Williams Blog: Utah & Tech share similarities

By Chris Williams, CycloneFanatic.com Publisher

Utah is a very similar football team to Texas Tech. That was the word coming out of Ames yesterday.

Both programs run up-tempo offenses and rely on scoring points quickly.

Because of this, the Cyclones somewhat feel like they’ve been preparing for the Utes for over a week.

“I think that the Texas Tech game will help us out a lot in this game with the whole tempo and the speed of the game, Iowa State’s sophomore linebacker Jake Knott said. “They are a very fast team. Their production was also fast when they got to the ball. I think that will help us this week.”

“The tempo of both teams is pretty similar. Utah might even go a little faster sometimes. It just depends on the situation and the game.”

What about Iowa State’s view of the Utah defense? Well, according to quarterback Austen Arnaud, it is kind of the same story.

“They bring a lot of pressure on defense,” Arnaud said. “We have to be ready for that. Texas Tech brought a good amount of pressure but not as much as Utah will bring.”

We spent all summer long breaking down just how tough Iowa State’s 2010 schedule was going to be. It’s now Oct. 5 and yes, the slate is still brutal. But the order of games has been set up to favor Iowa State in my opinion.

Iowa’s power running game helped prepared the team for a similar Kansas State squad. Unfortunately, we all know how that contest turned out. But then, a quick Northern Iowa roster helped ease Iowa State into Texas Tech, while the Raiders show a similar (not identical look) to that of Utah.

“They do a lot of things a little bit different than other people,” Knott said. “They pull like three guys at a time. We’ll just have to be ready for all of the things that they can do. Coach Burnham will put together a nice game plan for us and hopefully we’ll be ready.”