Defense falters again

Familiarity is comforting, except when it's losing. And that's just what the Hoosiers did Saturday in Iowa City against the Hawkeyes.\nThey lost 42-28, in an all too familiar fashion. A dominant offense, an invisible defense.\nThe tone of the game was set a mere 1:45 seconds into the game when Iowa scored on a 75-yard touchdown run. The entire drive consisted of three plays, and from then out the Iowa offense scored on all but one possession in the first half.\n"I've got to look at the tape, because I am really surprised at the way we played defensively," coach Cam Cameron said. "I have to look at the tape. I really don't know what was happening totally from that perspective. We just never felt we had control of the thing from a defensive perspective at all. Why that happened is beyond me at this point."\nLess than two minutes before the half, the Hoosiers were trailing by a touchdown, and Iowa had the ball. Up to this point, Iowa (4-2, 2-2) had scored on four previous drives, the longest lasting 4:27 seconds and the shortest being a 12 second, 59-yard pass play.\nIt appeared the Hoosiers (1-5, 1-4) would go into the infamous pink locker room at Kinnick Stadium trailing by 14 points, but junior nickelback A.C. Carter intercepted Iowa quarterback Kyle McCann's pass, and returned it 10 yards. \nThe offense was in prime position to tie the score, but after picking up 20 yards to put the ball at the Hoosier 28-yard line, time was running out, and IU was forced to attempt a field goal. But sophomore kicker Adam Braucher's kick went wide and the Hoosiers were unable to capitalize on the only defensive stop of the first half.\n"I don't know," senior linebacker Devin Schaffer said. "It's sad. You spend a whole week preparing, and we had a great game plan, and then you don't go out and execute. I can't explain it. I can go look at the film and see what happened, maybe then I can explain it, but I don't understand why we would go out there and play like that today."\nThe defense had noticeably improved this season. Against Wisconsin and Ilinois, the defense was able to force turnovers and stop drives. But Iowa was able to expose weaknesses within the defense, specifically rush coverage.\nThe Hoosiers ended with 308 rushing yards, which was more than 70 more yards than the Hawkeyes, and IU had the ball more than 10 minutes longer than Iowa, but the defense was unable to close gaps to contain Iowa's powerful running back Ladell Betts, who rushed for 172 yards and one touchdown.\n"We knew he was an elusive runner and he was killing us today on the cutback," Schaffer said. "When you play against him you have to account for all the gaps because he has great vision. We knew that and we just didn't perform like we should have."\nAfter the opening Hawkeye score, the Hoosiers had to start their first drive at their own 2-yard line after senior running back Levron Williams stepped out of bounds on the kick-off return. After 14 plays that went 98 yards, Williams found the endzone, and Braucher, filling in for injured freshman kicker Bryan Robertson, made the point after. \nBut on the next possession, the Hawkeyes took only four minutes to answer back. \n"It was like a seesaw battle," senior quarterback Antwaan Randle El said. "When that happens you've got to continue to be a part of offense and score. We just continued to believe that the defense was going to give us a chance and get them stopped. They didn't play the way they wanted to. They didn't play well, but we had our chances."\nIn a game dominated by offense, it was the Hawkeyes who were able to pull ahead. Only twice did the Hoosiers not find the endzone following an Iowa score. \nThe IU defense came up with only two stops in the game, the interception at the end of the second quarter and a senior tackle Kemp Rasmussen pass break-up which forced the Hawkeyes to punt. But that stop didn't come until the end of the third quarter.\nTwo positives in the game were an improved kicking game that, aside from the missed field goal, made each point-after attempt, and an offense that ran 84 plays for 468 yards.\n"There's going to be no quit," Cameron said. "We're not buying into the hang-your-head-and-the-season-is-over. There's still a lot to play for, and you may not believe it, and that's fine. We believe it. We have to out and represent ourselves, so anytime you have to represent yourself, there's a lot to play for"