Big Ten football overreactions: CBS examines Iowa defense

With training camp the next thing up for the Iowa Hawkeyes, the attention now turns to fans hypothesizing and predicting what the 2026 season could have in store fr Kirk Ferentz's squad.

The offense has its usual question marks at the quarterback position, which will be sorted out this fall as the competition between Jeremy Hecklinski and Hank Brown continues. But the other side of the ball, while it is still getting the benefit of the doubt, could be of interest.

Iowa is returning a younger, less-experienced defense than normal under defensive coordinator Phil Parker, which has CBS wondering if banking on the automatic success is an overreaction or not.

Iowa

The defense will be strong again, even after losing everyone: Phil Parker has built a reputation that essentially insulates Iowa from regression on that side of the ball. Since 2014, Iowa hasn't finished outside the top 20 in scoring defense. Not once. The context for 2026 might be more extreme than usual, with just three returning starters and no Power Four defense entering the season with fewer career FBS snaps (4,995) on its roster. But that's kind of been the story before, and Parker keeps finding a way. At some point, you just stop betting against the guy. - Cody Nagel, CBS Sports

Describing the Iowa defense as less-experienced is solely in the form of snaps in live game action. The defense isn't trotting a load of freshmen and sophomores out there. The Hawkeyes are still going to consist of many upperclassmen who are experienced in the way of spending two, three, and four years learning the scheme.