PFF Grades: Defense
For the first time this season an opponent scored more than 20 points against the Iowa defense. The Hawkeyes haven't been elite, but they have been solid this season, but for the first time this year a running back really took the Iowa defense to task.
Wisconsin's Jonathon Taylor rushed for 250 yards and the Badgers finished the day with a grand total of 300 yards on the ground. Both were obviously a season high against Iowa. The Badgers finished with 473 yards of total offense, but on a positive note, Iowa did create a pair of turnovers.
How did the Iowa defense grade out in this game? We take a look at how PFF saw it over the course of 74 total snaps.
| SNAP | RUN D | PASS RUSH | OVERALL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
A.J. Epenesa |
64 |
70.0 |
91.4 |
86.7 |
|
Cedrick Lattimore |
52 |
69.7 |
60.4 |
70.7 |
|
Chauncey Golston |
64 |
71.0 |
60.6 |
69.8 |
|
Brady Reiff |
52 |
68.6 |
63.7 |
69.3 |
|
Daviyon Nixon |
22 |
67.9 |
56.0 |
65.3 |
|
John Waggoner |
10 |
62.2 |
56.7 |
60.3 |
|
Joe Evans |
3 |
N/A |
56.9 |
56.9 |
|
Austin Schulte |
19 |
57.5 |
57.2 |
56.7 |
|
Zach VanValkenberg |
10 |
65.3 |
56.7 |
50.5 |
DL ANALYSIS
A.J. Epenesa continues to shine along the defensive line. The junior defensive end was Iowa's highest graded player on defense again this week and his pass rush number was outstanding.
Cedrick Lattimore and Chauncey Golston had solid games, but like everyone not named Epenesa, they struggled to generate much of a pass rush. Iowa had only one sack on the day and that was the strip sack by Epenesa. Iowa was also credited with four pressures according to PFF. Iowa really didn't do well generating much pressure up front in this game on a consistent basis.
Iowa's run defense grades were very average, as you would expect when you give up 300 yards rushing to an opponent.
| SNAP | RUN D | TACKLE | COVER | OVERALL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Nick Niemann |
36 |
61.5 |
79.8 |
63.1 |
62.5 |
|
Dane Belton |
38 |
62.7 |
39.1 |
61.5 |
62.3 |
|
Seth Benson |
1 |
57.5 |
25.6 |
N/A |
54.5 |
|
Barrington Wade |
8 |
60.6 |
21.4 |
52.2 |
48.4 |
|
Jack Campbell |
8 |
45.8 |
N/A |
60.3 |
47.4 |
|
Djimon Colbert |
65 |
29.5 |
53.2 |
64.4 |
43.1 |
|
Dillon Doyle |
72 |
39.3 |
50.9 |
48.6 |
39.6 |
LB ANALYSIS
Not much to say for this group other than across the board it was a rough day.
Iowa came out in some unique linebacker groupings in this game. They played a few four linebacker sets, they played some "Cash" with Dane Belton, and they played quite a bit of traditional 4-3 and nothing really seemed to have sustained success.
Poor tackling is obviously an issue with this group against Wisconsin and that how a running back ends up with over 250 yards rushing.
| SNAP | PASS COVER | TACKLING | OVERALL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Matt Hankins |
74 |
76.4 |
64.8 |
72.3 |
|
Riley Moss |
28 |
57.6 |
28.3 |
62.7 |
|
Michael Ojemudia |
51 |
57.6 |
82.8 |
58.9 |
|
Jack Koerner |
63 |
61.8 |
40.8 |
54.7 |
|
Geno Stone |
74 |
45.1 |
64.0 |
51.6 |
DB ANALYSIS
As you can tell by the numbers, pretty inconsistent and not great day for the Iowa defensive backfield. The coverage numbers were ok, surprising to see Stone and Ojemudia down the list a bit given that they have been good this year. Ojemudia left the game with injury and performance issues and was replaced by Riley Moss. Koerner's snaps were down this week because he was replaced at times when Iowa went with their four linebacker looks.
The real standout was Matt Hankins, who played probably his best game of the year. He was the highest graded of the group and the best in coverage.