A tale of two seasons? – Looking ahead to Nebraska
CycloneFanatic.com
Jeremy Lind
ISU is coming off of what a lot of us would consider the first of two seasons. With 5 sub-par performances behind them and the toughest stretch of their schedule just starting,
ISU looks to try and rebound from the ups-and-downs of the ‘first season’ and get things together to make a run for the Big XII Conference Championship.
Coming into the ‘first season’, Iowa State’s biggest questions were surrounding the lack of experience by the youngest defense in school history. Now looking ahead to ‘season two’, the biggest question is how will
ISU turn things around and improve upon what they’ve already discovered about themselves?
As the defense has stepped up at times, too often the much touted offense has been the mystery. Can
ISU get everything working in tandem before Saturday when its biggest out-of-state rival comes in as a ranked team? Let’s take a quick look at what needs to happen to get to the Big XII Conference Championship Game, starting of course with the game against Nebraska…
Offense:
Much of the criticism so far this year has circled around why Iowa State isn’t able to perform on the offensive side of the ball with what is arguably the most well rounded and most talented group of starters in school history. At one time the running game would be clicking and looking great, the next time the passing would kick in, but never were the two working at the same time as will be needed down the stretch.
While Stevie Hicks has looked better than ever, he still isn’t drawing enough of the defenders attention to open things up as much as Meyer would like for the passing game. With the best receiver in school history, and some very talented companions,
ISU needs to work on opening up the passing game past the ten to fifteen yard range to not only help the receiving corps, but to also help the running game break free.
I’ve said since the season began that I felt the key to winning this year was not the running game as many other people have stated, but rather just using the running game to open things up down field. I felt very strongly about this and felt vindicated in the second half of the UNI game when
ISU went almost completely to the air and had their best half of offensive performance of the season.
While running has always been
ISU’s strong point, it just isn’t the most lethal weapon on the field this year. Stevie can be a great asset to the team and has me fully behind him supporting him; however, I feel that using a combination of Hicks, Johnson, and Scales would be more effective than only Hicks. He has some force, but he lacks the speed and breakaway ability that really pulls the defenders in and opens up the passing game. If you have a combination of the three, you then become incredibly multi-faceted instead of just a two dimensional offense.
I am in no means an expert play caller, but I really thing that the key to victory for the rest of the season is in the 15+ yard passing game. Enough has been said about how hard our receivers are to defend, let’s get them out there and prove it. Mix things up a bit and try something out-of-the-box to surprise the opponents.
Defense:
While
ISU’s defense looked mediocre at best against UNI, they still have a lot of bright spots that just need a little polishing. Parker for instance has some incredible potential that is just waiting to break lose for everybody to see, he just has to feel comfortable enough with his game and the game of those around him for it to shine through. Look for a monster performance from the young stud in the next couple of games where we all forget about that Berryman kid:)
ISU’s defense has faced some incredible opponents so far and stood up fairly well considering their lack of experience. One thing that really stands out so far is their ability to stop the running game of tough teams. Albert Young looked terrible against the
ISU line and I would look for even more improvement as the ‘second season’ progresses.
Passing defense on the other hand has been all but non-existent. I don’t recall a drive so far this year where
ISU has looked good at defending the pass, regardless of how far down field it was. With some good QB/WR combos still to be seen, the staff is obviously going to have to find some sort of answer or solution if
ISU want’s to have another shot at Texas this fall.
Discussion:
While I doubt there is a single person out there that is feeling great about our performances so far, I think all of us hope that somewhere in all of this lays the answer to bringing it all together down the stretch. Does that answer lie with the staff, the players, or a combination of both? I think undeniably it’s a combination of how the staff is running things, player’s lack of preparedness and experience, as well as a general working together between the players and the staff.
Regardless of how each of us feels personally about how things have gone so far, I think the best approach is to wake up tomorrow morning feeling like it’s a whole new season.
Will we be able to take what has happened thus far and hopefully have something click that brings it all together for a magical run to the championship? Or are we really just a mediocre team this year? Only time will tell but I sure as heck know one thing, it’s a new season and there’s still a lot of hope and will left in all of us.
Let’s Go Clones! Let’s get things going and bring home that trophy that we’ve been trying to get for three years now!
A tale of two seasons? – Looking ahead to Nebraska 
Re: A tale of two seasons? – Looking ahead to Nebraska 
LET'S GO, LET'S GET IT DONE! 
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