What kind of college football season would it be if the Iowa Hawkeyes’ defense wasn’t playing a dominant style of football?
The Hawkeyes’ offense, and its struggles, have been the talk of this team through two weeks, but going under the radar is the performance that the defensive unit is displaying. Phil Parker has the Iowa defense playing stout and fast once again.
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While they look great, Kirk Ferentz thinks that there are ways for this unit to get even better.
“Yeah, I think they’re off to a good start that way, and points are the most important stat defensively. Sometimes getting off the field a little quicker would be a good thing and give the offense — that was a big part of the second half the other day. We went into the game knowing they’re a good ball position team. They’ve been that way several years.
“It ended up just about dead even Saturday. I think we had an edge by 20 seconds. But it didn’t feel that way in the second half. Just it was kind of we had it a lot in the third quarter and then they had it a lot in the fourth quarter.
“Anytime you want to get off the field as fast as you can and give the offense another possession if possible, but I think overall, we’re on a good track right now. It’s like our whole team, the whole thing is to show improvement, growth and improvement, and that’s where our focus is in all three areas right now,” Ferentz said about areas the defense could fine-tune.
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The Hawkeyes are currently No. 12 in college football in total defense, allowing just 207.5 yards per game. They are No. 21 in passing yards allowed at 134 yards per game, and No. 16 in rushing defense, allowing just 73.5 yards per game with only 2.88 yards per carry given up.
This unit has been incredibly strong to start the year, and if they can continue to get better, they have the potential to be among the very best units in the country in 2025.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Kirk Ferentz discusses how Iowa football can get even defensively
