Hawkeyes can lean on their defensive tackles

IOWA CITY — During his postgame after the Michigan win, Jaleel Johnson was asked what the difference was between Iowa's defense the week before at Penn State and then against the Wolverines.

Penn State was a disaster of epic proportions. Iowa gave up 41 points and allowed 599 yards, the second most in head coach Kirk Ferentz's 18 seasons (604 at Wisconsin in 1999). Last weekend rang out so loudly that Ferentz told the team he would find a place for the game ball in the Hansen Performance Center.

The defense did the heavy lifting. The Hawkeyes held No. 3 Michigan to 201 yards, a low in head coach Jim Harbaugh's season-plus at the school. The defense even put points on the board, with Johnson's safety getting Iowa off the schneid at 10-2.

What was the difference?

'The difference?' Johnson said. 'Four hundred yards.'

Laughter broke out. It was funny because it was true.

Beyond the gross yardage, the difference was the play of Iowa's defensive line, specifically Johnson and fellow senior Faith Ekakitie.

'A lot of credit goes to the D-line,' linebacker Josey Jewell said. 'They came to play today. They made it easy for us on the back end to be able to see the gaps and then they got a lot of penetration.'

As the Hawkeyes (6-4, 4-3 Big Ten) come down from one of the program's biggest surprise victories at Kinnick Stadium maybe ever, they might have to count on the D-line this weekend at Illinois (3-7, 2-5).

The Fighting Illini have a pair of talented running backs. Kendrick Foster is eighth in the Big Ten with 6.16 yards per carry on 109 attempts. Reggie Corbin has 60 attempts and is fourth in the league at 7.37 yards per carry, that ranks third in the FBS for freshmen. Yes, Illinois is having a stale season, but a victory Saturday would feel like a season-maker and Illinois won't try to run at Iowa's defensive tackles like Michigan did.

If Iowa puts a lot on its D-tackles in this one, last week showed it's a sound decision.

In front of at least nine NFL scouts, Johnson put up perhaps his best game as a Hawkeye. The 6-foot-4, 310-pounder had a career-high nine tackles, a sack that threw off a UM drive near the end of the first half, the safety and two tackles for loss. He also led Iowa with four QB hurries.

OK, maybe it wasn't 'perhaps' Johnson's best game. Maybe it was Johnson's best game.

'I'm not big on ranking games, but I would say that was probably his best game so far,' Ferentz said. 'They get older, more mature and really learn, they keep stepping things up. We weren't going to do it unless our best guys or most experienced guys led the way. Certainly, he did a great job.'

Ekakitie had four tackles with two tackles for loss. Pro Football Focus is a website that grades and ranks performances of each position in college football every week. After Penn State, PFF had Ekakitie near the bottom of that list.

'We know what we're capable of,' Ekakitie said. 'When we don't perform to that level, it eats at us, too. Every week, we've been trying to stack weeks and improve steadily and clean up the little mistakes that have been killing us all season.'

Also according to PFF, it was a huge bounceback game for Johnson. Look, when the defense allows 359 rushing yards, no one had a good game. Apparently, Johnson's grade against Penn State was his lowest since Iowa State in 2015.

'We didn't really do anything against Penn State,' Johnson said. 'We knew Michigan was the big dogs. We just made our minds up to come at these guys aggressively and that's what we did.'

When Iowa's defensive tackles are penetrating and keeping blockers off linebackers, Iowa's defense does good things.

In the Hawkeyes' win at Minnesota, Johnson, Ekakitie and Nathan Bazata all scored positive grades from PFF. Iowa held Minnesota to 102 rushing yards, 126 below its average at the time. Iowa also scored a 14-7 victory.

Michigan was a lot like that. The Hawkeyes held Michigan to a season-low 98 rushing yards (also its lowest in 10 games). A week after being plagued by explosive plays, Iowa allowed just one run of 12-plus yards against UM.

It was another 'defensive tackle' game.

'If they have a great game, then probably everyone behind them will be able to play really well, too,' Jewell said. 'They might get most of the tackles, but that's totally fine with us. At least they're stopping them. If they do well, everyone behind them is going to do better. They close down some gaps and make it easier for us to make the reads and be able to see the backs.'

Asked about the defensive tackles and how they performed against Michigan, outside linebacker Ben Niemann just laughed. He laughed because he knew how good they were.

'It definitely helps if those guys are on their 'A' game,' he said. 'It starts with stopping the run, as you could tell, Jaleel, Faith, Bazata, all of those guys up front were getting into the backfield and making plays. That helps free us up. Even if they don't make the play, if they cut off the ball and do things like that, it slows the back down and definitely helps us out.'

Defensive line coach Reese Morgan has been rotating Johnson, Ekakitie and Bazata this season. Bazata suffered an ankle injury against Wisconsin on Oct. 22 and still is working back to full health. But because of that rotation, this group remains fresh. Johnson played all but two of the 61 defensive snaps vs. Michigan. Ekakitie played 45, while Bazata went for 18.

How fresh are Iowa's D-tackles?

'The way we played defense, those guys up the middle are important to our success,' Ferentz said. 'When they're doing their things well linebackers have a chance to play. The way we're wired if our linebackers aren't producing in terms of tackles, it's hard for us to do anything substantial on defense. Anytime we're playing good defense, you can assume that those inside guys are doing a great job.'

2-Minute Drill: Breaking down Illinois vs. Iowa

Johnson, whose 6.5 sacks puts him fourth in the Big Ten, played 59 snaps against the Wolverines, but he needed only one to believe the Hawkeyes could pull off the biggest upset in the Big Ten this season.

There aren't any questions on that, are there? Biggest upset in the Big Ten this season and Johnson had an idea how it might go very, very early on.

You couldn't see it. No one could. You had to feel it and Johnson felt it.

'Probably the first snap,' Johnson said when asked when that belief kicked in. 'If you have belief, then odds are, not saying it's going to happen, but odds are you may win, because you just have that belief. You're never going to stop going hard, so first play of the game.'