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.