Iowa Hawkeyes defense celebrates an interception Vincent Carchietta | Imagn Images

Iowa Defense Meets Turnover Goal in Week 4 Win

Originally posted on Iowa Hawkeyes on SI | By Lane Mills | Last updated Sep 20, 2025 1:00 PM ET

Iowa's defense has perhaps been one of the most consistent score-stopping systems in the country so far this season. Phil Parker's unit, before this weekend's game at Rutgers, hadn't allowed more than one touchdown in a game at any point, even in his team's nail-biting road loss to the Iowa State Cyclones.

Yet while the defense did well in keeping teams out of the end zone, they were forcing little to no turnovers on a game-to-game basis; the result of this lack of an explosive tendency was an offense (one that had appeared questionable prior to this week) that didn't benefit from a flipped field, fending for themselves as they tried to work out a litany of kinks.

Headed into week 4, Iowa DB TJ Hall expressed faith in his defense, whilst also stressing the team's desire to take the ball away, instead of just stopping it. "As far as the turnovers, we're going to work on that," he said. "We work on it in practice, but at the same time, we can't press and try to force the turnover."

"We know it's going to happen as long as we're doing our job," he'd finish. And happen, it did.

Not only did the Hawkeyes defense disallow a passing touchdown in the team's 38-28 win this weekend, but the unit also picked off Rutgers' pocket presence Athan Kaliakmanis once. Kaliakmanis, who still threw for 330 yards, was forced to rely on his run game in intervals instead of going full-on air raid. Iowa was then able to out-match the Scarlet Knights in that regard, running away with the game in the fourth quarter by way of their defense cornering Rutgers when it mattered.

The defense, as Hall put it, is "playing with confidence." Their disruptive success led directly to the offense's late-game spurt that allowed the Hawkeyes to pull away after they trailed early in the first quarter.

After Iowa's aforementioned week 2 loss to the Cyclones, and given their seemingly built-in offensive buffers, everyone seemed to have the Rutgers B1G opener circled as a point of reference for whether or not the Hawkeyes would be in a position to not only compete, but win, in one of the country's steepest conferences.

It won't get any easier for Iowa from here - multiple ranked opponents, including #19 Indiana next week, litter their upcoming schedule - but firing up conference play with a multi-score victory on the road, including a potential turning point for the defense, is about as good a start as one could ask for.

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