ISU (2-8) is a 5 point favorite over Colorado (5-5)

By the way, we beat Colorado ;-)

updated well after the game .....
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Colorado QB has 15 TDs and 15 INTs this season

And they've had 24 fumbles this year

They're 54-163 on 3rd down

The Buffs average 23 pts per game, and average giving up 27

Kansas State hung 47 on Colorado

IOWA STATE IS A 5 PT FAVORITE

GO CYCLONES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bring on Colorado!

So, Iowa State kicks off to start the game, and K-State returns the ball to the 30, before coughing it up into the loving arms of the cardinal and gold. 7 plays later, ISU scores on a 1 yd TD pass. Momentum.

After ISU forced K-State to punt on its first two possessions, we began our third drive at our own 10-yard and mounted an impressive 8-play, 90-yard drive. Chizik let Arnaud lay for the entire series. Austenwas sharp, rushing for 23 yards and throwing for 60 yards in the drive. Freshman running back Alexander Robinson (read, playing next year too) capped off the drive with a 3-yard dive into the endzone to boost ISU’s lead to 14-0 IN THE FIRST QUARTER. At one tim this game was 21-3 folks.

Brett Meyer's performance really left the fans with their face in their hands, throwing another interception (the ball was under thrown and to the inside of the receiver). The ISU offense managed just 48 yards and two first downs in the third quarter with Meyer at the helm.

ISU corner Chris Singleton grabbed a pass deflected by Alvin Bowen and dashed 21 yards for a touchdown to pad the Cyclone lead to 28-10 with 6:28 left in the third quarter.

Arnaud hooked up with Blythe for 51 yards to set up the Culbertson 3-point try, making it the longest play of the season for the Cyclones. Bret Culbertson hit his field goal, ISU going up 31-20.

The K-State offense continued to move the ball successfully, producing another strong drive that resulted with a 1st and goal at the 6-yard line of Iowa State. But the Cyclone defense came up HUYAGE!!!! A goal-line stand when Freeman was stuffed on a sneak on 4th-and-1. Athyba Rueben (spelling?) is our big boy in the middle.

My outlook for next week? Colorado at their home, hung 10 points on a Missouri team we hung 28 on AT Missouri. Watch out buffalo, there's a storm a comin'

Not totally upset

How many games this year have the cyclones scored 28 points?
Not very many.

Do we have the personnel to beat a team like Missouri, my opinion is no. So coming within 7 pts often throughout the game shows the coaches won't let our players quit. They had a good game plan and executed it.

Alexander Robbinson ran like the devil was chasing him. I think he runs quick, faster than our other backs. He had 150 yrds on the ground

Brett Meyer continues to stink up the backfield with a fumble in the endzone that Mizzou recovered along with -27 rushing yards on the day. Thats right, negative rushing yards. 26 of those 27 yards came on sacks, 3 of em.

Next week we come home to play a Kansas State team, who just beat Baylor 51-13. I think the Clones matchup better against 5-3 KSU, but remember these guys beat Texas.

The coaches corner

Gene Chizik proved he can coach. Saturday was my proof. The cyclones came out on the field, outgunned, out staffed, out recruited, out boostered, and certainly under manned. They played their hearts out. The team as a whole left EVERYTHING on the field.

Was ISU in position several times to snatch an upset? Sure. Did we 'squander' those opportunities? Only those so called fans that believe ISU has the same talent as Oklahoma would answer yes. There's no reason for this game to be have been as close as it was.

My answer? The coaches put the right boys in the right spots to maximize mismatches. Time after time, the coaches had the Cyclones ready to win that game.

A game like this goes a long way to help in recruiting and to help the fan base believe.

For those that didn't see the game, the only things I can say we didn't do well:

• Running between the tackles. This is half personnel, as our O line certainly isn't going to blow OU off the line of scrimmage. And we have some problems with whomever will be carrying the ball. Scales doesn't have the breakaway speed, or leg power to drive a pile. I don't get it.
• Bret Meyer will not throw the ball to Todd Blythe. End of Story.
• Special teams still needs help. Todd Blythe cannot be the one returning punts. Recruit someone very fast and teach them to catch a ball

The following is excerpted from www.cyclones.com where you can find the stats from the game. "Iowa State held fourth-ranked Oklahoma to a season-low 17 points but was unable to take advantage of several red-zone opportunities, going just 1-for-4 inside the 20, on its way to a 17-7 loss in front of 49,511 fans on Homecoming at Iowa State University."

Disaster in Ames

A football team cannot give up more than 500 yards of offense.

Period.

That means you couldn't stop their second stringers.

Recruiting is what has killed ISU in the past, and we cannot continue to kid ourselves we're getting the same caliber players as other teams. We're trying to play division 1 football with players that wouldn't start on our Big XII peer university teams. That's really, really, hard to do.

2 interceptions, nicely done Bret Meyer.

Next week is homecoming against an Oklahoma team that beat UT 28-21.

Then we go to Missouri, who's looking to make a statement, come back to play Kansas State who beat Texas, Colorado who beat Oklahoma, then end at currently 6-0 Kansas.

GRRRRREAT

All Quiet on the MidWestern Front

After almost no explanations, and even less informtion about our beloved Cyclones, they play host to Texas in Ames this weekend.

ISU has been pummeled as of late, getting out played and dare I say out coached. I understand running the ball against Tx Tech, trying to keep their high powered offense off the field and chewing clock, but don't do it for an entire quarter. You can't come back from 28-0, we just don't have the weapons.

Texas will be without 3 of their starters, star WR Limas Sweed is out with wrist surgery and a couple of defensive starters. Hope, springs eternal.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3054942

Heartbreak in Toledo

I want to see anger, disappointment. I want to hear that this is unacceptable. Coach Chizick and the rest of the Cyclone athletic department are keeping that information in house for now. After reading the "summary" on www.cyclones.com which does not mention Brett Meyer's 5th interception of the year.

The cyclone's killed themselves with 3 turnovers, and poor special teams play:

• Brett Meyer's interception
• JJ Bass's fumble
• Mike Brandtner's mishandled snap
• Allowed Kickoff return for TD
• Blocked winning field goal attempt
  

ISU should have won this game, with an 11 pt lead with 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter. Heck, even Todd Blythe got into the action with an almost 30 yd TD. A lot of adjustments were made, and the boys played well, until the MELTDOWN that occurred in the 4th.

What happened in Toledo is not the coaches fault. A mishandled snap, the kickoff runback, the blocked field goal, were all in the hands of the players. This speaks to the natural ability of our players, which proves we don't have much.

Next week we go play a blackshirt defense that has given up 40 points in it's last two contests, Ball State and USC. Sam Keller for the Huskers had a prolific passing day against ball state, so look for him to beat the Cyclones, if we don't do it ourselves.

Depleted Secondary?

As I was surfing this morning, the Des Moines Register reports that ISU has a defensive secondary depleted by injury. "Caleb Berg, a projected starter at safety, did not play in the first three games because of an undisclosed ailment." is the only stated injury.

So here's the 2 deep as published on Cyclones.com

Left Cornerback

• 12 Allen Bell, 6-2, 189, So.# 1st team AA JC; 10 tackles in ‘07; 40 yd. kickoff return vs. Kent State
• 4 Zac Sandvig, 5-10, 184, Fr.# Serving as punt returner
  

Right Cornerback

• 11 **Chris Singleton, 5-10, 191, Jr. Seven tackles this season/three career interceptions
• 17 Devin McDowell, 5-9, 183, Fr.# Redshirted last season; saw action vs. Kent State and UNI
  

Strong safety

• 23 *Steve Johnson, 5-11, 201, So.# Totaled 11 tackles last season; nine tackles in fi rst two games this season
• 6 Chris Brown, 5-10, 177, Jr.# Four tackles in fi rst two games
  

Free safety

• 2 *James Smith, 5-8, 192, So.# Team leader with 20 tackles, one sack, two TFL, 1 interception, 1 forced fumble
• 20 **Brandon Hunley, 5-11, 205, Jr.# Played in all 12 games in ‘06

I like Allen Bell, and Steve Johnson has really stepped up his play this year. I hate the fact that ISU is again having the free safety as their leading tackler.

This week's key against a "spread" offense, is to force them to run the ball. Toledo will not win the game if they have less than 200 passing yards.

Football Writers Association of America

http://www.cyclones.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=48323&SPID=4653&DB_OEM_ID=10700&ATCLID=1243420

http://www.sportswriters.net/fwaa/news/2007/team070917.html

Recognition from sports writers is a huge step forward.

Toledo, this week's foe, lost to Kansas 45-13 last saturday, so that will be a good litmus test of where our team and coaches are.

I cannot wait to see what adjustments are made, because I finally believe that adjustments will be made.

That new coach just won't quit

In what I will call a methodical, grind out game plan, the Cyclones toppled the Hawk's 15-13, all ISU scoring done on the leg of Bret Culbertson.

We did not see Austin Arnaud during this game, as Bret Meyer's game was passable. Bret only gave up the football once, carrying the ball like a loaf of bread on a QB draw.

The running game wasn't especially devastating most of the game, but usually got the Clones to 3rd and 5 situations a lot.

RJ Sumrall is my MVP, that kid gave ISU a ton of 3rd down conversions and was ALWAYS across the needed yardage. He finished with 7 catches for 62 yards.

Backup Quarterback Philip Bates even got some field time as a wide out. The 5 wide set required Iowa to cover Bates with a linebacker, which 38 yards later got the Cyclones inside of Iowa territory for the final time.

The crowd was alive with the chattering of teeth, as all good ISU fans know, we don't play for the field goal to win the game. With 5 seconds left in the game, Bret Culbertson kicked the winning field goal with 1 tick left on the clock.

Anyone who tells you that Iowa "almost" returned the ensuing kickoff back for a TD, is lying by about 30 yards.

The defense was solid and had 4 sacks, so my hat goes off to Wayne Bolt (ISU D Coordinator). He just out foxed Norm Turner, whose only job was to sack a QB who had previously been taken down 107 times, in 3 years.

ISU may not have the better players, but with the coaching and HEART we saw today, anything is possible.

UNI foreshadows the Cyclone season

A game where the Cyclones beat themselves, there is a lot more tape for the coaches to review for practice this week.
Some highlights from the game:

• Zac Sandvig dropped yet another punt, turning the ball over to UNI inside the ISU 20
• Brett Meyer had 3 turnovers himself, which is nice. 2 critical interceptions (one returned far into Cyclone territory) really put the nail in the coffin. His third was a mishandled snap, which he let fly past him, and UNI beat him to the ball, never mind the fact that Bret had a 5 yard head start.
• The O line seemed to give Brett more time to throw, but he still shy'd away from #1 Todd Blythe. Maybe Brett threw 3 balls to Blythe all game.
• Kicking game is miserable, missing an extra point and another field goal. This forced Chizik to "go for it" on 4th and long a number of times.

We did get to see Austin Arnaud throwing the ball, which he seemed excited and crisp, all 3 of his dropped passes hitting receivers in the hands at their numbers. Chizik has stated that he'll see increased field time in the future. What was inspiring was the crowd's reaction to Austin entering the field, standing applause from those left in attendance.

Special teams did not electrify like they did against Kent State, with ISU starting field position being closer to their own 30 for most drives.

All in all, very stressful encounter, UNI out coached Chizik and staff, and the boys from Cedar Falls WANTED it more.

With a record number of Cyclone fans in attendance, the guys on the field showed little spark to reward their fans.

Next week the Cyclones host Iowa, who blasted Syracuse in a shutout. I'm calling it ahead of time, Iowa 31- ISU 0. There's no way our ineffective offense, held to 6 points against UNI, is going to score on Iowa. We MIGHT get lucky on special teams, but it seems the black and gold polyester nation will be singing "In heaven there is no beer" all the way back to Iowa City.

GAME DAY Morning report UNI

Cyclone country was painfully quiet this week. No practice reports, no press releases, the team trying to huddle together after the Kent State disaster.

Personally, I would have liked Chizik to come out with something, if nothing else to satiate the critics. The DM Register reported this week that UNI is not an under dog, www.docsports.com has UNI as 3 pt favorites.

My Key's to the game, run the ball. ISU needs to establish the old 3 yards and a cloud of dust football. UNI likes to throw the ball, ISU d-backs must bump receivers at the line and Wayne Bolt's front 7 must mix blitz looks and get into the backfield. If ISU can't do that tonight, at home, next week hosting Iowa may be extremely painful.

The Morning After the Shine left Chizik

For those unable to see last nights game, here are my immediate thoughts on the game.

• Bret Meyer continues to be slow, both mentally and with his feet
• Our new offensive line, 5 new starters, couldn't block their way out of a paper bag. Not once did the line "pick up" a blitz, so we had no time to throw.
• Defense had the most 'bright' points of either main unit, but tackling was sloppy. Brand new MLB, and we slid Alvin Bowen to the outside, not making many tackles
• Field goals 0-2, both were long enough, one went wide, one hit the friggin goal post. Culbertson couldn't do it again if he tried.
• Punt returner fair caught almost all punts, got laid out on one he did in fact signal fair catch.
• Kick off returns, probably our brightest area, we started on the 40 yd line almost every time. We will break a kickoff for a TD this year.

All in all, it was not a great game. Chizik tried to keep too much of the playbook unused, and he got burnt. He also trusted Bret Meyer, his first mistake. I'm thinking we'll see Austin Arnaud at least once next week.

For those of you who work with any Hawk fans, remind them about Kirk Ferentz rebuilding years after Hayden Fry coached a few too many seasons. This will be a cautious season, with both coaches and players figuring out how to do this at the same time.

Next up, UNI, Saturday September 8th, 6 PM kickoff. UNI just kicked the crap out of their opening opponent. Walling's line? UNI 35 - ISU 21