S11: Does Iowa State's defense present problems?

The Bears travel to Ames trying to win their second Big 12 game of 2016, in their way is first year Head Coach Matt Campbell and his Iowa State Cyclones.

Campbell comes to ISU from Toledo where he built a MAC team into a program that not only went 19-6 over the last two seasons but knocked off ranked Arkansas on the road, beat a ranked Temple team, and beat ISU last season as well.  He's a young coach with a lot of energy on the recruiting trail.  The 36 year old is attempting to build the kind of culture at Iowa State that propelled the Mount Union football program he played for to 12 Division III titles since 1993.

DEFENSE

The Cyclones are giving up an average of 32.64 yards per drive over four games.  That isn't terrible but given the offensive struggles for Northern Iowa and San Jose State in their other games it's not showing overwhelming strength.  ISU allowed 119% of what Northern Illinois, Iowa, and San Jose State averaged against their relevant opposition- everyone besides the Cyclones not named Portland State.  However they held TCU to 77% of what the Frogs averaged against South Dakota State, SMU, & Arkansas.  It's still fairly early on for sample sizes but generally speaking they have struggled in most games but did better than the field has against TCU.

The Cyclones allow a slightly below average 2.36 points per drive.  Their red zone defense is allowing 74.79% of the available points they could potentially have given up.

The Cyclones have been disruptive with a 9.67% tackle for loss rate and a 7.03% sack rate.

SCHEME

Iowa State returns to a four man front this season under new coordinator Jon Heacock who was his coordinator at Toledo the last two seasons but has head coaching experience at Youngstown State.  He's also been the DC at Kent State, Indiana, and Youngstown State.

The Cyclones will base out of a four down lineman look.  Typically with an alignment similar to what you see below.  The nose tackle and the defensive tackle are in a 1 Technique & 3 Technique. The end is in a 5 Technique, and their hybrid End/Linebacker position (Leo) is off the other edge.

In Coverage they will use multiple coverages.  I have seen them run a fair amount of one deep safety coverages (Cover 3 and Cover 1) as well as Quarters.   The personnel at safety and at star are all fairly small but sacrifice size to get flexibility in coverage as most of these guys can hold up well enough on their own.

ISU is very multiple and moves their linemen around a lot.  This team wants to move their linemen around to create issues for blocking schemes.

PERSONNEL

Iowa State's best lineman is #97 Demond Tucker (6-1, 295, SR) who had a breakout year last year and returns to start at nose tackle.  He's shorter than most defensive tackles but is a freak athlete who is not only strong but is very quick.  He's one of the best attacking defensive tackles in the Big 12. At defensive tackle the Cyclones start #99 Vernell Trent (6-3, 275, JR) but #91 Pierre Aka (6-4, 295, SR) will also see time.

The best story on ISU's team is defensive end #58 Mitchell Meyers (6-4, 255, SR) who has fought back from a fight with cancer to regain a starting position on the Cyclone defense.  He's a physical player who shifted inside to defensive tackle in 2014 where he was undersized but made plays.  He's backed up by #55 J.D. Waggoner (6-3, 255, JR) and the very athletically gifted #8 Jhaustin Thomas. (6-6, 275, SR)

The listed starter at the "Leo" position is #11 Gabe Luna (6-2, 250, SR) who is backed up by #19 JaQuan Bailey (6-3, 260, FR) although I have seen some of the other end spot's players rotate into this spot.

The two classic linebackers on this defense are #7 Willie Harvey (6-1, 225, SO) who started as a freshman last year at weakside linebacker and experienced #29 Kane Seeley (6-2, 235, SR) who is the starter in the middle.

The hybrid "Star" position in this defense is more of a defensive back than a linebacker this season.  The starter is #1 D'Andre Payne (5-10, 190, SO) backed up by #4 Evrett Edwards. (5-11, 190, JR)

The best safety for Iowa State third year starter #5 Kamari Cotton-Moya (6-1, 200, JR) who flashes solid athleticism and run defense.  The other starter is #3 Mike Johnson (5-11, 195, FR) who is young but talented.

At corner ISU is experienced with three seniors in their top four guys on the depth chart.  #17 Jomal Wiltz (5-10, 178, SR) starts at one spot and third year sophomore #10 Brian Peavy (5-9, 190, SO) is the other one.  #12 Jarnor Jones (6-3, 210, SR) and #34 Nigel Tribune (5-11, 195, SR) back them up.

QUESTIONS:

What do you consider the strengths of this defense?  Also how can Baylor counter those strengths?

Iowa State is very willing to slant, stunt, and blitz in order to disrupt an offense.  Using these tactics in order to disrupt is one of their biggest strengths as it directly leads to their outstanding tackle for loss percentage.  However it can leave you vulnerable against the run as one blown assignment can be a big play.  Also with Baylor's wide splits for receivers it will limit just how much flexibility the Cyclones can use without being obvious.  Right along with this they struggled to score negative plays or sacks against TCU's spread sets getting zero sacks and two tackles for loss on 72 snaps.

What are some of the biggest differences from Paul Rhoads and Wally Burnham's defenses?

This defense is less straightforward with who has which gap.  Rhoads would stunt and slant but not to the same degree while also being a bit more conservative with the types of coverages used.

What teams that they have faced use tactics similar to Baylor on offense?

TCU is by far the closest but Northern Iowa spreads you out to run the ball and they love to use a dual threat QB.  Neither of these teams have quite the balance that BU does in terms of both downhill running and spread passing.  Northern Iowa has struggled to pass the ball efficiently.