Iowa Football: 5 reasons Iowa will be better than Iowa State in 2018

2. Defense

Call it what you want, it’s a copycat world, especially in the world of college football. I believe that Matt Campbell has copied Kirk Ferentz’s strategy and put his own spin on it: A clock-controlling offense and a punishing defense. Both teams will possess the latter in 2018 as they return many key players on the defensive side of the ball, and Jon Heacock and Phil Parker are two of the best in the business.

Iowa’s defense is looking to improve on a somewhat underwhelming 2017 season. While they did rank 17th in scoring defense at 17.9 points per game, they only ranked 35th in yards allowed and 41st against the run, pedestrian numbers compared what Iowa fans are used to. However, despite the loss of the starting three linebackers, Iowa’s defense looks as scary as ever with one of the deepest defensive lines in the country and young, but very talented secondary.

Iowa State’s defense took a giant step forward in 2017. The Cyclones finished 27th in scoring defense and ranked 42nd in total yards allowed, but ranked 22nd in rushing defense, allowing only 128 yards per game in the explosive Big 12 conference. Iowa State does have some big shoes to fill with the loss of Joel Lanning, but there is plenty of players to help fill the void.

These two defenses will be good, very good for that matter. However, Iowa gets the nod on this one also, due to sheer depth on the defensive line and the experience they do bring back.