Hawkeyes' defense finishes in copy, paste and destroy mode

IOWA CITY — Every week Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker puts together a list of goals. It's the first page of the packets that go out to the players.

No, the goals don't change a whole lot. It's not exactly copy and paste, but it's close.

'We have keys to the game and 'stop the run' is in there every week,' outside linebacker Ben Niemann said. '(The keys) are a lot of the same stuff, honestly. If we just play Iowa football, we have a good chance to win. We always want to be tough, smart, physical, those are our three key traits.'

Maybe the keys needed an edit after Penn State, when the Hawkeyes allowed 599 total yards (second-most in head coach Kirk Ferentz's 18 seasons) and allowed 359 rushing yards (third-most Iowa has allowed under Ferentz — 433 at Indiana in 2000 and 420 at Wisconsin in 1999).

The Hawkeyes checked, highlighted, circled and, possibly, bronzed the 'stop the run' key in Friday's 40-10 victory over Nebraska.

Iowa held Nebraska to 90 rushing yards on 31 carries. The generally accepted standard for an explosive run is 12-plus yards. The Huskers had none of those. Their longest run was 11 yards.

Since that wakeup call at Penn State, Iowa has held Michigan, Illinois and now Nebraska to 616 yards total offense and 249 rushing yards.

'I think that's come with experience, understanding your position and understanding everyone around you,' linebacker Josey Jewell said. 'I think that's the big thing right now, understanding what the people in front of you and behind you are doing, understanding what you can do.'

It's an 'inside out' concept, Jewell said. Iowa's defense knuckled on the concept of spilling the ball outside and pinning it with leverage. This is the defense dictating where it wants the ball to go.

'Sometimes, (the keys) can change quite a bit,' Jewell said. 'There are always some of the same things, like stop the run and get the offense in third-and-long situations.'

Done and done on Friday.

Huskers quarterback Tommy Armstrong completed 13 of 35 for just 125 yards. The Huskers did log at least three explosive pass plays (16-plus yards), but none more than 20 yards.

'It's almost a shame I ever talked about how explosive plays affect games, because it was just the opposite of what we needed to do to win this game,' Nebraska head coach Mike Riley said. 'We gave up big plays. We didn't sustain anything. I think we were horrible on third down.'

Parker can get away with copy and paste on a lot of what Iowa does on defense because Iowa rarely if ever changes anything on defense.

The Penn State result prompted zero changes.

'This last three-game stretch, we've been in a groove and playing hard and having fun,' Niemann said. 'We're playing our same base defense, which we're in a lot of the time. I don't, we've just been executing and having fun. Ever since that Penn State game, we decided we were going to keep playing hard, keep practicing hard and try to finish this thing strong and not let that negatively affect us.'

Done, done and done.