Big Defense in Big Ten Opener

Oct. 3, 2010

Video interview with Hawkeye defenders

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By RICHIE ZAWISTOWSKI

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Big life. Big stage. Big Ten. On Saturday evening inside Kinnick Stadium, the Big Ten’s motto should include defense. Big defense.

In a big game inside Kinnick’s big stage, the University of Iowa defense came up…well, big.

The result was a 24-3 victory that was the largest margin in the series for Iowa, who now has the 12-11 edge all-time against Penn State.

“It’s kind of like playing Iowa,” said Iowa defensive end Adrian Clayborn. “They (Penn State) play hard-nosed. It’s kind of like practice, just getting after it.”

Iowa shut down the Penn State offense and held it to 54 rushing yards, Shaun Prater returned an interception 33 yards for a touchdown, and seniors Clayborn and Christian Ballard each registered a sack. By dismantling the Nittany Lion running game, Iowa forced Penn State to be one-dimensional from the arm of freshman quarterback Rob Bolden.

“Our main policy on defense is to stop the run like that,” said Ballard. “That’s always what we want to do. We got some pressure on Bolden there too. That’s the type of defense we want here in Big Ten play.”

That type of defense allowed just three points by Penn State as Iowa has now gone seven consecutive quarters against the Nittany Lions without giving up a touchdown. The key play came when Iowa slammed the door on a potential touchdown drive that would have pulled the Nittany Lions to within seven points to open the second half. On fourth and goal from the 1, Bolden took a snap and ran right, appearing to have daylight off tackle in front of him for a touchdown. However, defensive end Broderick Binns did a great job of shedding his initial block inside and getting to the edge to keep containment. Bolden was forced to string the run wide, where he was met violently at the goal line first by Jeremiha Hunter, and moments later by Ballard. Bolden fell inches short of the goal line, and the call on the field was challenged, but confirmed.

“When I hit him, I hit him in front of the goal line, so I didn’t know if he got the ball stretched out or not,” said Ballard. “I didn’t know what they were going to call. I just tripped him up at the last second and made the play.”

The goal-line stand stopped a Penn State drive that started on the Iowa 30-yard line, and totaled 14 plays and took 7:49 off the clock.

“That was big,” said defensive tackle Karl Klug. “I feel like anytime an offense has the ball for that long and can’t score, that’s pretty demoralizing.”

The defensive line for Iowa was beastly as usual, and when Ballard was asked if there were any nicknames for the line, his response was, “The crazies.”

“The crazies” showed why they are often viewed by many as one of — if not the best — defensive lines in football with their intensity and physicality.

“That’s a good defensive front to play against,” said Penn State head coach Joe Paterno. “Those kids are great football players.”

Even while getting double, and triple-teamed, Clayborn registered three tackles for loss and a sack. While it was Clayborn’s first sack of the season after posting 11.5 in 2009, his impact on the game is unquestionable.

As good as the Iowa defense was on the night, there was one glaring mistake that gave Penn State its only points of the game.

With Iowa up 17-0 and less than 30 seconds remaining in the first half and the ball on midfield, Bolden lobbed a pass down the right sideline to a wide Brett Brackett. Rather than going into the locker room up 17 points, Prater saved the touchdown for Iowa by racing downfield and knocking Brackett out of bounds at the 2-yard line. Penn State settled for a field goal, its only points for the night.

“Obviously we gave up the big play, but we like to pride ourselves on the bend-don’t-break mindset,” said Hunter. “That’s kind of what Norm Parker instills in us. If we do mess up we’re going to come back the next play and make it right.”

Parker has been hospitalized because of health concerns over diabetes, and missed his third straight game.

“He’s our defensive coordinator, we miss him down there,” said Hunter. “Obviously he has a little medical thing he’s going through, we’re just waiting for him to get back. We’re just trying to play for him.”

Everyone would like to see Parker get healthy and return as quickly as possible. However there is comfort knowing the Hawkeyes can excel even in their coordinator’s absence.

Penn state converted just 3-of-13 third downs in the game, and Bolden averaged just 5.9 yards-per-attempt –two telling measures in defensive efficiency.

Hunter, a Pennsylvania native, was second on the team with eight tackles, and is now 3-0 starting against his home-state team.

“It’s nice,” said Hunter. “I got to see some old players I played with, some people I know, so that’s nice to be 3-0 as a starter against those guys.”

Iowa has a week off with its bye before resuming Big Ten play at Michigan on Oct. 16.

“It feels good going into the bye week,” said Clayborn. “If we would have lost, it would have been a horrible two weeks. We’re just glad we got the `W’.

A `W’ thanks to some big `D’.