The 'Iowa Can't Stop the Spread Offense' Myth

JonDMiller

JonDMiller

Publisher/Founder
I see it here, I see it in several places. "Iowa can't stop the spread"

Here are teams that ran the spread, and how they fared against Iowa:

2010

Eastern Illinois 7 points 0 vs starters
Iowa State 7 points ...0 vs starters
Arizona: 20 points (they scored 14 more off pick six and kickoff return for TD)
Ball State: 0
Michigan: 28 (4 below their per game average for year)
Indiana: 13
NW: 21
Minnesota: 27
Missouri: 24

Average per game: 16.3 (or 17.7 if you want to add in the 14 vs AZ)

2009

UNI: 16
ISU: 3
Arizona: 17
Arkansas State: 21
Michigan: 28
Indiana: 24
NW: 10
Minnesota: 0

Average per game: 14.8/game vs spread teams

2008:

I don't recall what Maine and Florida Intl ran, but they scored a combined 3 pts vs Iowa

ISU: 5
NW: 22 (22 points and Iowa committed five turnovers)
Indiana: 9
Illinois 27
Purdue: 17

Minnesota was more west coast that year..if you want to count South Carolina, there is 10.

The game of football is still decided by who scores more points, not who gains more yards between the 20's. The notion that spread teams are the bane of Iowa football? Sorry, I don't buy it...if anything, the lack of consistent offensive production has been a much more challenging 'foe' than the spread offenses Iowa has faced.
 
You are correct about the points being the deciding factor. One thing to keep in mind is the last 6 meetings between Iowa and prototypical spread offense Northwestern, Iowa is just 1-5.

I'm not saying I don't agree w/ you, just putting that nugget out there.
 
What about the amount of yards being gained between the 20's having a correlation to the amount of time the defense spent on the field?

Think that may have had something to do with them not being able to get off the field in the 4th Qtr. last year?

Sure the offense could have helped matters out, the defense isn't alone in that sentiment, and of course you are right, it is still about who scores the most points.

But you also can't have it both ways... you have a team like Iowa that traditionally has a significant drop between its 1st and 2nd stringers on the depth chart, time of possession starts to really matter, and sometimes you have to take the gamble that on 3rd and 5 at midfield, that you may give up a 25 yard gain to increase your chance to end the drive right there.

To be clear, Iowa's defense didn't lose any games last year, and the points scored against them were downright impressive. Iowa's endurance lost 4 games.

Either the entire team was woefully out of shape, Doyle suddenly became an idiot, or they were just flat out gassed. If it was the last one, the scheme CERTAINLY has something to do with that.
 
great stats! but at times it's as though we leave the back door cracked, allowing some to "sneak" in and win.
 
you've been hangin on cyclownfanatic recently - and certainly are doing this in reply to clown21.

he also pointed out the fact that Norm is a peg leg in the body of that post.

yes, on display again, we are shown the we are the classless bunch.
 
storminspank said:
You are correct about the points being the deciding factor. One thing to keep in mind is the last 6 meetings between Iowa and prototypical spread offense Northwestern, Iowa is just 1-5.

I'm not saying I don't agree w/ you, just putting that nugget out there.
Click to expand...

i'll throw this one out there on your comment about NW beating us with their prototypical spread offense - it hasn't been their offense that has necessarily been beating Iowa. starting with 2005 and that horrible onside kick, thru last year when Iowa was up 17-7 and Stanzi threw an INT near NW goal line, it hasn't necessarily been their offense beating us.

i'm not going to got thru every game, but there are more than the 2 listed above where their offense didn't beat us.
 
All I know is that Stanzi and the offense had at least two chances to absolutely bury Northwestern last year, and they didn't come through. If they had, the season would have probably ended differently, and no one would be talking about our defense.

I love when Iowa matches up against spread teams that don't have accurate downfield throwers. Denard Robinson and Michigan are example 1-A. We just frustrate the hell out of those teams because we wrap up their receivers after the 3-yard out patterns and make them do it 20 times in a row. Yes, the QBs who are good scramblers can do some damage, but they also tend to get popped, which is exactly what happened to Denard last year. If I was an opposing OC I would hesitate to turn my QB loose against Iowa's tacklers.

Teams that can stretch the field both horizontally and vertically, on the other hand, have given the Hawks trouble. But who doesn't struggle against teams like that, and how many college teams are able to do that other than 2002 USC?
 
BSpringsteen said:
What about the amount of yards being gained between the 20's having a correlation to the amount of time the defense spent on the field?

Think that may have had something to do with them not being able to get off the field in the 4th Qtr. last year?

Sure the offense could have helped matters out, the defense isn't alone in that sentiment, and of course you are right, it is still about who scores the most points.

But you also can't have it both ways... you have a team like Iowa that traditionally has a significant drop between its 1st and 2nd stringers on the depth chart, time of possession starts to really matter, and sometimes you have to take the gamble that on 3rd and 5 at midfield, that you may give up a 25 yard gain to increase your chance to end the drive right there.

To be clear, Iowa's defense didn't lose any games last year, and the points scored against them were downright impressive. Iowa's endurance lost 4 games.

Either the entire team was woefully out of shape, Doyle suddenly became an idiot, or they were just flat out gassed. If it was the last one, the scheme CERTAINLY has something to do with that.
Click to expand...

If the offense held up their end and moves the chains at least 40% of the time, the defense isn't on the field as much. The final third of last year was on the offense, or lack there of. Iowa went from a 52% 3rd down converting offense through eight games and getting off the field on defense more than 68% of time on third to an offense that converted just 32% of thirds and defense allowing over 50%. The d was gassed because they were out there too quickly, too often. It's pretty academic.

As for yards between the 20's...the game is won or lost by points scored and allowed. The Iowa defense has more than done it's part
 
I remember someone asking Norm about all of these new offenses ... His basic response was football is football ... You line up and you stop the opposition. We may "bend" a little more against the spread, but in the end, we usually tighten up when it counts (in the redzone) ...
 
I think that at least in the case of Northwestern, it's not the score that indicates whether or not we stopped their spread. With the kind of patience that they approach us with, they are rarely going to run up the score. But they play keep away. When that happens, ANY mistake on offense can prove exceptionally costly.

So we may hold Northwestern to 21 or less, but they aren't trying to rack up 50 points on us. They bleed us out slowly.
 
JonDMiller said:
I see it here, I see it in several places. "Iowa can't stop the spread"

Here are teams that ran the spread, and how they fared against Iowa:

2010

Eastern Illinois 7 points 0 vs starters
Iowa State 7 points ...0 vs starters
Arizona: 20 points (they scored 14 more off pick six and kickoff return for TD)
Ball State: 0
Michigan: 28 (4 below their per game average for year)
Indiana: 13
NW: 21
Minnesota: 27
Missouri: 24

Average per game: 16.3 (or 17.7 if you want to add in the 14 vs AZ)

2009

UNI: 16
ISU: 3
Arizona: 17
Arkansas State: 21
Michigan: 28
Indiana: 24
NW: 10
Minnesota: 0

Average per game: 14.8/game vs spread teams

2008:

I don't recall what Maine and Florida Intl ran, but they scored a combined 3 pts vs Iowa

ISU: 5
NW: 22 (22 points and Iowa committed five turnovers)
Indiana: 9
Illinois 27
Purdue: 17

Minnesota was more west coast that year..if you want to count South Carolina, there is 10.

The game of football is still decided by who scores more points, not who gains more yards between the 20's. The notion that spread teams are the bane of Iowa football? Sorry, I don't buy it...if anything, the lack of consistent offensive production has been a much more challenging 'foe' than the spread offenses Iowa has faced.
Click to expand...

Meh, this is kind of dishonest Jon, you are comparing how our defense did against spread teams, sure, but mostly against bad teams as well.

So you are saying we limited the points scored by Eastern Illinois, Iowa State, Ball State and Indiana below 20 in 2010? Well, those teams also all sucked as well as played spreads.

Nobody thinks that the Iowa defense is anything less than good, even against spreads. But has it been weaker to spreads? Have good spreads been able to sustain long drives, keeping the Iowa O off the field and limiting our points, and scoring points of their own? Yes, they have.

And all the games against UNI, Arky State and Minnesota (not actually a spread btw) you can shake a stick at doesn't "disprove" that.
 
My favorite quote on that CyFanatic thread was something to the effect of how Iowa struggles against quarterbacks who are both "hyperaccurate" and "mobile."

Really? Which defenses don't struggle against those quarterbacks? How many of them actually exist in the college ranks? How many of those guys are going to be disciplined and accurate for all four quarters even as they get continually lit up after they cross the line of scrimmage? And if you play against one, aren't you pretty happy to hold them under 30, which Iowa almost always does?
 
olivecourt said:
My favorite quote on that CyFanatic thread was something to the effect of how Iowa struggles against quarterbacks who are both "hyperaccurate" and "mobile."

Really? Which defenses don't struggle against those quarterbacks? How many of them actually exist in the college ranks? How many of those guys are going to be disciplined and accurate for all four quarters even as they get continually lit up after they cross the line of scrimmage? And if you play against one, aren't you pretty happy to hold them under 30, which Iowa almost always does?
Click to expand...

well, they just put themselves out of the game this saturday.
 
Minnesota operated more out of a pro-set last year. They still used some spread elements ... but they weren't a spread team last year.

Iowa's problem against Minny last year was that we were getting blown off the line of scrimmage in that game. That was both appalling and unacceptable!

Anyhow, I make that remark because Minny's 27 points in 2010 unduly biases the results. With that number omitted ... it supports the original contention EVEN BETTER!
 
Lyddea said:
Meh, this is kind of dishonest Jon, you are comparing how our defense did against spread teams, sure, but mostly against bad teams as well.

So you are saying we limited the points scored by Eastern Illinois, Iowa State, Ball State and Indiana below 20 in 2010? Well, those teams also all sucked as well as played spreads.

Nobody thinks that the Iowa defense is anything less than good, even against spreads. But has it been weaker to spreads? Have good spreads been able to sustain long drives, keeping the Iowa O off the field and limiting our points, and scoring points of their own? Yes, they have.

And all the games against UNI, Arky State and Minnesota (not actually a spread btw) you can shake a stick at doesn't "disprove" that.
Click to expand...

I agree with this poster's sentiments regarding taking the quality of teams into account. Iowa could probably shut out City High, too, even if they ran the spread.

A better method would be to compare the number of points allowed to spread teams of a given quality to the number of points allowed to non-spread teams of a comparable quality. Perhaps categorizing opponents by W-L record would give a reasonable approximation of quality.
 
BSpringsteen said:
What about the amount of yards being gained between the 20's having a correlation to the amount of time the defense spent on the field?

Think that may have had something to do with them not being able to get off the field in the 4th Qtr. last year?

Sure the offense could have helped matters out, the defense isn't alone in that sentiment, and of course you are right, it is still about who scores the most points.

But you also can't have it both ways... you have a team like Iowa that traditionally has a significant drop between its 1st and 2nd stringers on the depth chart, time of possession starts to really matter, and sometimes you have to take the gamble that on 3rd and 5 at midfield, that you may give up a 25 yard gain to increase your chance to end the drive right there.

To be clear, Iowa's defense didn't lose any games last year, and the points scored against them were downright impressive. Iowa's endurance lost 4 games.

Either the entire team was woefully out of shape, Doyle suddenly became an idiot, or they were just flat out gassed. If it was the last one, the scheme CERTAINLY has something to do with that.
Click to expand...

Go back and look at the yards NW has gained against our D. It is abysmal...i've been saying it for years the spread is not what beats us. Stupid *** play calling that kills our own drives...often when we have the lead....beats us in close games.
 
kuhntz said:
Go back and look at the yards NW has gained against our D. It is abysmal...i've been saying it for years the spread is not what beats us. Stupid *** play calling that kills our own drives...often when we have the lead....beats us in close games.
Click to expand...

steve - lot of things has killed us v. NW. Stanzi injury. Stanzi INT when we were up 17-7 threatening to make it 24-7. 2005 up 24-14 at the start of the 4th qtr to lose to a recovered onside kick. 2008 5 turnovers and 1st and 10 at their 8 yard line with 4 straight incomplete passes. plus that fumbled punt return right b4 half that NW turned into 7.

I could go on, but about to be sick. anyone that says NW's offense is winning these games is incorrect. moreso their D, and our turnovers. go back and look at some of these box scores if you are a glutton for punishment.
 
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