First off, this year's defense was slightly above average, nothing spectacular but certainly not bad. They were plenty servicable to win games for you if our offense carried their weight, especially in the 2nd half of the season.
Stats can be misleading; because of our offensive and defensive schemes we greatly shorten the games down. I would guess the average plays per game are significantly lower on average in Iowa games.
What I would like to see is a breakdown of our efficiency on 3rd/4th and long and 2nd and 12 plus; this year I would guess it was pretty poor. With our LB corp we just weren't built to be successful in these types of situations playing base defense. This is where I fault the coaches slowness to adjust, it took till week 11 to mix in dime/nickel packages which they abandoned in the 4th quarter inexplicably.
For the next points I realize that this would be far out of character for Ferentz. I respect his desire to call off the dogs and win with class and not run up the score for BCS sakes. However, I think we miss key learning opportunities because of this.
2 things I would really like to see next year on defense:
-- When we get up a good amount on Cupcake U start bringing the house from all different angles on every play with the starters. We have to learn/gain confidence in getting home on blitzes and you can't learn this without game experience.
-- Once again when up practice your nickle then so we aren't using it for the first time in week 6.
2 things I would really like to see next year on offense:
--Once again once up on Cupcake U: Go to no huddle in 2nd half intermittently; Ferentz teams need more game practice with 2 minute drill.
--Once in a blue moon throw in 5 wide on 1st down. Doesn't hurt to surprise teams every now and then...