Corners

The optimistic side of me is really, really excited to witness in person Cyclone football turning the proverbial corner when they beat Texa$ again. After so many false starts over the years we are due to side at the Big Boys Table for a while.

But being the long-suffering Cyclone fan that I am, I keep looking for the other shoe to drop. I've lost count of the number of times we have walked into Trice expecting The Moment, only to have the opponent smack our Cyclones around like an eight-year-old with a pinata. We all have our list- I'll leave you for a moment to suffer at your personal memories.

This is the kind of game where I want one of two scenarios: Either Texas takes a big early lead and coasts to the victory, or ISU wins. Don't be the tease, giving us hope into the fourth quarter only to find a way to lose. 

If you take us for a ride into the second half, finish the deal. Every one of your disappointments takes a few months off of our lives. Give us a few successes to make it worth while, please.

But if you really want to sit at the Big Boys Table, you start to earn your chair Saturday.

Bottom

I can understand why Texa$ considers their loss to Iowa State the low point of their 2010 season. The Horns bounced back from terrible losses to UCLA and OU with a stunning win in Lincoln, so everything should have been good again, right?

Wrong.

A home loss to a doormat, bringing back all of the pain from earlier in the season, told the locals that there was plenty of dry rot in the infrastructure.

Hopefully the 2.5 Stars can dump the 4.9 Stars on their well-padded rumps again.

Near Miss

While the Chiz era was a big slice of No Fun Football, at least we weren't saddled with the football genius of Tim Brewster. Its going to take the Gophers years to recover from him.



We're damn lucky he was too good to be ISU's coach.

Attendance

Interesting numbers from the Cyclone Stat Geek- since the opening of what we now call Jack Trice ISU has averaged 43K across 245 home games.

I would love to see a month-by-month breakdown. Huge September crowds are often replaced by disappointment and cold weather in November, bringing down the averages.

Here's hoping folks still have reason to show up Nov. 18 against Okie State.

Woulda, Coulda

Naturally, UCONN thinks they should have won. And they are right. Not having one QB they can depend on did them in- and QB play is why ISU won.

Moxie Again

It's hard not to admire the grit of this Cyclone football team. It seems that no amount of horrible play will knock them down emotionally. In a typical year, ISU would have found themselves down 28-7 in the first quarter and would have coasted to a routine 42-14 loss. Instead they salvaged a 10-7 halftime deficit, then muscled the game away from UCONN in the second half. It takes deep courage to fight yourself off the edge of the cliff. Now 3-0, ISU has played a tougher schedule than everyone in the league save OU and has jumped 32 spots in the Sagarin rankings (from 75 to 43). KU and KSU are now in the "should win" category, and wins against Mizzou, Tech and Baylor all plausible. Lots of opportunity ahead. This last spin through the B12 schedule could be very interesting- at this point I'm not putting anything past our Cyclones. Playing more games against UCONN seems like our best remaining option.

Fighting Instinct

Jaded Cyclone fans assume that UCONN will steamroll their team tonight, as the solid football play is left in the central time zone. I'm going with the moxie I saw in both their games this year- enough mistakes were made against both UNI and Iowa to have earned losses, yet the team found ways top win. Normal Cyclone teams would have lost, often in shiv-twisting ways. (Missed FG as time expires? Amateur. Try missing a tying Extra Point in the closing minutes.) Somehow, some way our Clonies find themselves at 3-0. Crazy.

Zero

UCONN managed to almost beat Vandy on the road despite not scoring an offensive TD. That's doing it the hard way. Granted, they turned a blocked punt and a fumble into scores, but that's not exactly how the coaches drew up the game plan. UCONN's offensive possessions yielded only three drives of over 30 yards: 30, 36 and 72 yards, for a combined total of only 3 points. If the Cyclone defense can maintain those struggles, ISU should be in good shape.

Collapse

A casual cruise through the black and gold corners of the interwebs has revealed a shocking surprise: Losing to a team you view as a perennial punching bag reveals only changes to your team, but none about your opponent. Said punchingbag is a constant, frozen in time and space. Losing to them can only mean one thing: you are now a punching bag, too. I though the Hawkeyes would win because they would be a notch better than the Cyclones- I stand corrected. The Cyclones are still lousy; the change is that Iowa is now lousy too. Welcome to mediocrity, Hawkeyes!

The Usual

Iowa will graciously allow Iowa State to hang around Saturday, giving Cyclone fans hope and Hawkeye fans acid reflux. But a critical ISU mistake- Pick-6, punt return for TD, giving up 45+ yard TD run- will put the game out of reach. So it goes. Win or Lose, I have the Seneca game from 2000 on the Tivo. Thank you ESPN Classic.

Karma

I'm going to take the long view on the winning debacle against UNI. Given the number of games Iowa State has lost over the last hundred years despite outplaying the opponent, perhaps winning a game they were so undeserving to get represents a small shift in universal football karma towards our Cyclones. Another 40 or 50 wins despite lackluster, uninspired efforts and we'll be close to even. Without a giant step up in performance, the win against UNI could be the only win of the year. Pathetic.