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.
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.
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.
