Iowa State Cyclones quarterback Rocco Becht (3) passes the ball against North Dakota during the fourth quarter in the season opening game at Jack Trice Stadium on Aug. 31, 2024, in Ames, Iowa © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK
We’ve reached the end of week 1 of the 2024 college football season. Iowa State is 1-0 and the in-state rivalry lies ahead.
And this is the return of Monday Musings.
The elephant in the room lies with Caleb Bacon’s injury that sent him out of the game. So who will step up at the linebacker spot?
Iowa State got run from both redshirt junior Zachary Lovett and sophomore Jack Sadowsky in Bacon’s absence Saturday. The pair combined for three tackles in the game, but coach Matt Campbell was pleased with what he saw from them.
“Both, I thought, stepped in,” Campbell said. “How well did they play, what’s that look like… I thought both those guys made some plays that were really impressive.”
Sophomore Kooper Ebel and redshirt sophomore Jacob Ellis each played consistently throughout the day at the other linebacker spots combining for 13 tackles. Redshirt sophomore John Klosterman was on the field, too, and his quarterback hurry led to Beau Freyler‘s interception — the only turnover in the game.
Even if any news comes out on Bacon’s injury before Tuesday, there will still be a number of question marks going into Saturday’s Cy-Hawk game.
Freshman Cael Brezina was out with an injury, too. Whether or not he will be able to go this week will have a big impact on Iowa State’s depth – the difference in having one body out and two is pretty steep. Let alone, one being a leader on that side of the ball.
Iowa State’s defensive focus will be locked on to improving in opening downs.
The Cyclones gave up 295 yards to North Dakota and allowed 11 third down conversions. The main reason being small, chunk plays that UND was executing on first and second down.
“I think we’ve got to go win on first and second down,” Freyler said after the game. “With the running game, I think we gave them a little too much and just put ourselves in hard situations on third down. We’ve got to play tighter coverage on third down as well. All those things are things we can work on and I’m excited to get back and work on those things… we’ve just got to get more vertical and play a little bit faster.”
With a slew of young players making up for the absence of Bacon, this will be a driving point during practices over the week. It’s certainly the biggest area of concern right now.
A performance like that in Iowa City would play right into the Hawkeyes’ hands. It’s got to improve in the next six days.
Iowa State started the season with fireworks on its season-opening offensive drive.
Quarterback Rocco Becht found Jaylin Noel, on an ill-advised throw, but the star wideout brought it down. On the next play, Becht found Jayden Higgins to complete the two-play, touchdown drive.
Can’t stop watching this 🔁
@NoelJaylin13 pic.twitter.com/XzJKw1mrPT
— Iowa State Football (@CycloneFB) September 1, 2024
Finding them will be a focus for Becht and the Cyclones. The pair combined for 210 of Becht’s 267 yards through the air.
“There’s some throws accuracy-wise that I want back,” Becht said. “Just knowing when it’s man and where my players are – where my stars are – just getting them the ball and letting them play. There’s a couple throws that I probably should have hit those guys, but a win’s a win. We’re going to celebrate this for another hour and then move on.”
That was never a secret, and although Iowa State’s offense didn’t put too much on film, there was an aggressiveness there that wasn’t around much last season.
There’s going to be more where that came from, too.
“That’s (offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser) for you, that’s what he brings to the table,” Becht said. “He’s aggressive. He’s unique, and we’re going to keep doing that all season long.”
After four overthrows in the opening quarter of play, Becht recorded only two incompletions in the final three quarters.
Campbell said tight end Ben Brahmer was limited during the game, and Abu Sama exited with a possible leg injury, as well. Both are expected to be on back on the field Saturday.
Aside from that, it was business as usual for the offense, and it didn’t go very deep in the playbook either. We should see a lot more ‘Mouser’ this week.
The special teams played a nearly flaw-free game – when was the last time Iowa State could say that?
Kyle Konrardy was perfect on extra points in his debut as the starting kicker. Noel returned a punt. Jace Gilbert even came on for a pair of punts and pinned North Dakota deep on one with Darien Porter‘s help.
Less news is good news for that group.
Elsewhere in the Big 12, there weren’t any major upsets, but there were still some surprises.
UNLV trounced Houston in the Cougars’ home opener under new head coach Willie Fritz, who arrived after a successful stint at Tulane. Iowa State has a bye week following the Cy-Hawk game and a home matchup against Arkansas State before opening Big 12 play at Houston.
Colorado has pair of superstars in Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, but the rest of the team didn’t look as intimidating in the team’s 31-26 win over NDSU. Shiloh Sanders could have been called for more undisciplined late hit penalties than he did, and Deion Sanders doubled down on his decision to pass in an opportunity to run clock to secure the win.
Deion Sanders on his decision to throw the ball on the last drive: pic.twitter.com/NsjDxFYA8K https://t.co/cMIGi9SJZI
— Covers (@Covers) August 30, 2024
Saturday may have looked boring to some fans in Ames, but it was an easier time for fans than what Arizona had against a New Mexico team coming off of a loss to FCS power Montana State. The Wildcats had 16 missed tackles on defense, which tied a season high from a year ago as they struggled to put the Lobos away until the fourth quarter. The offense looked the part, though, scoring on 10 of its 12 drives while Tetairoa McMillan recorded 304 yards on 10 receptions with four touchdowns.
We also got our first look at UCF, and Arkansas transfer K.J. Jefferson at quarterback. He got out to a slow start, and finished at 7-14 with 164 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Running back R.J. Harvey wowed with 142 yards on the ground.
During the game, UCF posted a video of wide receiver Myles Montgomery on the bench following a touchdown. Now, the game was out of reach so maybe this will be misplaced, but I could see something like this being turned into a meme should a player record one of these and mess up later on. Maybe I’m wrong.
🏡 @datboymyles_ 🏡 https://t.co/s4rniZi9hl pic.twitter.com/m1p6GB9GmZ
— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) August 30, 2024
In other games… TCU looked like it was trying to lose at times against Stanford, Texas Tech was taken to overtime by Abilene Christian (and outscored 17-6 in the fourth quarter!), and West Virginia fell flat against No. 8 Penn State.
Nonetheless, it’s week 1, and it’s easy to overreact to things – we’ll see if the blips on the radar turn to trends in weeks 2 and 3.
Now, it’s Cy-Hawk week.
