By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The defense being a strength for the Iowa football team is almost taken for granted, or at least that’s how I see it.

I just assume that Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker and assistant head coach/linebacker coach Seth Wallace will push the right tactical and motivational buttons and make it hard for opponents to score points.

Iowa is the only FBS program with an active streak of 10 straight years holding opponents under 20 points per game on average, and also has been ranked in the top 20 in scoring defense in each of the last 11 seasons. The Hawkeyes have yielded 400 yards or fewer in 50 of their last 54 games dating back to the 2021 season.

If those statistics don’t define consistency, then what does?

But what if the Iowa defense were to struggle for a change?

What if Iowa couldn’t count on its defense to keep opponents from scoring fewer than 20 points?

Some of you might be asking those questions if you attended the Kids Day practice on Saturday, or heard or read about what happened during the two-hour practice.

The Iowa offense had its way as third-year quarterback Jeremy Hecklinski shredded the Iowa defense with a vertical passing attack.

Yes, that’s right, with a vertical passing attack.

It was sort of surreal to watch the Iowa defenders get torched by the much-maligned Iowa offense.

Hecklinski showed great accuracy and timing on his throws, but he also faced little resistance up front and his receivers were often wide open, especially in the case of tight end DJ Vonnahme.

It was just a bad day for the Iowa defense.

And while it’s happened before, not under these circumstances.

The defense usually dominates the Kids Day practice, and the final spring practice, which is also open to the public.

“That’s just kind of where we’re at right now,” said Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Every year’s different and every week’s different. So we’re just trying to close the gap. Every year, your challenges are different, but typically your challenge is some areas have got to get better and get a little bit more tempo.

“And we’ve got to as coaches figure out what’s the best approach to get something out of whatever area it might be. It’s one day, today. But we certainly have some work to do.”

Intra-squad scrimmages are usually pretty basic in terms of alignments and strategy and that was the case again on Saturday.

The defense usually takes advantage of those circumstances, but failed to so in this case.

It would be easy based on this one practice to over-react about the strength and potential of the Iowa offense and about the problems on defense.

The offense probably isn’t as good as it looked on Saturday, while the defense probably isn’t as bad as it looked.

How each unit performs over time will determine that.

Iowa has to replace nine key players on defense from last season, including eight full-time starters.

That’s a lot of personnel changes at one time, even in this age of roster fluidity.

All four starters on the defensive line have to be replaced, along with three starters in the secondary and linebacker Karson Sharar, who led the team in tackles last season.

Iowa added eight defensive players from the transfer portal this offseason, including four defensive linemen.

Almost all of the players that were added from the portal came from either mid-major programs or from FCS programs.

So for them, playing for the Hawkeye will be a significant step up in competition.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean they will struggle to adjust since the Iowa coaching staff has a knack for seeing talent and potential where other coaches don’t see it, and for developing it.

Iowa also has one of the best defensive backs in college football in fourth-year player Zach Lutmer, who is capable of playing anywhere in the secondary.

So for now, Parker and the other defensive coaches deserve the benefit of the doubt, and the trust of Hawkeye fans.

Parker and his staff have built up too much good will and have led the way to victory in too many games to assume the worst based on just one practice.

However, on the other hand, the lack of a pass rush on Saturday and the inability to contain Iowa’s vertical passing attack is cause for concern.

Iowa should win all three of its nonconference games against Northern Illinois, a rebuilt Iowa State squad, and Northern Iowa, even if the defense fails to uphold its standard.

But Iowa would almost certainly be in serious trouble once conference play starts with three difficult matchups at Michigan, at home against Ohio State and then at Washington. It’s hard to see Iowa winning any of those three games without the defense being rock solid, or at least better than average, which it fell way short of being on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the other concern from the Kids Day practice is the kicking game, or more specifically, kicking field goals because neither place-kicker had a good day as Eli Ozick and Caden Buhr were both inconsistent.

Iowa has to replace one of the greatest kickers in program history in multi-year starter Drew Stevens, and based on what happened in the Kids Day practice, his replacement has yet to distinguish himself.

The return game also figures to take a step back since record-breaking returner Kaden Wetjen now plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Zach Lutmer has emerged as the punt returner, and if he handles that role as well as everything else thrown his way, the punt return game should be fine.

Nobody should expect Lutmer to pick up where Wetjen left off. But Lutmer has the physical and ball skills to be effective, assuming he stays healthy.

With concerns on defense and special teams, the 2026 Iowa football team might look different than previous Iowa teams, which excelled in those two areas.

But again, this is based on having witnessed just one practice.

So now isn’t the time to give up on the Iowa defense or on special teams, and it certainly isn’t time to give the Iowa offense the benefit of the doubt.