Measured

I the first half of Saturday's game against Utah, it was clear which team had brought in 95 new guys, and which team was fairly undisturbed in the off-season.

The 24-3 halftime score underplayed the domination. 

But the Cyclones pieced together 20 minutes of good football to close the game to 24-17. The crowd was bouncing and Utah looked like it might be woozy with a case of tight helmet. But ISU went 3-and-out with 7 minutes to go, Utah went 61 yards for a TD, and an admirable comeback was ended.

The CSJ staff thought the Utah looked the part of a top-15 team, and ISU a bit undersized. When they were confident in their decisions, plays were won. Indecision was fatal.

We like what the offensive scheme is building, and there will be games where it will grind out first downs and put points on the board. But we are a long way from the home winning streaks of the previous staff.

The program is now 2 for 2 in having a chance to win in the 4th quarter against a power 5 opponent.  We can see wins on the horizon. Patience. 

Specials

We had to be reminded that the Cyclone's Special Teams Coordinator has been in Ames since the 2023 season. We got used to the "Special Teams aren't special" mentality of the early Campbell years. Our bad.

The unit's production against an over-matched Bowling Green team confirms the value of the staff. Give yourselves some helmet stickers.

The road gets steeper over the next month. We are going to need any edge we can muster. Giddy up.   

Rumors

It appears that a team of 95 transfers went on the road to a stadium we're told is hard to play in, lead for most of the game, coulda, woulda, shoulda won, earning an epic win over a program with a fanbase that mocked the rebuilding team all summer, and had been predicting an obvious blowout.

We're not so fortunate to carry an all-time legendary win with us back to the office on Monday.

But many questions about this team were answered. The defense, especially the line, held a power running team to only 93 yards. They were quick to the ball and ready to tackle. The offense had moments against a Top 10 defense, but 9 first downs won't be enough going forward.  The passing game will need to advance rapidly. 

But the Jimmy Experiment looks to have potential, and the Cyclones should be in every game this season. When your program doesn't have a Playoff budget like Iowa City, that's all you can hope for. 

Onward. 

Bullies

The Cyclone defense was ready for SEMO.

The Redhawks only had two scoring drives, and they stood out on the drive chart:

3-0

3-3

4-3 Missed FG

3-5

11-75 TD

4-1 downs

2-2 INT 

7-11 

5-15

5-15 

6-15 fumble

7-53 FG

10-25 fumble

4-20 end of game 

The two scoring drives excepted, that's 56 plays for 112 yards and 3 turnovers. Yes, sir.

While a Power 4 team should dominate a good FCS team, we've witnessed plenty of white-knuckle games against FCS teams. It was nice to have a game follow the script.

On to the GoBlas. 

The Jimmy Era Begins

It is completely rational to predict that a team that brought in 70+ players through the portal to be terrible. The 4.5 win total O/U makes sense.

But if the new staff thought the team would be terrible, they would be trying to keep expectations down. This staff has publicly stated they want the defense to have a goal of holding opponents to 14 points or fewer this season. Not someday, but now. For context, only 5 teams gave up 14 points or fewer. 25 teams gave up 20 or less. The Haycock defense that frustrated a big swath of the Iowa State fan base gave up 20.17 last year. 

Challenging your team to average 14 when they are more likely to give up 40 will only bring misery to the team and fan base.

If the staff thinks they can keep teams to 20-ish points on average, the season shouldn't be terrible. 

Add in QB Jaylen Raynor, who gave the Cyclones fits the last two seasons, and the Iowa State offense should be able to chug out first downs at a minimum.

Looking at the schedule and the estimated win totals, ISU should win 2 in September (SEMO and Bowling Green), will be serious underdogs in 5 games (at TOE, Utah, at BYU, at Arizona, Kansas State), which leaves 5 coin flip games: WVU, OSU, at Baylor, Cincy, at UCF. Win 3 coin flips and pull one true upset and you are 6-6, get a bowl trip with extra practices and some momentum into '27.

Or nothing works on offense and ISU loses a bunch of 17-10 games to end 3-9 or 4-8. We've seen the "turnover the whole roster" plan not work at other places. A disaster is totally in the cards. 

In the end, how the team loses will be as important as how much the team wins. A losing season can still have a positive vibe, even in modern "Playoff or Bust" football.  

Here's hoping we are in a collective good mood on November 29th.  

Stunning

After our concerns about meeting expectations, our Cyclones demolish an over-matched Tennessee State team and disassemble a talented and athletic Kentucky team the Did. Not. Like. Ball. Pressure.

A first time viewer of Iowa State would not have guessed they were missing an All-American in how the team went after UK over the last 32 minutes.

Big 12 teams have deep game plans against the Cyclones, and they are sometimes successful. But the cliche is true- its a hard style to prepare for in practice. If the ball pressure and trapping can remain on point, second halves will hopefully continue to swing the Cyclones way.

Enjoy the ride, everyone. 

Now Comes The Hard Part

Meeting expectations is far more difficult that setting expectations.

This Iowa State squad has the tools to beat any team on any night- but your game has to be a little bit better than the other guy. If every player can have an average (for them) night each game, they can win most games. Raise everyone's game a notch and nobody has to be the hero. Above average will be enough.

But nobody can have a bad night, because it takes away your margin for error. Everyone else has to be A LOT BETTER. And that's hard to do on cue.

Win more possessions and enjoy the ride.