Dec 31, 2025 Update:
Original Post (on Aug 5, 2025):
Original Post (on Aug 5, 2025):
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What a 10 year run for Phil Parker when it comes to giving up less than 20 points/game (no other program comes close)
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
This is why I feel good about the 2025 Iowa defense. If it is not Phil's best it should still be pretty darn good.
Looked over past 3 years. When opponent scores 20 or fewer Iowa is 25-5. When other team scores 21 or more we are 1-9. Lone win 38-21 against Troy last year.
Okay, but who hired and pays PP. Shares his bonuses with his assistants? People want to have their cake (saying its all Phil) and want to eat it as well, (acting like Kirks got nothing to do with it). People put the offensive struggles on Kirk, saying its his gameplan, and then act like its not when it comes to the other side of the ball. Silly really......
imagine if we had an "average" offense during those 5 years 
Amazing. And imagine what the numbers would be if Iowa had a halfway decent offense the last several years so the defense didn't have to be on the field for so many snaps.
I've been saying that for a long, long time. Because it's true. KF gets credit for hiring Phil, but without Parker . . .
You make a few good points, but if KF gets credit for hiring Phil, as he should, then he also should get "credit" for hiring dunces like Greg Davis and his totally unqualified son, who he not only named OC but QB coach. Incredible.
Ferentz is a beneficiary of Phil's defensive coaching and leadership. Ferentz is also the person that has dictated what type of defense Iowa runs.
KF has definitely had a hand in Iowa's defensive achievements.
KF has definitely had a hand in Iowa's defensive achievements.
KFz certainly hired two great DCs and knew what he wanted. I think "dictated" might be a little strong, but he certainly gets credit for the results.
My only response was because a lot of people on this forum do NOT give him that credit. Along with some of his other hires. Reese Morgan, Levar Woods, Kelvin Bell, Abdul Hodge, and Ladell Betts etc...
Of course he gets credit for the good hires he's made. Lots of great names above. He's also had some absolute clunkers.
I think we'd all agree that KF would have quite a few more wins if he had not hired his son as OC (one hire that he totally blew)
If ever there were to be a statue of a DC placed anywhere, this should be the dude.
Greg Davis had a natty title under his belt not much prior to that and he was working with an absolute dunce of a QB in Vince Young.
Helps when Iowa is the best team in a division that hasn’t figured out the forward pass. Let’s see how Iowa does in the next 5 years without divisions. Last year wasn’t good and that was pretty much a cupcake west schedule.
The Big Ten West last existed in 2023. It's not Iowa's fault that they annually beat Minnesota and Nebraska.
Yeah Iowa still got a fairly easy big ten schedule last year only have to play OSU and a lot of mids. Iowa should drop the Minny and Nebraska rivalry so those two cupcakes can maybe be replaced with an Oregon, OSU, Mich, or Penn St. game. Get the fans excited for the opponents for once.
Iowa also needs to step up their recruiting as well. 50th, 35th, and currently 52nd in the nation for 2026. That’s falling to below middle of the conference in talent they’re bringing in every year. With the 4 new west coast schools to beat 2 of them you have to at least score 25+ to have a chance.
Correct. Phil is here because Kirk is here. Kirk built and has maintained that defensive staff and he deserves full credit for that. Same can be said for special teams. Year in year out Iowa has fielded top 10 defenses and special teams which have allowed Iowa to win a whole lot of games. His inability to have done the same with the offensive staff shouldn't take anything away from that success.
THOSE are Hall of Fame type numbers! Not sure if there are any assistant coaches in the CFHOF but if so, Phil should be added when the time comes. If not, well he should be added anyway.
This in bronze, in front of Kinnick one day would be amazing.
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'Braska's DC ran off to the SEC and they had to go get another one.
I guarantee you if anyone ever made a bad comment about Kirk in front of Phil the veins would pop.
Trying to think and only 2 games came to mind during the PP BF era as coordinators where Phil’s D didn’t get the job done and BF offense actually did. First was the OT win at ISU in 17’ where the D gave up 4 2nd half tds. The 2nd was loss at Purdue next year where both teams scored in the 30s and Purdue won on last sec fg.
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It's somewhat skewed though. First and foremost, the B1G West wasn't exactly a juggernaut on offense. Secondly, our offense has been so bad the last decade that teams approach us differently offensively because they know if they don't turn the ball over and can score 17 points, they can probably win. This means they might go for it less on 4th down and punt or take the fg instead of going for it inside the red zone.
You put Iowa's defense on Alabama, and Alabama plays their same style of offense they've played the last decade, and against SEC opponents, Iowa's defense probably allows 7-10 more points per game easily.
You put Iowa's defense on Alabama, and Alabama plays their same style of offense they've played the last decade, and against SEC opponents, Iowa's defense probably allows 7-10 more points per game easily.
i have the opposite take. with bama offense particularly saban style our D has to be in the field a lot lesser, gets to stay fresher, gives up even fewer points, and we have some serious hardware in the trophy case.
i concede bf’s offense tried to work the clock but truth is they failed and the D was left out to dry quite a bit. that said phil’s D did itself no favors sometimes by refusing to get off the field
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You failed to tackle the SEC opponents portion of the hypothesis though...
Phil Parker points allowed vs SEC last decade.
2014 - Tennessee 45
2016 - Florida - 30
2018 - Mississippi State - 22
2021 - Kentucky - 20
2022 - Kentucky - 0
2024 -Tennessee - 35
2025 - Missouri - 27
Average of 25.6 points allowed. And these are games against middle class SEC....
Five teams were listed in this stat and 4 are from the Big. I have argued for a long time that the Big plays defense and this impacts the offense numbers that so many fans complaint about. In 2022 these are the scoring defenses Iowa faced. #1 Illinois, #4 Minn, #7 Mich, #13 Kentucky, #17 Wisc, #18 ISU, and #24 OSU who allowed 21 points per game. 2023 Scoring defenses Michigan #1, PSU #3, Nebraska #13, Wisconsin #20, Tennessee #22 so 2 top 5 defenses and 5 top 25 defenses.
Interesting fact, since 2013 how many years has Iowa had the top scoring defense of teams Iowa has faced? I excluded the covid year of 2020. Exactly once in 2019 when Iowa had the #5 scoring defense and faced two other top 10 defenses.
This is not to diminish what Phil has done but teams like Wisconsin, Minnesota, PSU, Michigan etc. have had great defenses as well.
Interesting fact, since 2013 how many years has Iowa had the top scoring defense of teams Iowa has faced? I excluded the covid year of 2020. Exactly once in 2019 when Iowa had the #5 scoring defense and faced two other top 10 defenses.
This is not to diminish what Phil has done but teams like Wisconsin, Minnesota, PSU, Michigan etc. have had great defenses as well.
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I think special teams should receive some of the credit for that stat as well.
Once we got past the Rastetter (spelling) years we have been pretty stellar on those units
I’ve always got to laugh at the people here that say “it’s because of the Big Ten West” or my favorite “it’s because the offense chews clock up” then totally ignore the fact that the last few years the offense would go backwards and 3 and out every drive or turn the ball over at an alarming rate in the opponent’s territory not only making the defense face a crazy amount of snaps per game but also have to put fires out on its own side of the field. The offense wasn’t chewing clock up going 3 and out with an incompletion mixed in.
Do you feel like he has not caught enough flak for the poor decisions he's made over his 27 year career?.........
not making excuses but these were mostly bowl games where certain people sit out, for the most part. plus iowa has horrible offense. good D but bad O
it is hard to give a guy flak when he had a fairly solid career, and he makes a lot of money