Gameplan

If I was a coach forced to play my third string QB, with no backup, my plan would be pretty simple:

Run the ball. A Lot.
Quick passes, three step drop kinds of stuff.
Roll-outs to avoid the rush.
Run some more.

Don't expect to see deep drop backs, looking to throw deep. Quick manageable stuff, which will ideally get the ball out of the QB's hand.

Sacks may be scarce- but important.

Peter

Wonk

For the football wonks in the crowd, CPR gets into some of the nuts and bolts of how his team prepares.

Peter

Trap

Iowa State must now avoid the kind of mentality against Kansas that got Texas in trouble against Iowa State.

Granted, I don't know how you can't get geared up to play a team you have lost 5 in a row and six of seven against, but it happens.

When you get a chance to thump a team that's down on its luck, man, thump 'em.

Peter

Taking the Over

I marvel at the resiliency required to survive two successive beatdowns, then win what should have been another beatdown.

I also marvel at the amazing waste of talent that is Texas when they think they can just pull on the jersey and win. Had the Longhorns not been so impressed with themselves, perhaps they would have covered to 20.5 spread with ease.

Iowa State will never match the talent at a school like Texas- and they don't have to. As long as they find enough talent that still caries a chip on their shoulder, that want to prove to everyone they are good enough to play, they will win enough games.

I prefer my team to overachieve than underachieve. Today they were way, way over.

Peter

Sad

Five games left to play and their season is already over.

Better luck next year.

Peter

Austin

While I don't think ISU will come close to winning in Austin- the talent gulf will always be too big versus the Longhorns- I think we'll see a much closer game than the last two weeks.

Utah and OU had statements to make, and they were clearly motivated to do so. Texas made their statement last week in Lincoln. The Horns are notorious for playing down to the level of their competition, and I can't see them giving their best effort against a team that has been crushed the last two week.

ISU loses, but only by 14 or so.

Peter

Bullet Dodged

Even with the fiasco that was Chiz, I think ISU dodged a bullet by not being able to woo Brewster. Good thing he thought enough of himself not to work for such a downtrodden program as Iowa State. He's a man with upside!

Once in a great while I am prophetic.

Peter

Beatdown

On one hand its a simple "You don't have the horses to run with us" kind of thing.

But there's also a touch of "Don't even think you can compete with us long term" to games like that.

I hope the 28 redshirts understand the hill they are presently climbing.

The advantage to the new round-robin schedule is an annual test against against the Sooners and Longhorns. We will be able to measure our progress (or lack thereof) pretty easily.

Peter

Memories

Why did only 43K come to the Utah game? Because Cyclone fans have long, long memories.

Considering the number of times we've collectively had our spirits crushed in just the last 10 years, I'm surprised more than friends and family bother going. 43K for a sure loss is a ticket-selling miracle.

To look at it another way, the Hard Core Base has grown 20% in the last 10 years. Remarkable.

It's going to take several years of consistent winning to get the casual fan to buy in.

And to all you dorks with a stadium seating fetish, the last thing ISU needs is 15K more lousy seats. Don't bowl the south end until tickets are hard to get.

On the comparisons to what happens in Iowa City: with three times the fan base, why did it take this long to sell out a season? Why do so few SUI fans go to games? If SUI fan bought tickets at the same rate as ISU fan, Kinnick would seat 100K+.

Winning football will fix this. Not getting blown out is a good first step.

Peter

The Gap

Utah illustrated the gap between a team that can win some games and a
team that can win a National Championship.

ISU is OK as long as they stay away from the Top 10.

Peter

Surprises

I probably can't add much to ISU's shocking win over Tech other than I'm still dazed by the WTF feeling of that night. It was all so unexpected.

We should all be thankful that Tech spent most of the first half trying to exploit something in ISU's run defense that wasn't there. Tech's offense never got on track until they went back to the pass-first offense they are all most comfortable with.

The stunning part of the win was that everything seemed to come together all at once. The offense clicked. The defense tackled and got stops when they needed them. Most of the crazy plays broke ISU's way.

(Trivia: the last time I saw an onside kick returned for a TD was in Ames in 1990. OU pulled the trick.)

Nothing sells tickets like winning. Hopefully the fellas can deliver the same kind of performance against the Utes.

Peter