Disruption but no sacks and that's OK

IOWA CITY -- You can just feel the frustration flow from Christian Ballard. He recognizes the Iowa defensive line doesn't lead the world in sacks and it's tearing him up on the inside.

"The frustration level is not high at all," Ballard said Tuesday.

Wait, Iowa is just sixth in the Big Ten with 14 sacks, just six in six Big Ten games. Iowa returned all four starting defensive linemen and their collective 27 sacks from the 2009 season. So, by extrapolation, Iowa should roughly have 400 sacks this season.

But no, No. 13 Iowa (7-2, 5-1 Big Ten) has 14. No one seems to be sweating the sacks stat. They seem kind of satisfied that Iowa is No. 8 in the country in total defense (294.6 yards a game) and No. 5 in the nation in rush defense (85.2).

"Teams are scheming us, scheming Adrian (Clayborn) a lot, trying to get the ball out really fast," Ballard said. "As long as we're stopping the run and making a team one dimensional, we'll be happy."

Sacks are the sexy stat, let's face it. They are direct measure of disruption. Adrian Clayborn's 11.5 sacks from last season got him on high on the NFL's radar. They are the frame-by-frame of many a highlight reel.

They're not the total measure of mayhem.

"Sacks are important, but they don't tell the whole story," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "Hitting the quarterback or getting them disrupted, that type of thing is really what it's all about."

The Hawkeyes face Northwestern (6-3, 2-3) and whirling dervish quarterback Dan Persa, who's No. 2 behind Michigan's Denard Robinson in total offense in the Big Ten. Persa is a run-pass threat, leading the Wildcats in rushing yards (469) and rushing TDs (eight). He's also completed 73.4 percent of his passes (190 of 259), the only Big Ten quarterback with a completion percentage in the 70s.

But the whirling dervishness comes with risk. Northwestern has given up the most sacks in the Big Ten at 31. No other team has allowed 20.

"It isn't just sacks or tackles for loss," strong safety Tyler Sash said. "A lot of times their main responsibility is to keep the offensive linemen off the linebackers and let them go make the tackle. Our guys are busting their butts trying to make plays on top of doing their job."

There was a depth chart move on the defensive line this week.

Junior defensive tackle Mike Daniels has finally punched his way, almost literally, into a full-time gig. This moves Ballard back out to defensive end, where he started as a sophomore, and makes junior end Broderick Binns the No. 5 in the rotation.

When asked last week how he, as an undersized D-lineman (6-1, 275 pounds), what the plan is going up against 330-pound offensive linemen, his response was so defensive lineman.

“Hit them in the mouth early and let them know it's going to be a long day,” Daniels said.

That simple?

“Yeah.”

If you go strictly by the numbers, Daniels has been the Hawkeyes' top D-lineman. He leads the team in tackles for loss (11) and sacks (4.0), which is fifth in the Big Ten in both categories.

"Mike's playing pretty well right now," Ferentz said. "It's not a knock on Broderick at all. He's still an excellent football player. But Mike is just . . . he's really . . .  so now I'll have to go rip him this afternoon so he doesn't get big-headed. But he's playing pretty well."

Iowa doesn't have the sacks, but it does have the one-dimensional effect going in full force. Iowa has allowed just one 100-yard performance on the ground this season (UM's Robinson with 105). Only two teams (Michigan and Wisconsin) have rushed for more than 100 yards.

Opponents have geared their gameplans away from Iowa's front four with a quick passing attack out of three-step drops that take all of two seconds to read. The hard numbers bear this out. Iowa has seen the fewest rushing attempts against it (257) and the third-most pass attempts against (319).

That's what they mean when they say "one dimensional." When a defense renders an offense to one dimension, it basically knows what it's going to see.

"There's a lot of talk out there about sacks and what-not, but we're trying to win games," Ballard said. "If sacks were that important, I'm sure we'd get more. It seems like we've got a good defense set in place that's been here for awhile. I think it's working."

The overall numbers say that, too.

_____

2009 sacks and tackles for loss

Adrian Clayborn -- 11.5 and 20

Broderick Binns -- 6.0 and 10.0

Karl Klug -- 4.0 and 13.0

Christian Ballard -- 5.5 and 9.0

Mike Daniels -- 1.5 and 1.5

2010 sacks and tackles for loss

Adrian Clayborn -- 2.5 and 6.0

Broderick Binns -- 0 and 1

Karl Klug -- 1.5 and 6.5

Christian Ballard -- 1.0 and 3.0

Mike Daniels -- 4.0 and 11.0