Iowa managed to shut down Illinois State’s offense with a balanced defensive effort.

By Jordan Hansen
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In 13 games last season, Iowa totaled 27 sacks. Nearly half came from players who are not on this year’s squad.

The Hawkeyes had 5 against Illinois State on Sept. 5 in their 31-14 win. While it’s imprudent to put too much emphasis on a game against an Football Championship Subdivision opponent (albeit a good one), it’s a welcome sign for a defense that sometimes struggled to get penetration a year ago.

Even more importantly, Iowa had 10 tackles for loss. They made life a living hell for speedy Redbird quarterback Tre Roberson, who finished with 12 rushes for negative-12 yards and just 49 yards passing on 12 attempts.

“Just an impressive, typical, physical Iowa team,” Illinois State head coach Brock Spack said. “Drew Ott gave our tackles a lesson. He was a handful — what else can you say?”

Ott was sidelined for most of the second half with a bloody nose but still finished with 3 tackles, 2 sacks, a quarterback hit, and a forced fumble.

Beyond the stat line, however, Ott and the rest of the defensive line just made things miserable for Illinois State. Fellow defensive end Nate Meier also made his living in the backfield, and there was little an overmatched Redbird offensive line could do besides be blown off the line.

Iowa has been famous for its inability to stop dual-threat quarterbacks and top-end running backs, but that wasn’t the case against the Redbirds.

Illinois State only managed to net 35 yards on 28 rushes for an abysmal 1.3 yards-per-carry, and star running back Marshaun Coprich had 32 of them.

“We just tried to contain them and force them back to the middle,” Ott said. “I got juked out a couple times, so that was a little rough, he’s a good elusive quarterback, but we were just trying to put pressure on him and contain him.”

Ott wasn’t the only Hawkeye juked; several linebackers were also put on skates. With that said, the majority of the first-team secondary and backers didn’t have much of an issue keeping plays in front of them.

Illinois State mostly ignored Desmond King’s side of the field, instead concentrating on Greg Mabin’s side. Mabin responded, breaking up two passes and generally shutting down the receivers he was covering.

“I’m sure they watched the Tennessee game last year,” Mabin said. “I knew they were going to try to pick on me early, and I was able to hold my own.”

Mabin, along with Maurice Fleming (who also had two pass breakups) were also solid in run support.

“The way our defense works, our corners are big on run support,” Mabin said. “We’re not just out there covering people, we’re filling holes and setting edges and stuff. You gotta be able to tackle to play here.”

Again, it’s hard to judge too much from watching a team beat up on an lower-division school, but Iowa’s defense did look quite a bit further along than it did last season.

The linebackers still have work to do, but completely shutting down a high-powered offense the way the Hawkeyes did against Illinois State cannot be ignored. If nothing else, it provided a bit of confidence — something that was sorely lacking through Iowa’s late-season slide a year ago.

“I don’t mind telling you, I had some negative thoughts during the week. As the week went on, you start wondering about some things,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “We’re hardly perfect right now, but I like the direction we’re moving.”

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