Iowa football: Cyclones actually have a better defense then Hawks

When breaking down the defensive positions in advance of the CyHawk game, Iowa State actually holds an advantage over the Iowa football team.

I want to first start off by saying that I firmly believe the Iowa football team plays better as a unit than Iowa State in one of those the sum is greater than it’s parts types of deals. That’s just how Phil Parker’s defense operates.

So on paper, it stands to make sense that Iowa State may actually have more talent than the Hawks going into Saturday’s game especially with some of the injuries in the secondary for the Iowa football team.

While the Hawks may hold an offensive positional advantage, it is Iowa State who holds the defensive positional advantage and here’s the breakdown.

Defensive End:

This has to go to the Iowa football team simply because they have arguably the best defensive end in the nation in AJ Epenesa who led the Big Ten in sacks last year despite playing just part-time. Iowa State’s JaQuan Bailey is good, really good actually, but he doesn’t compare to Epenesa. But to his credit, he was named Second Team All-Big 12 last season while producing 46 tackles and 8 sacks.

On the other side, I will take Chauncey Golston (3.5 sacks as a reserve) over Eyioma Uwazurike (1 sack as a starter) any day.

Advantage: Iowa

Interior Defensive Line:

This has to go to Iowa State who has preseason All-Big 12 player Ray Lima on their side. Iowa has two players who have performed well but are relatively unknown outside of the Iowa football community in Brady Reiff and Cedric Lattimore. I feel the gap is closer than some would think, but Lima’s interior presence is something teams specifically have to game plan around.

Advantage: Iowa State

Linebackers:

Last year, the Iowa football team had an unproven trio of linebackers to start out the season, and it honestly never really got much better from there. Injuries and ineffectiveness caused a bit of movement, and the lack of quality linebacker play led to the Hawks adapting the 4-2-5 defense.

On the flip side, Iowa State has some fantastic playmakers at the linebacker position.

Marcel Spears Jr is a preseason All-Big 12 player who had 69 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks a year ago. O’Rien Vance, in his first game as a starter, had 8 tackles and 2 sacks. The third linebacker, Mike Rose, was named a Freshman All-American last season after finishing third on the team in tackles with 75, which included 9 tackles for loss.

Advantage: Iowa State

Secondary:

In most years, this belongs to the Iowa football team, but this year, with injuries to 3 of Iowa’s top 4 corners and their starting safety, Iowa State almost gets the nod by default.

That’s not to say they aren’t talented because they are. Their secondary includes First Team All-Big 12 corner Greg Elsworth who was also named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year last year, but this is more of an advantage simply because Iowa is so banged up.

Advantage: Iowa State

Special Teams:

The Iowa football team finally has a decent punter in Michael Sleep-Dalton and they have one of the best kick returners in the nation in Paul Hornung Award nominee Ihmir Smith-Marsette.

Keith Duncan is back in action for the Hawks after starting his freshman season and then sitting on the bench. He appears to not have missed a beat, going perfect on all kicks so far this season.

Connor Assalley, Iowa State’s placekicker, is arguably better than Duncan, but Iowa State doesn’t hold an advantage anywhere else on special teams.

Advantage: Iowa

Iowa State holds a 3-2 advantage on the Iowa football team on defense and special teams, but as I said above, I firmly believe Iowa’s defense plays better as a unit than the parts in the unit.

Including the offense, the Hawks hold a 6-4 advantage when looking at every single position.