Niner

The Cyclones too what looked to be a challenging game- a possible Ireland hangover, a quality FCS team with a chip on its shoulder- and quickly sucked all of the drama out of the plot by scoring on its first nine possessions. 

The team looked sharp in every phase, and forced the South Dakota QB to make throws. He couldn't deliver.

Mauser has found a great rhythm to his play calling, and at times has defenses on skates. The GoBlas have a lot of sets to cover in their practices this week. 

In Ames, the mantra of the week should be: "Do your Job. Find a way". The six game home losing streak in the series needs to end.

 

A Big Win on A Big Stage

The CSJ staff was concerned gong into the game in Dublin that we would watch another chapter of our Cyclones faltering under the bright lights on the big stages: B12 Title games, top tier bowl games, and games against the GoBlas. End of the first quarter, and ISU is down 17-0 or 21-3, and the game is over.

A solid start in the rain and a 7-0 lead was reassuring, with the opponent making the critical early mistake. Once the offense found its rhythm, they controlled the line of scrimmage and ground out first downs. 9 first downs running, 9 first downs passing. Only generating 4.2 YPP (while giving up 6.7) is concerning, but bigger plays will come.

While the defense was leaky in big plays, they were also nails at key moments. The unit forced 3 three-and-outs, and another 3 turnovers on downs, one at their own 5. The stop with 8 minutes left was the pivot point of the game.

Lots of positives, and much to work on. The whole was a great moment in front of the college football universe. Well done. 

 

Great Stats From "Bad" Defense

The ISU defense struggled against the run in 2024, finishing 15th in the 16 team league. (OSU was last by a bunch.)

Yet the Cyclones finished tied for first in scoring defense in conference games at 22 ppg, which is the number that matters. 

Being the best defense against the pass was required, thanks to an outstanding back 5. Add in that ISU only had 7 sacks in 9 games, the scoring number is even more impressive.

Jump back to 2023: ISU was 3rd in scoring D at 22 ppg, 2nd in rushing and 5th in passing. They had 21 sacks.  

Finishing 7-2 in 2024 with a bad rush defense was amazing, edging on miracle. Stay in the top 4 for scoring defense and the wins will follow. 

For Future Reference

Courtesy of MasseyRatings.com the composite power ratings for the B12 before any games are played:

 https://masseyratings.com/ranks?s=cf&sub=10686

 

Kansas State - Texas Tech

Arizona State - Utah

Iowa State - BYU

BYU - TCU

TCU - Iowa State

Baylor - Arizona

Tech - Houston

Utah - Arizona State

Colorado - Kansas State

Kansas - Cincy

Cincy - Kansas

UCF - Baylor

WVU - UCF

OSU - WVU

Houston - Colorado

Arizona - Oklahoma State

 

We would argue that Tech and Utah made the biggest jumps, although neither were a real surprise. Arizona was the surprise, despite their finish.

Iowa State took a step back, but were still solid. Colorado and Baylor were much worse than expected. So it goes.  

Forecast

We don't feel like football has arrived until we can look up the weather forecast for the first game. The forecast in Dublin has arrived (67 and sunny) so here is the full season forecast for our Cyclones:

8-4. 

A nice season, with twice the wins than losses, (8-4 would be in the top 10% of Cyclone football seasons, all-time), but it will be tough to match 2024's insanity. 

It's really, really hard to go 5-1 in games of 8 points or less. It's impossible to do that two years in a row.

Perhaps the program improves enough to avoid those one-score-margin-late games. but we doubt it. The B12 is too even, and too many fluky things can happen.

So here's the guess:

Win in Dublin over KSU (Campbell has their number)

Lose to awa. At home. Again. In some new, painful, awful way. (They have our number in Ames.)

Lose at TCU and at home to KU. (The Jayhawks have our number)

Lose another random game where things don't go well.

Win eight games, and hopefully have some fun in the process. 

Nice bowl game. Nice season. Enjoy.