out for you, man. Wisconsin has the lights-out defense and Iowa doesn't. Iowa's offense is similarly potent (or not potent) to Wisconsin's. Or I'll use the example of LSU. LSU has some pretty pathetic offenses, yet they are in almost every game, including Alabama, because of their lights-out defense, If you don't want to see that, there must be some other motive in play than Iowa's program being great. What is your motive?