Matt Nelson: DE · Iowa · #96.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Matt Nelson
Holds up snap after snap without a weakness to attack. Third year in the Iowa defensive front. One game to point at: 6 tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss against Penn State — Week 9, 2018.
Play style
No single standout number, but nothing missing either — competent across the board.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
31 tackles. 6 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 2 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
KCCI Oct 28
FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul Oct 27Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
There is no official box score for these seasons, so this sack count comes from the play-by-play.
Each sack is credited to the player named on the play, and a sack shared by two players counts as half for each. We checked the same method against the official box scores for 2016 to 2019: it lands within half a sack for about 9 in 10 players. Tackles and passes defended are not shown for these seasons because the same check does not hold for them. Source: SportsDataverse play data.
Game log · Week-by-week
2018 season · 12 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 33-7vs Northern Illinois | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 2 | W 13-3vs Iowa State | 3 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 38-14vs Northern Iowa | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 17-28vs No. 18 Wisconsin | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 48-31@ Minnesota | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 42-16@ Indiana | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 8 | W 23-0vs Maryland | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 9 | L 24-30@ No. 17 Penn State | 6 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 1 | Season-high 6 tackles |
| Wk 10 | L 36-38@ Purdue | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 10-14vs Northwestern | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 13 | W 31-28vs Nebraska | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
 Bowl | W 27-22vs No. 18 Mississippi State | 4 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 31 | 15 | 2.0 | 1.0 | — | 6 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Sack rate
3%1 sackTFL rate
6%2 TFL31 tackles · 2 for loss · 1 sack.
3 seasons under Kirk Ferentz — 25-14 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2018 season · 12 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 2.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.6 |
| Road4g | 3.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 2.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 3.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.8 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Kirk Ferentz
Pass share
45.7%
407 pass / 484 run
Plays / game
68.5
13 games
Team sack rate
3.7%
436 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2018
Fewer tackles a game than most FBS defensive linemen who play every week.
How it ended
Three seasons at Iowa, 7 sacks — the college career is complete.
A stat line in 36 games over three seasons.
Coaching lineage · 2014–2018
1 coachPlayed every college season under Kirk Ferentz.
