Celebrate

Cyclone fans, celebrate tonight's win over UNI. Given how bad the offense has become, it may be the last for the year.

The MO is this: Blitz every play. Our QB's won't make you pay.

We can't develop fresh linemen fast enough.

Random trivia- ISU has had 3 shutouts in their last 10 seasons. Two were against UNI. The other was Baylor, back in '01.

Not that they need it, but Tech had the week off to prepare. Super.

Peter

Unknown

Since we have no idea how good our Cyclones are, there are few results
that would surprise me.

UNI winning and ISU winning by 28 are equal possibilities in my book. Weird.

I'm going with ISU 28-14 because I don't want to contemplate the alternative.

Peter

Hangover

Clearly, SUI puts way to much emphasis on their game with Iowa State. Their performance in Arizona is exhibit A.

Peter

Just Good Enough...

...to lose.

I admire the guts of this program. They consistently push opponents even though they don't have much talent. But in the end they can't make enough of the plays they need to win.

Its the downside of being the perennial underdog. You are the underdog for a reason.

Peter

Gotta

You could pick an ISU win over K State for a bunch of reasons, but I'll go with this one: They really have to if they are going to get another bowl trip.

The key to every ISU season is winning most of the "coin flip" games, the games that could go either way. Northern Illinois was one of those. Colorado and Kansas will be two others. Gotta, gotta, gotta win them.

Find a way, fellas. Find a way.

Peter

Exposed

All of ISU's strengths were neutralized today, all of their weaknesses laid bare.

It looks like KF has finally realized that a loss to ISU is more damaging than a loss to OSU, so they should take ISU seriously. At $4M per, I would expect a performance like that to be the norm, not the exception.

Don't like being slapped around? Get better.

At least we aren't Minnesota.

Peter

Usual

I think this will be usual Iowa State trip to Iowa City- a loss that's close enough to frustrate us. Lots of coulda, woulda, shoulda.

27-17 SUI.

Peter

Expectations

A team with National Championship expectations should beat a team like our Cyclones by at least 28 points. You've got to win big to be taken seriously. No squeezing out last minute wins against the inferior. Anything less and the whispers start. Like last year.

Peter

Probables

I think we can move KU into the "Probable Win" column. (The link is an example of why I moderate comments here.)

Perhaps CU has improved a bit. The game in Boulder may be less of a coin flip now.

Peter

Point Zero

Before any games are played, Sagarin ranked ISU #79, one ahead of Baylor, six behind CU.

Using his predictive math, ISU will go 0-8 in the B12.

Massey has factored in the win over NIU, and has us at #54. That could give us 3 league wins.

Hoping these numbers climb between now and December.

Peter

One

The win over Northern Illinois went better than expected, due almost entirely to the play of each team's QB's.

Both defenses ran the same scheme: stop the run, take their chances that the QB will make mistakes. Arnaud was sharp, and made some really tough throws. One of the INTs was a bad ball, the other a tip at the line. He has clearly improved over the summer, and was able to exploit NIU's secondary. Love seeing the TE involved in the passing game.

ISU was fortunate that NIU's QB was rushing everything, missing throws, and generally a bit out of whack. Not being named the starter until gametime will do that. The fact they made a solid rushing team one-dimensional is a positive sign.

A 9 play, 73 yard drive in the fourth to put the game out of reach was an effort previous Cyclone teams seemed to lack.

By my math, ISU has 6 Red Zone opportunities and came away with 2 TDs and 2 FGs. OK, but that needs to improve to meet the big goals for the year.

A big step up from previous years in both opponent and result.

Peter