Hawkeye defense is in the zone

Over and over throughout the week, the Iowa defense heard its leader shout “six seconds of hell.”

The leader is a 67-year-old gentleman who had an infected toe amputated during the off-season. The rallying call resonated, but the delivery didn't exactly blow their hair back.

“It was pretty funny hearing coach Parker yelling, ‘Six seconds of hell,'” linebacker Pat Angerer said in a falsetto. “It's pretty funny every time he breaks it out.”

The Iowa defense heard it about 100 times and Angerer thought it worked.

The Hawkeyes clamped down on a Pac-10 offense that came into Kinnick Stadium averaging more than 300 rushing yards a game in Saturday's 27-17 victory.

Arizona running back Nic Grigsby was No. 2 in the nation with 162.5 rushing yards a game. Iowa held him to 75, including a 58-yard run that was stopped a yard short of the end zone. The Hawkeyes held two UA quarterbacks to 10 of 26 for 105 yards, a TD and an interception. Safety Tyler Sash picked off his fourth pass in two weeks and returned the ball 41 yards to set up a 40-yard field goal that gave Iowa a 20-10 lead.

The Hawkeyes multiplied the “six seconds of hell” by 100. They were a 60-minute root canal for the Wildcats.

“We said last week in practice, go hard for six seconds every play,” said defensive end Broderick Binns, who had one of Iowa's five tackles for loss. “That's what a play usually is, six seconds. We had a little chant, six seconds of hell. That's what we did.”

Defensive end Adrian Clayborn was a human earthquake that lasted way more than six seconds. Try the entire second half.

The 6-foot-3, 283-pound junior finished with six tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, a forced fumble and three QB hurries. He made two tackles on Grigsby coming from the backside.

That was the grabber. The 283-pounder ran down a 190-pound running back from the backside of the play. Iowa had a defensive call that sent Clayborn firing down the line of scrimmage, but still ... 283 catching 190 from behind?

“Holy (bleep),” Angerer said. “That's NFL film.”

Clayborn ignited in the second half. He overwhelmed UA left tackle Mike Diaz with pure speed moves from the outside. Iowa also ran a lot of stunts to get Clayborn free. He recorded his first career forced fumble and the three hurries were a career high.

After collecting just two sacks in the first two weeks, the Hawkeyes had two Saturday, Clayborn and defensive tackle Karl Klug.

“I think the defensive line as a whole was in the zone,” Clayborn said. “We said to ourselves that we needed to prove to the rest of the defense that we belong on the field. I think we were in the zone the whole game.”

They were in the zone and all over Arizona.