Every man in for Iowa’s defense

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Greg Mabin's day started with pregame sprints under the watchful eye of Iowa strength coach Chris Doyle.

That's usually the international sign, at least by Iowa's 'international,” of iffy and probably doubtful. As it turned out, the sophomore cornerback did suffer an ankle sprain during practice last week and began the day on the bench.

Here's how Mabin ended the Hawkeyes' come-from-behind 24-20 victory at Pitt on Saturday: On a second-and-8 play during Pitt's penultimate drive, he tipped a ball in the air that strong safety John Lowedermilk almost picked off. On third-and-10 from Iowa's 29, the 6-2, 190-pounder reached above wide receiver Tyler Boyd, who spun the Hawkeyes (3-1) all day, and slapped the ball away.

On fourth down, same deal. Pitt quarterback Chad Voytik tried to go to Boyd, who caught 10 passes for 153 yards, and Mabin chopped the ball out of his hands.

Mabin's day started in doubt and ended leaving no doubt.

'That was huge, we needed them,” Mabin said. 'We needed the stop and I was fortunate enough to make the plays.”

Mabin's day pretty much mirrored that of the Hawkeyes' defense. Iowa was one big, bad ankle in the first half. It turned out to be a big, beautiful pass breakup in the second.

Pitt (3-1) barged out to a 17-7 halftime lead. Running back James Conner ran with impunity, going for 100 yards on 17 carries. Voytik converted giant down-and-distances with his arm. Boyd caught six pass for 71 yards. The Panthers threw the Hawkeyes in a headlock and drove 75 yards on 18 plays, eating 9:42 off the clock, with Conner crashing in from the 1 with 6:16 left in the first half.

'We were getting worked pretty good in that first half,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. 'I can't remember getting worked like that. Pretty much whatever they wanted to do, they did. Our staff did a great job making adjustments, but it still comes down to our players. I think they were more aggressive in that second half up front and just played better football.”

Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker dialed up more 'raider” package in the second half. It was as much for the pressure it put on Voytik as it was for the confusion. On obvious passing downs, Iowa lined up nine defenders across the line of scrimmage and dropped a collection of linebackers and defensive backs into coverage and brought pressure from a number of different players.

Mabin and Maurice Fleming, who replaced Mabin, ended up on the field at the same time (even after Fleming was slowed with an ankle injury). Junior corner Sean Draper lost a few plays, but was locked in man-to-man during Pitt's last-gasp drive.

Free safety Jordan Lomax returned from a first-half suspension for a targeting penalty against Iowa State and had a near-pick in his first drive. Sophomore Anthony Gair, Lomax's replacement, came up with the interception that ended the game.

Iowa played seven linebackers, including true freshman Ben Niemann. Defensive linemen were rotated a ton, with tackles Faith Ekakitie and Jaleel Johnson and end Mike Hardy seeing a lot of meaningful playing time.

Ferentz might not know, for sure, anyway, who his quarterback is for Saturday's Big Ten opener at Purdue (2-2) - you know all about Jake Rudock's lower-body injury and C.J. Beathard's comeback performance - but he had 21 defensive players come through in a million different ways in that second half.

'We were down in the first half, really down,” cornerback Desmond King said. 'We came together in the second half. We communicated better and came together as one defense.”

Pitt's drive chart in the first half was punt, touchdown, touchdown and field goal. In the second, it was punt, field goal, punt, downs, interception. In the first half, Pitt averaged 6.55 yards on 40 plays. In the second, Iowa cut that to 5.40 yards on 32 plays.

'We came out kind of sluggish, we weren't really playing Iowa football,” Mabin said. 'I feel like we were playing more desperate [in the second half]. We were kind of timid, still kind of adjusting in the first half. In the second half, we knew we needed stops to help the offense.”

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