A general football guideline in determining a coach’s impact is the improvement the team makes throughout the course of a season. In its first campaign under head coach Gene Chizik, Iowa State’s gridiron team played its best football in the final five games of the 2007 campaign. It is that improvement, which included November wins over Kansas State and Colorado, that has Cyclone fans excited for Chizik’s second fall in Ames. Despite the loss of a trio of Iowa State icons, the radical in-season upgrade of 2007 was made possible in part by seven offensive and defensive starters who return for ISU in 2008.
Chizik began to build hope among the Iowa State faithful by coaching his underdog Cyclones to a 15-13 win over intrastate rival Iowa in September. The victory made Chizik the first ISU head coach to beat the Hawkeyes in his series initiation game since Clyde Williams 100 years earlier. Iowa State was 1-6 before the hard work of Chizik’s staff began to pay major dividends. The Cyclones led Big 12 champion Oklahoma 7-0 midway though the fourth quarter in Ames and went the distance at Big 12 North Division winner Missouri the following week, outgaining the Tigers. The major strides made under a new coaching staff were affirmed with a 31-20 win over Kansas State and 31-28 victory against bowl-bound Colorado. Iowa State equaled a school record by erasing a 21-0 halftime deficit to beat the Buffaloes.
There are major holes to fill. Quarterback Bret Meyer was a four-year starter who finished his career as Iowa State’s all-time leader in passing (9,499 yards) and total offense (10,422). Meyer’s former roomie and six-foot, five-inch target was wide receiver Todd Blythe, who finished his career as the Cyclone’s all-time leader in receptions (176), receiving yards (3,096) and TD catches (31). The defensive lynchpin the last two seasons was Alvin “Ace” Bowen, who led the nation in tackles in 2006. But Iowa State’s major strides as a team last season were in the offensive and defensive trenches and it is on that foundation that Chizik will build his 2008 Cyclones.
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