Josh Heupel gives initial impressions of Iowa's defense

Styles make fights and few bowl games this year, if any, have more contrasting styles than Iowa vs. Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl. No team in the nation mucks up a scoreboard or box score quite like the Hawkeyes which is why, until New Year’s Day, Josh Heupel knows how much preparation his offense will need to do.

Heupel previewed the matchup between the Volunteer offense and the Hawkeye defense during a press conference for the Citrus Bowl on Sunday. He admitted that he hasn’t been able to dive too far into the film on their next opponent just yet.

“I haven’t had an opportunity to watch a lot of them as we’re wrapping up the season here,” said Heupel. “We’ve been recruiting.”

However, Iowa’s reputation precedes them on that side of the ball. Heupel knows how quality they altogether on all three levels and how locked in they can be to stifle their opposition in every sense of the word.

“I know this. Philosophically? They haven’t changed a whole lot over the years,” said Heupel. “They’re big, strong, physical on the first and second level. Have a really good athletes on the third level. You look statistically? They’re always difficult to run the football against. They typically do a great job on third downs.”

“You look at them statistically this year? Their pass defense is one of the best in their league and across the country as well,” Heupel said. “They make you earn it. They’re not going to give you anything. You’ve got to go out there, take things, and earn it. They don’t make mistakes, they play with great discipline and fundamentals.”

Iowa is allowing the fourth fewest points per game overall this season at 13.2 points per game. They are holding opponents to under 275 yards of offense and to just 1.1 touchdowns per game. The Hawkeyes can’t score themselves but they haven’t needed to en route to a 10-3 record as they’ve held all but three offenses to 14 points or less.

Tennessee isn’t as great on offense as they were last season but they still expect to get their points and yardage. They’ll need to be highly efficient, though, in order to move the ball and score on a defense that has a reputation of shutting things down.

“This will be a huge test for us on the offensive side of the football,” said Heupel.