Iowa’s run defense shows improvement, among best in country since start of October

IOWA CITY — Iowa linebacker Jay Higgins feels like the Hawkeyes are “playing good football right now.”

Higgins’ statement is increasingly fitting for Iowa’s run defense, which has shown significant improvement as the season has progressed.

After allowing 3.84 yards per carry in September, Iowa has allowed only 2.61 yards per carry in October and November.

Iowa’s 2.61 yards per carry allowed since Oct. 1 is fifth-best out of 130 FBS teams, according to a Gazette analysis of NCAA data.

The defensive line, Higgins said, is “doing an excellent job.” Its depth is an important part of that. Eight different defensive linemen have taken at least 90 snaps through the Hawkeyes’ nine games, according to Pro Football Focus.

“Coach (Kelvin) Bell is doing a great job rotating those guys,” Higgins said. “When we get a fresh D-line out there, I feel like they’ve been sitting the whole game and they’re ready to go.”

As much as Higgins will deflect credit, he also has played a key role in stopping the run.

Higgins has a Power Five-high 113 tackles through nine games. If Iowa earns a conference championship berth and therefore plays 14 games, Higgins would be at pace to break Andre Jackson’s 51-year-old Iowa record of 171 tackles in a season.

Higgins has 45 defensive stops — tackles that PFF classifies as a “failure” for the opposing offense — which are the second-most among Power Five players behind North Carolina State’s Payton Wilson’s 49 stops.

Fellow Iowa linebacker Nick Jackson has 28 PFF-defined defensive stops, which are tied for sixth-most in the Big Ten.

“For us, the way we're built, if our linebacker play isn't good, that's going to be an issue,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Same thing at the safety play. We have four pretty veteran guys in those spots, those critical spots.”

Iowa’s success at stopping the run is hardly a new phenomenon. The Phil Parker-led defense ranked first last year with only 2.83 yards allowed per carry and eighth the year before with 3.15 yards allowed per carry.

The Hawkeyes are not the only Big Ten team to find success against opposing running backs.

Five of the 18 teams nationally to allow fewer than 3.3 yards per rushing attempt this season are in the Big Ten. Penn State leads the country with 2.0 yards allowed per carry, and Nebraska is third nationally with 2.57 yards allowed per carry.

“In our conference, you just got to be able to play the run,” Ferentz said.

Iowa’s run defense will not have an easy task this week against Kyle Monangai and Rutgers. Monangai leads the Big Ten with 903 rushing yards.

Monangai’s 5.4 yards per carry is fourth-best among Big Ten running backs who have 50-plus carries despite his high volume of carries. (He leads the conference with 168 rushing attempts.)

Iowa has not allowed any running back to surpass 100 yards since Sept. 30 against Michigan State despite playing against well-regarded running backs such as Purdue’s Devin Mockobee and Wisconsin’s Braelon Allen.

Ferentz recognizes Monangai presents a “different challenge,” though.

“This back is a really good football player,” Ferentz said. “He has a million carries. He's out there all the time.”

Even against Ohio State’s usually-stout defense, Monangai racked up 159 yards while averaging 6.6 yards per carry.

It’s not just Monangai who can be a threat on the ground. Quarterback Gavin Wimsatt has 86 rushing attempts through nine games.

“The quarterback is a big run threat, too,” Ferentz said. “He's a guy that's a big part of what they do. A little different dimension. A little different division of labor out there.”

With that level of success in the ground game, it is no surprise that Ferentz — who also leads a program that runs the ball heavily — “got great respect” for his Rutgers counterpart, Greg Schiano.

“He's been unflappable,” Ferentz said. “He knows where he wants to go. It's coming into fruition now.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com