Obviously all of the talk about this game is going to be about Damarlo Belcher's drop in the end zone. But take away that play and look at the first 59 minutes of football that IU played.
1. The defense is legit
Time and time again, the IU defense stepped up when it needed to. They showed signs of improvement at Illinois and followed that performance up with an even better one against Northwestern last week. But this was hands down, the best defensive game this team has played all year. To hold a team like Iowa that had averaged over 32 points a game against the Big Ten is saying something. With the exception of the last drive, the front four were able to force some errant throws from Ricky Stanzi. The IU defense might have single handily taken Stanzi out of any Heisman talks that were brewing in Iowa City. Not a bad day's work.
2. The offense is still MIA
I know. The Iowa defense is easily one of the best in the country and they have been stingy on even the top offenses that they've faced. But another 13-point output for IU means that this team that was expected to be in shootouts every week has now averaged just over 14 points per game in the last three weeks. The impact of the Darius Willis injury is hard not to notice at this point. They may not have been anywhere near a run-first team but he still provided Ben Chappell with a safety valve to dump it off to. Willis also provided better pass-blocking than any of the IU backs which has shown with how badly Chappell has been banged up these last few weeks.
3. The'yre always just a little short
Even with how well the defense played for the first 55 minutes of the game, Stanzi only needed three plays to go 88 yards on Iowa's last drive. To hold a team to four field goals in the game and then have the floodgates open up when they just needed one more stop has to sicken this team. It brought back memories of the last possession of the Michigan game. When this team needs that one last stand or conversion, they simply cannot get it. It's become more predictable for IU fans than any romantic comedy ever made. The makeup of any good sports team is having the ability to close out the opponent. For whatever reason, this program simply cannot execute that.
