Williams Blog: Ultimate week one recap

**ChrisMWilliams** · 09-04-2010, 10:59 PM

Here are my thoughts on everything that went down in the Big 12 today along with some opinions on Iowa as well. Enjoy.

Chris Williams Blog on Iowa State Athletics: Week 1 Big 12 wrap up | Cyclone Fanatic

**cyfan15** · 09-05-2010, 12:50 AM

Nebraska is probably the best team in the North, but I don't think we really learned anything about them today. I would group Missouri, Kansas State, and Iowa State together. As hard as our schedule is, the good thing is that we get Nebraska and Missouri at home and Kansas State at a neutral site.

**IowaSTATCyclone** · 09-05-2010, 01:45 AM

Western Kentucky presents an impossible measure. I think they won a game once. The only thing significant about Nebraska's game was that Zac Lee was persona non grata.

K-State did a little better than I thought they would. Kansas did worse (which was surprising, as I thought they'd be pretty bad.) Colorado was better, but Colorado State is a mess (having lost 10 straight), so its hard to know how much better. And yeah, Mizzou had a disappointing win, if you can call it that. Very unimpressive against a game but completely rudderless Illinois team.

ISU can beat them all.

**CylentButDeadly** · 09-05-2010, 07:49 AM

Read the blog and there a couple things that stould out to me...

-UT really put the reigns on Garrett Gilbert for most of the game. In the second half, they allowed him to open it up some more, but you could tell that their entire game plan was centered around playing a safe ground game and not letting Rice put pressure on Gilbert to force INTs. UT will slip up at least twice this year, but they're still going to be a formidable squad.

-As good as Daniel Thomas looked yesterday, I still think that team overall has major vulnerabilities. Brandon Harold is a playmaker and Lamur at safety can make some noise, but that defense isn't anything special. Also, Carson Coffman is going to have to make some plays if KSU is going to do anything this year. Thomas is a versatile back, but he won't be able to carry the entire offense for four quarters every Saturday.

-Mizzou rebounded nicely in the second half, but you're right, they're going to have issues running the ball this year. The only way they could manage decent yards on the ground was by running motion or creating misdirections, and Illinois did a decent job at sniffing those out. Gabbert makes everyone better, but for the first half at least, Illinois made Mizzou look extremely average.

-I still think OU is the best team in the B12. They had one bad game, but I think they'll shrug it off. They're far too talented at every position, plain and simple.

-Didn't get to see CU or Nebraska on TV, but based on what I read and the stats, both games pretty much went as planned. Just as I said about KSU, somebody is going to force NU to throw this year, and when they do, NU might be in trouble. We'll find out more about CU over the next three weeks when they go to Cal, host a dangerous Hawaii offense and then Georgia comes to Boulder. I really wouldn't be shocked if CU went 0-3 during that stretch.

-Finally, KU should be embarrassed. What a terrible loss. They could be staring at 0-3 after they play GT and Southern Miss. I know Southern Miss got routed by SC, but I think that has more to do with SC being a formidable team this year. SM has some athletes that can play and frankly, KU has major issues.

Overall, I don't necessarily feel any better or worse about any of our opponents. At least in my eyes, the things that I expected to see yesterday and this season (except OU), pretty much happened. Nobody in the North is unbeatable and we're still going to have to put together one hell of an effort to pick off our South opponents.