Iowa football: Rutgers 3-4 defense will be a test for Nate Stanley

The Iowa football team’s opponent this week, Rutgers, runs a defense the Hawks don’t see as often, the 3-4. It’ll be a test for Nate Stanley and the Hawks.

It may not seem like a big deal, but for an Iowa football team that typically faces a 4-3 base or 4-2-5 base defense, going up against Rutgers 3-4 defense will be an interesting test for both the Hawks and Nate Stanley.

One of the big plusses coming out of the Iowa football program for a quarterback is the responsibility placed on the quarterback for running a pro-style attack. It requires the quarterback to understand a drop back, taking a snap from center, and more reads of the defense. The last part is particularly important when analyzing the 3-4 defense that Rutgers will be running.

The reason being is with a 3-4 defense, it can be a bit difficult to assess where the pressure will be coming from as the 3-4 defense usually sends one of the outside backers in a non-blitz situation. Moreover, with a 3-4 defense, a team is able to provide more unique looks than a traditional 4-3 defense by varying how many guys lineup on the defensive line among other things.

For Nate Stanley and the Iowa football team’s offensive line, it requires a bit more of an assessment at the line of scrimmage to identify who is who within the defensive scheme and where the pressure will be coming from on a given passing situation. In the rushing attack, it will require offensive lineman to get off their initial block and work their way downfield to the second level of the defense. I’ll be honest, neither of these items particularly give me cause for concern because I do think Stanley is an intelligent kid who does a great job at the line of scrimmage, and I know the Iowa football coaches have coached up the line to understand their responsibilities in a scheme like this.

In his Tuesday press conference, Kirk had this to say about Rutgers’ 3-4 defense.

"They play a 3-4 front, so that’s going to be an adjustment for us. We don’t see a lot of that, so that’s going to be a big thing for us this week"

It didn’t sound like he was incredibly concerned, but it was enough to mention that it will be an adjustment for the team.

For the Iowa football team, it shouldn’t be an issue as they are often the more fundamentally sound team on the field each time, but it’s certainly worth noting heading into Saturday’s contest.