Football

MONDAY MUSINGS: Jaylon Jackson, a big one against WVU & another big Skattebo game

Iowa State Cyclones running back Jaylon Jackson (12) celebrates with Iowa State Cyclones quarterback Rocco Becht (3) after a touchdown against Baylor during the fourth quarter in the NCAA football at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Iowa State is 5-0, knocking on the door of the top 10 and in the driver’s seat of the Big 12 Conference all after wearing white-and-black jerseys at home for its first ever white-out game.

Those around in 1980 may still not believe it. Let’s muse.

Jaylon Jackson & the rushing game

If it wasn’t the white-out game, it would be remembered as Jaylon Jackson’s.

The Eastern Michigan transfer rushed for over 100 yards for the first time in his career, which spans three schools over five seasons, and looked as good as ever.

Jackson took 15 carries in the game, rattled off a 50-yard rush for the second week in a row and brought home two, impressive touchdown runs.

Jackson was RB1 on Saturday. Carson Hansen played one of his best games as a Cyclone for the second time in five games rushing for 97 yards.

But fans shouldn’t give up on Abu Sama.

The former Southeast Polk star didn’t have a good game against Baylor, finishing with 17 yards on eight attempts. He was not the starting back that he has been and proven to be for this team in the past — and that’s O.K.

The Cyclones are in the midst of their best three-game rushing stretch in the Matt Campbell era, totaling 237 yards against Arkansas State, 240 against Houston and 265 on the ground in the Baylor win.

Young players are going to progress, and it’s never a linear path to see a player’s best. Sama can bounce back, but it’s good for the Cyclones to play running back by committee.

Jayden Higgins

For the seventh straight game, Iowa State wideout Jayden Higgins found his way to the end zone.

Maybe for the same amount of games in a row – it could be more, but my memory is foggy on it – fans watched Higgins dominate a 1-on-1 battle on his way to a big reception.

Higgins has finished with 65 yards or more along with a touchdown in every game so far this year.

He may be Iowa State’s biggest star when it’s all said and done this season, and it says a lot considering Jaylin Noel has even more yards through the air so far.

Enjoy watching these guys, who are both in the top 40 in the country in receiving, the rest of the way. They are doing special things.

There still isn’t an established ‘third receiver,’ but Ben Brahmer can do

Behind Higgins and Noel, the Cyclones still haven’t found that third wideout to step up.

It’s a tad concerning – the only true wideout to catch a pass in one of the games against power opponents was walk-on Carson Brown with his pair of receptions against Houston. That came in a game where Noel was battling cramps and didn’t play in the second half.

Whether that needs to change, or Iowa State can sustain success without receivers behind the top two, Ben Brahmer continues to show that he’s a dominant force when he’s catching balls.

The 6-foot-7, 250-pound tight end can block with the best of him, but showed that he’s the toughest player on this team and one of the hardest in the league to tackle in his pair of receptions Saturday.

He doesn’t need to average five receptions a game for the offense to move the ball – that’s obvious – but the more Iowa State can get it to him in certain situations, the better.

I wanted to throw this in that a few pointed out – Mouser put his own twist on the tight end delay that some NFL teams, including the 49ers, have ran in recent years. It was as much of a great design as it was Brahmer muscling it into the end zone.

Defensive depth & those guys in Ames that are stepping up

Campbell has echoed the mantra of players-formations-plays over the years, but that’s the opposite of what this defense is going through right now. Iowa State had seven players either taken out of the game after getting banged up or missing it entirely on the defense Saturday.

I’ll have more on injuries Tuesday – I don’t want to speculate – but walk-on redshirt freshman Rylan Barnes played almost the entire second half against Baylor. And Barnes looked the part.

The defense is banged up everywhere, but it almost seems like no matter who fills into spots is taking off with ease.

And there are walk-ons or former walk-ons all over the field making plays for this team. It’s a testament to the work that Derek Hoodjer and the attention to detail that Campbell & Co. take when evaluating walk-ons.

It’s a great thing for the Cyclones, but that second bye week can’t come soon enough.

Around the Big 12

West Virginia wallops OSU

Iowa State’s next opponent – West Virginia – made a statement against an Oklahoma State team I was already out on. They ran away with this one. Iowa State’s defense will have to be ready to contain another dual threat quarterback in West Virginia’s Garrett Greene. It’s set up pretty interestingly for Jon Heacock’s unit, actually. I’d say each quarterback the Cyclones faced in their last three games was a better one than in the game previous. However, Greene is on a different level than the others. He ran for 86 yards against Oklahoma State and 87 in the game prior against Kansas. Backup quarterback Nicco Marchiol came in and rushed it seven times for 46 yards against OSU, too. That will be a matchup to watch Saturday.

Arizona finds a way to hand Tech another W

Texas Tech picked up its fifth win of the year in the nightcap on FOX against Arizona. The Red Raiders ended up getting the win after dominating the first half and later forcing a fumble from Arizona’s star wideout Tetairoa McMillan. I was worried about my Tech pick after the Washington State game, but it seems like Joey McGuire’s squad is well on its way to being 7-1 when it rolls into Ames.

The Wildcats, on the other hand, continue to puzzle me. They put up the right numbers as a team – the passing attack is lighting it up – but are finding ways to drop games. The 3-for-14 third down conversion rate is the most telling stat here. Arizona has a matchup with undefeated BYU in Provo Saturday in what is great Big 12 slate.

There hasn’t been a further fall from grace than UCF has had in its past two games.

The Knights were on the door of being ranked in the top 25 before getting swallowed by Colorado at home and now dropping a game to what has been an embarrassing Florida team. No matter how the Knights finish the season, that’s Florida’s best win to date this year – and that should say a lot. UCF trailed 24-3 at the half, K.J. Jefferson was unimpressive and the season outlook there is a lot different than it was. UCF has a ‘loser leaves town’ game with Cincinnati before facing Iowa State and BYU in back-to-back weeks.

Houston is making TCU look like that

There were four or five times where I looked across the room and said those words while watching Houston take down TCU in Fort Worth. The Cougars were 17-point underdogs to the Horned Frogs and haven’t traditionally faired well in that series – I believe the stat was 1-10 in their last 11 matchups. I’m interested to see what Houston does after its bye week when its on the road at Kansas. I don’t believe the last pair of games for UH was simply the Cougars figuring things out or Iowa State catching them early enough in the year. I’ll have more on them later this month, but that’s a fun win for Willie Fritz’s new program.

I saved my favorite Big 12 topic for last. I cannot get enough of Cam Skattebo.

The work-horse, 5-foot-11 battering ram that powers the ASU offense like a big block Chevrolet motor was as dominant as Dale Earnhardt in the Sun Devils’ win over Kansas. Taking 25 carries for 186 yards, Skattebo helped the Sun Devils to the four-win mark, which they haven’t seen since 2021, and that’s just in five games. He’s also on freaking special teams making tackles like this!

It’s a feel-good story for Arizona State, and I’ll have my eyes glued to their matchup against Utah at home this Friday.

For Kansas, it’s the opposite, and the schedule won’t do them any favors. I don’t think the Jayhawks are far off at all. It isn’t the KU of the past and anyone that thinks so may get a wake-up call from this group. However — it is going to be an ugly record at the end of the season in Lawrence. KU still faces Kansas State, Iowa State and BYU – and that’s just in a three-game stretch in which the only ‘home’ matchup in it comes at Arrowhead in a game where there will be plenty of Cyclone fans. There may not be three more wins on the schedule for Kansas, let alone the four it needs to – maybe – reach a bowl game.

I’ll leave y’all with coach Mac, and make sure you get off to a good start to your week.

@cyclonefanatic