Iowa’s defense rises from the rubble

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Everything that Minnesota did last week, the Hawkeyes cut in half against Illinois.

The Gophers put up 429 yards, 51 points, 291 rushing yards and an overall embarrassment factor of well over whatever measure you want to put on that, Iowa's defense cut in half and then some in its 30-14 victory Saturday at Illinois.

'The biggest difference between this week and last week is that we executed on Saturday,” linebacker Quinton Alston said. 'We trusted in each other, we trusted in ourselves, we trusted in the coaches to put us in the right spots.”

All that trust added up into a total-team shutdown of Illinois.

The Fighting Illini were held to a season-low 235 yards of total offense. Quarterback Wes Lunt, who played for the first time since suffering a broken leg Oct. 4, was held to season-lows in yards (102) and completions (14). After very little disruption against the Gophers last week (only two tackles for loss), Iowa racked up 7.0 stops for a loss with a sack and forced fumble.

It was a complete about-face for a defense that had its helmets ripped off last week.

'Last week, we didn't look like a good football team and we were playing a very good football team, that's a bad combination,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. 'Hopefully, we're back. At least we took a step forward today. I thought we played pretty good team defense.”

Iowa's offense was turned away at the goal line, fumbled and served up a short-field TD and could only muster a 9-7 halftime lead against perhaps the worst defense in the Big Ten. In fact, that 9-7 lead came from an intentional grounding penalty in the Illinois end zone, giving Iowa two points for its first safety since 2010.

In the wake of players-only film session among defensive team members this week, the defense kept this thing drama free.

'We still had a bad taste in our mouth from the week before,” said defensive tackle Louis Trinca-Pasat, who had a sack. 'We wanted to bring a focus for a road game. Now, we have two more games.”

When Iowa's defense works, it does adhere to a strict team concept. The gaps are filled and the jet sweeps go back to being the 'fool me once” type of deals, not the 'money in the bank” kind of thingie that Minnesota made it out to be last week, running it at least 10 times.

'The D-line was pretty exact today, and they're exact it makes our run fits a lot easier on the back end,” strong safety John Lowdermilk said. 'They (the defensive line) make the gaps much smaller.”

That's one way to put that Illinois didn't have anywhere to run the ball. The Illini were held to 88 yards on 25 carries (3.5 yards per attempt). There's another, better way to put that courtesy of Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker.

'Coach Parker always talks tackling the ball in the doorway instead of letting them get out into the room,” Lowdermilk said. 'It's a lot easier when the D-line does its job and they did that today.”

Just a few hours after the Hawkeyes finished up with Illinois, Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon set the NCAA single-game rushing record with 408 yards through three quarters of the Badgers' rout of Nebraska.

Wisconsin didn't need him in the fourth quarter. Gordon is waiting in Iowa's doorway this week.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com