Official Game Thread: ISU @ Colorado

Jeremy · 11-11-2006, 01:22 PM

Cyclones Face Buffs in Boulder

Iowa State (3-7, 0-6) travels to Boulder, Colo., to take on Colorado (1-9, 1-5) ... ISU is coming off a 41-10 loss to Kansas in Ames ... Iowa State has been ravaged by injuries to key players as seven 2006 starters missed the Kansas game ... Colorado is coming off a 34-21 loss to Kansas State in Boulder ... Iowa State lost at Kansas State, 31-10 two weeks ago in Manhattan, Kan. ... that game was close into the fourth quarter ... Colorado leads the series, 46-13-1 ... Iowa State won last year’s game, 30-16 in Ames, a game in which the start was delayed by 40 minutes because of tornado activity in Ames ... Iowa State got 66-yard TD returns -- off a fumble by safety Steve Paris and an interception by defensive tackle Brent Curvey for the Cyclones’ first win over Colorado in Ames since 1983 ... last week in Ames, KU quarterback Kerry Meier hit on 17-of-22 passes for 199 yards and a pair of TDs as the Jayhawks prevailed 41-10 in Ames ... Kansas outgained Iowa State, 403-213 ... it was definitely a tale of two halves for Colorado last weekend ... the Buffs had just three first downs and 2 rushing yards in the first half ... CU rediscovered its offense in the second half, piling up 308 offensive yards ... down 17-0 at halftime, Colorado came back within 20-14 in the second half ... Iowa State head coach Dan McCarney, the Dean of Big 12 coaches in his 12th season, has coached five of ISU’s seven-win teams in the history of Cyclone football ... Saturday’s game is MAC’s 140th game as the winningest football mentor (55 wins) in school history ... McCarney is the ninth-longest tenured coach in Division I-A ... MAC is 2-9 against Colorado ... junior QB Bret Meyer is Iowa State’s all-time career passing leader with 7,005 yards ... he ranks second among all active NCAA Division 1-A non-senior quarterbacks with 7,627 yards of career total offense ... of Todd Blythe’s school-record 25 career TD grabs, 22 have come from Meyer, also an ISU record holder for touchdown passing tandems ... Blythe missed the Kansas State and Kansas games, his first DNPs and non-starts of his 32-game career ... I-Back Stevie Hicks, who owns 10 career 100-yard games and now ranks seventh on the all-time ISU career rushing list with 2,601 yards, missed the KSU and KU gamss with a knee injury ... Iowa State LB Alvin Bowen leads the Big 12 and the nation, averaging 13.4 tackles per game ... middle linebacker Tyrone McKenzie is second in the league and seventh nationally at 11.1 tackles per game.

LAST WEEK: KANSAS BEATS ISU, 41-10:

Kansas held Iowa State to 213 yards of total offense and forced four turnovers en route to a 41-10 victory Saturday afternoon in Jack Trice Stadium ... first quarter turnovers and costly mistakes set the tone for the rest of the game ... Iowa State got on the board first with a 36-yard field goal by Bret Culbertson after Kansas quarterback Kerry Meier fumbled on the opening drive ... the Cyclones stopped the Jayhawks on their next drive, but handed the ball right back after a muffed fair catch on a punt ... KU scored on its ensuing drive when Meier found Brian Murph on a slant pattern that covered 50 yards ... the PAT was blocked by the Cyclones ... KU’s next score came after a Jayhawks interception, with KU quarterback Todd Reesing scrambled out of the pocket and threw a high floater into the right corner of the enzone that was caught for a score ... Kansas led 27-3 at halftime ... Ryan Kock scored Iowa State’s only touchdown in the fourth quarter ... the Iowa State offense struggled to find consistency throughout the entire game without the services of a number of key offensive players ... running backs Stevie Hicks and Jason Scales and wide receivers Todd Blythe and Jon Davis sat out the game with various injuries ... ISU receiver Milan Moses had his second straight strong outing, catching nine passes for 109 yards and recording 83 yards on a trio of kickoff returns ... the nation’s leading tackle, linebacker Alvin Bowen, had 18 tackles for Iowa State ... DE Shawn Moorehead, a former walkon, had 2 1/2 sacks to became the all-time career sack leader at Iowa State with 17 1/2 sacks ... Kansas outgained ISU, 403-213 ... KU quarterback Kerry Meier completed 17-of-22 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns ... Iowa State quarterback Bret Meyer was 16-of-31 for 180 yards with an interception ... each team made four turnovers but KU outscored ISU off those turnovers 20-10.

COLORADO LEADS SERIES/ISU WON TWISTER BOWL, 30-16 IN 2005

Colorado leads the series 46-13-1 ... the Buffaloes lead the series 22-6-1 in Boulder, Colo. ... Iowa State’s last win in Boulder was 35-27 snowy win led by ISU quarterback Sage Rosenfels in 2000 ... Nov. 12, 2005 ... Free safety Steve Paris returned a fumble 66 yards for a touchdown and defensive tackle Brent Curvey intercepted a pass and ran it back 66 yards for a late score as Iowa State beat No. 22 Colorado before 49,242 in Jack Trice Stadium ... the start of the nationally televised game was delayed 40 minutes by a storm that produced a tornado that touched down in North Ames ... Oct. 16, 2004 ... it was a bizzare game ... ISU outgained Colorado 403-304 in total yards, 24-17 in first downs, had a tailback run for more than 100 yards, a career passing day from its quarterback and moved into into the Buffalo redzone five times (three times inside the CU 10-yard line), but the Cyclones came up a 19-14 loser on a career day of Buff placekicker Mason Crosby, who kicked field goals of 28, 60, 54 and 33 yards.

COLORADO AND HEAD COACH DAN HAWKINS

It has been a long season for Colorado and first year Dan Hawkins ... Hawkins came to Boulder with 92-23-1 record after five years at Williamette University of Salem, Ore. (39-12-1), where he took the Bearcats to the NAIA Championship game in 1997 and five years at Boise State, where he was 53-11 and took the Broncos to four bowl games, including a 34-16 win over Iowa State in the Humanitarian Bowl, played Dec. 31, 2002 ... Colorado’s lone victory was a 30-6 win over Texas Tech Oct. 14 in Boulder, Colo. ... last weekend in Boulder, it was definitely a tale of two halves for Colorado ... the Buffs had just three first downs and 2 rushing yards in the first half ... CU rediscovered its offense in the second half, piling up 308 offensive yards ... down 17-0 at halftime, Colorado came back within 20-14 in the second half ... Colorado is third in the Big 12, allowing only 105.7 rushing yards per game ... the Buffs are 107th in NCAA total offense (273.20 ypg.) and 108th in scoring offense (14.9 ppg.).

THIS DATE IN HISTORY (Nov. 11, 1972); BITTERSWEET DRAW:

ISU quarterback George Amundsen threw four straight passes for wide receiver Willie Jones, the last for a TD in the final seconds and a 23-23 draw against No. 3 Nebraska ... after order was restored to a frenzied Clyde Williams Field, the extra-point was missed and the game ended in a tie.