ISU Game Analysis- Defense

DL- Once again the D-line played a solid game, against teams like UNI and ISU you aren't going to see a whole lot of stats from the line. I thought that they put good pressure on the Cyclone quarterbacks all game long and basically had their way with a larger offensive line. What concerned me was the amount of rushing yards ISU got in the game. Part of that was due to the scheme that ISU uses, that zone read running play coupled with the wider OL splits will cause the vanilla Iowa defense fits all season. Binns led the charge with 9 tackles and Klug had the only TFL for the DL. Overall grade: B

LB- After last weeks poor performance the linebackers stepped it up this last week. However they still missed too many tackles. Most of the time it was the basic fundamental of not wrapping up the ball carrier. The LB play on the option was for the most part good, I thought that their decision to make Arnaud carry the ball was well played by Edds most of the game. In pass coverage the LB's did all right against a bevy of crossing patterns, but still showed room for improvement. Overall grade: B

DB- Well after saying that the safeties played a sub-par game against UNI, they brought their A game against ISU. Sash and Greenwood both had multiple INT days with Sash being Arnaud's second favorite target with three grabs. The entire defensive backfield had a stellar game, William Lowe got the start at the corner opposite Spievey and was hardly picked on at all. It appeared that Iowa played more man coverage on Saturday than they normally do and they played it exceptionally well. Everyone wants to talk about the bad passes Arnaud made, but there was little room to get the ball to his receivers as they couldn't get any separation from the Iowa DB's. Overall grade: A

Defensive notes:
Team did a great job of gang tackling
Arnaud still does not know that Iowa plays a cover 2
Looked shaky against the run at times
6 TO's is going to win you a lot of games