Hard Hat

I love the fact that Iowa State's winning drive against Okie State relied on the fullback. No trick plays, no Hail Mary's, no FG tries from 57 yards away. A "We're going to run for the TD and you can't stop us" attitude, which paid off with the rumbling of a 240 pound back with both hands on the ball. All of the beauty of a beer truck plowing through a snowdrift. Money.

If any play symbolized the mental makeup of the Cyclones, it was the winning TD.

Tough Outs

Iowa State will never challenge for a league title with the smallest football budget. My only hope is that our Cyclones can become the team that everyone dreads playing- especially in Ames.

Tonight was a heck of a first step.

Cowboy Mission

I would love to drink the Kool-Aid and predict a stunning, program defining upset of the Cowboys on ESPN- but I think OSU is on a mission to get to the BCS title game. Only ISU and OU stand in the way.

ISU gets the same as what Tech got last week: OSU 56, ISU 21.

Just Win Baby

The Russian judge hated it, but 13-10 counts the same as 41-7. Three turnovers in the red zone will ugly up an otherwise decent yardage total.

Climb the ladder, exceed your budget.

Respect

This sounds counter-intuitive, but to earn the respect of the football public, Iowa State needs to take the wood to Kansas. A workman-like covering of the spread at the minimum.

Struggling with the Jayhawks (like they did last year) will scream "Not Ready To Be Taken Seriously".

Throw that drowning Jayhawk an anchor, dammit. Win 34-10 or something.