The whole “we haven’t played anyone” argument is ********. We shut out a top 10 FCS program. We went on the road and beat a B1G team that will probably win 8-9 games. We blew the doors off a team that played last year’s NC team close. Yes, Houston sucks. The offense didn’t play great. I think we’re pretty damn good though. Stop purposely punching yourselves in the nuts and just enjoy it. Even if it goes sideways. Which I don’t think it will.
I actually thought Houston's defense played quite well in the first half and a good chunk of the third quarter, but they kinda broke down once we got up by 10.
Also, hats off to our defense. Holding what looks to be a yes, FCS, but an FCS team that could probably beat much of the G6, to 0 points, goal line stands at Iowa, and making it so Houston never really threatened even when the offense was screwing around a lot and quietly being top 15, top 20 in positive turnover margin means that this unit may actually be one of Campbell's and Heacock's best defenses we've had (although it may be too early to tell)
Slow starts on offense are concerning, yes, but this feels different because even up until last year, we're probably 2-2 with this schedule the way we've sputtered around offensively to start a couple of these games. The fact that we've actually been able to recover at all offensively is a huge green flag, because that's not something we've typically been able to do in the past.
Since we're Iowa State, I'm sure we'll blow at least one game we shouldn't down the stretch, but I was honestly really nervous we'd do that last night in Houston and while it wasn't pretty, it was still a blowout and that is actually something really positive, I think, even if the offense needs to get a lot better right out of the gate.
Tl; dr: I'm not going to put my cart before the horse or count the chickens before they hatch, but I'm actually cautiously optimistic about this team's prospects going forward.
