Chris, good article and great to see the mentality of Cyclone fans is changing...also disagree about South Carolina's jerseys being the best. They were somewhat terrible. Did you not see Air Force's B-2 Stealth inspired jerseys 2 weeks ago when they played Navy?? http://www.goairforcefalcons.com/view.gal?id=126420&startYear=2012
Just for grins, we have three-four potential defensive players that may make it to the NFL. We have a kicker who has a chance. The offense is a different story. We have what we have. It is up to the OC to pick the best approach to making it work.Chris,
I look forward to your Monday Musings. Good stuff.
I'm wondering if the timeframe in your Iowa State history ( 'Dan McCarney starting it all, possibly the best defense', etc.) is only the last 20 years? If it is, OK, I could agree with that. But for us readers who have been around awhile, the mid to late 70's coach and team might argue with those comparisons.
Great article Chris! Your points are well on. Especially on the QB stuff. I would like to go somewhere that it seems everyone will venture away from in this past game. The offense was not good, particularly JB in the passing game and the run game. But, in the words of Paul Rhoads, "it was good enough for us to win the football game." However, special teams didn't help field position. But defense....yes defense didn't help either. I agree, we have a great defense!!! Probably one of the best in the school's history. No argument. But, I'll give some stats and not just opinion. On KSU's first possession, long before the defense was "tired", they stayed on the field 14 plays, 58 yards (6:42) and allowed a FG. We exchanged punts then we came back and took the 7-3 lead on the TD pass to Shontrelle. KSU followed our score with a 12 play 75 yard TD drive (6:40) and regained the lead. They fumbled, we threw an INT, they punted, we then scored a TD to regain the lead at 14-10. On their ensuing possession right before halftime, we allowed a 31 yard KO return, then committed 25 yards in penalties on 4 play 69 yard TD drive (1:38) to give up the lead right before half to a team with no timeouts. Coming out of the half, on their first possession we allowed a 12 play 49 yard drive (6:51) but held them to a punt. Unfortunately, a special teams error and they down the punt on our 1 yard line. We go 6 plays and punt but unfortunately again we get a 20 yard punt. We give them the ball at our 30 and they get a TD on a Collin Klein run on 3 and 10 from the 12 to make it 24-14. We go on a 12 play 75 yard TD drive to make the score 24-21 to end the 3rd and start the 4th. On their ensuing drive we gave up a 14 play 67 FG drive (8:10).
Now, did we have a chance to make a play late in the game and miss an open receiver, yes. However, we led this game twice and gave the lead up on the following drives. If, we make that completion to Shontrelle, we might win the game. We hadn't proven, from the stats, not my opinion, that we could consistently stop them. If we make some stops to get off the field, and not give up the leads, we might win the game that way as well.
On their scoring drives they used 25:47 seconds of clock. That had little to do with the offense because we had the lead prior to a couple of their scores. Also, on our scoring drives we only used 10:00 of clock. Maybe we scored too quickly so the defense didn't get enough rest. They punted 5 times, we punted 5. If you take away the desperation time (last 4 mins) we only had three 3 and outs with one of those being a byproduct of starting a drive from your own 1 yard line.
The point is, there were a lot of factors in this game that could have been better/different and changed the outcome. But, to put it all on the offensive side is just a sign of rose colored glasses. I lot of posts have said Klein outperformed JB and the difference was QB play. That should happen most of time when a senior Heisman trophy type QB faces a sophomore QB. But, this a was complete team loss including coaching. We lost in all three phases of the game. You'll lose those games every time.
Great article Chris! Your points are well on. Especially on the QB stuff. I would like to go somewhere that it seems everyone will venture away from in this past game. The offense was not good, particularly JB in the passing game and the run game. But, in the words of Paul Rhoads, "it was good enough for us to win the football game." However, special teams didn't help field position. But defense....yes defense didn't help either. I agree, we have a great defense!!! Probably one of the best in the school's history. No argument. But, I'll give some stats and not just opinion. On KSU's first possession, long before the defense was "tired", they stayed on the field 14 plays, 58 yards (6:42) and allowed a FG. We exchanged punts then we came back and took the 7-3 lead on the TD pass to Shontrelle. KSU followed our score with a 12 play 75 yard TD drive (6:40) and regained the lead. They fumbled, we threw an INT, they punted, we then scored a TD to regain the lead at 14-10. On their ensuing possession right before halftime, we allowed a 31 yard KO return, then committed 25 yards in penalties on 4 play 69 yard TD drive (1:38) to give up the lead right before half to a team with no timeouts. Coming out of the half, on their first possession we allowed a 12 play 49 yard drive (6:51) but held them to a punt. Unfortunately, a special teams error and they down the punt on our 1 yard line. We go 6 plays and punt but unfortunately again we get a 20 yard punt. We give them the ball at our 30 and they get a TD on a Collin Klein run on 3 and 10 from the 12 to make it 24-14. We go on a 12 play 75 yard TD drive to make the score 24-21 to end the 3rd and start the 4th. On their ensuing drive we gave up a 14 play 67 FG drive (8:10).
Now, did we have a chance to make a play late in the game and miss an open receiver, yes. However, we led this game twice and gave the lead up on the following drives. If, we make that completion to Shontrelle, we might win the game. We hadn't proven, from the stats, not my opinion, that we could consistently stop them. If we make some stops to get off the field, and not give up the leads, we might win the game that way as well.
On their scoring drives they used 25:47 seconds of clock. That had little to do with the offense because we had the lead prior to a couple of their scores. Also, on our scoring drives we only used 10:00 of clock. Maybe we scored too quickly so the defense didn't get enough rest. They punted 5 times, we punted 5. If you take away the desperation time (last 4 mins) we only had three 3 and outs with one of those being a byproduct of starting a drive from your own 1 yard line.
The point is, there were a lot of factors in this game that could have been better/different and changed the outcome. But, to put it all on the offensive side is just a sign of rose colored glasses. I lot of posts have said Klein outperformed JB and the difference was QB play. That should happen most of time when a senior Heisman trophy type QB faces a sophomore QB. But, this a was complete team loss including coaching. We lost in all three phases of the game. You'll lose those games every time.
From my experience, all three phases are just as important as the other.
Thankfully the defense did their part and is pulling their weight. Time for the offense to step up and play a decent game in conference.
No doubt. I'm just looking at this as a team sport. And we lost all three phases of the game.