I suspect the author of the article is searching for reasons why his Iowa Hawkeyes are going to be competitive with Nebraska this fall. He targets and bashes the defense and even takes shots at the former Hawkeye (Chin - our Defensive Coordinator). Our defense last year was not great but it was in fact much better than the stats might indicate much like our 4-8 won loss record is not very indicative of the kind of team we actually fielded in November. We did make plenty of mistakes (penalties, fumbles, etc) and got off to a horrible start and it takes a while for an entire new staff and a load of new and or untested players to gel and get things better organized. Our QB play was not very good the first half of the year and this led to a couple of losses as well. Our Huskers were, as a matter of simple fact, not very good last year, but they slowly but surely showed signs and glimpses of what could be and made progress undoubtedly. Iowa won but it still took a last second field goal to do it. We also lost one in OT that we let slip away with a few costly errors.
We were not a dominate team last year and probably won't be dominant this fall either but we should, as a team, be considerably better. Our offense was productive in many of the stats EXCEPT the most important one - points scored. That should get better as the entire team will have had a lot more time to practice and all get on the same page, etc. There will be fewer plays with receivers running the wrong routes, not blocking on the perimeter every play, etc. I would expect, conservatively, atleast an 8 point per game increase in scoring per game from the offense. That ought to translate into three or four more wins.
The defense will be atleast 7 points a game better, conservatively, as we will have much more depth at the D line positions and much more experience operating Chin's defense. Our Defensive coaching is dramatically better than under Riley and even perhaps the last couple seasons under Pelini. This will help. Pure talent may not be dramtically better but the overall strength, conditiioning, stamina, guts and determination should be markedly better. I believe we will feel like we have Blackshirts out on the field, atleast most of the time. We are not deep enough across the back 7 yet to be top ten defensively, but I would suggest top 30 is quite reachable.
Therefore, I respectfully disagree with the tone and tenor of the article cited and think a 14 point differential improvement in the scoring offense and defense will translate into a much better Husker season and will be good cause for anxst in Iowa City and Madison, etal.
But we are going to need some miracles if we want to win more than 10 games in year 2 of the resurrection of Husker football.
