The Run Game

Twitter tells us that Saturday's game in Morgantown was one of Brock Purdy's worst (19-30-1, 1 TD, 6 rushes for -15, 3 sacks) so to see the running game emerge to fill the gap was encouraging. 34 carries for 167 yards was a solid 4.9 YPC, kept the chains moving and got into the end zone when the opportunity arrived. More of that, please.

The second-half stifling of the West Virginia offense was a thing of beauty, backup QB or not. The drive chart for WV in the back half: punt, punt, punt, punt, INT, Fumble. 21 plays for 44 yards. That'll do boys, that'll do.

Our Cyclones can win a lot of football games that way. Forward.

Stunner

Given the offensive struggles the Cyclones had against the two solid defenses they played earlier in the year (Iowa and Baylor), to witness the offensive competency that broke out against TCU was stunning. Six touchdowns on nine possessions in TCU territory is getting it done, and couldn't have come at a better time with more winnable games this month.

The offensive performance was even more surprising after how disruptive the TCU defense had been for ISU recently. The last six games- five losses for ISU- have all been tough sledding for the offense, and one has to go back to the 2012 win in Fort Worth to find another day where the offense did what it wanted against the Horned Frogs.

While having your QB be your leading rusher isn't a good long-term plan, it appears that running threat is what opens up the offense as a whole. So be it.

Onward to Morgantown.