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.