Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell and his players take the field before the game against Arkansas State on Sept. 21, 2024, in Ames. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
AMES — Iowa State’s first 6-0 start in 86 years comes with an asterisk attached.
Why?
The No. 9 Cyclones have trailed in the second quarter in four of those games, but lockdown second-half performances have turned all but one of those wins into double-digit triumphs.
Next up: Struggling UCF (3-3, 1-2 Big 12), which enters Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. matchup (FS1) with ISU (6-0, 3-0) on a three-game skid. Seven Knights have entered the transfer portal, but stars such as running back R.J. Harvey and wide receiver Kobe Hudson remain, forming a potent duo that could initially put the conference-leading Cyclones’ defense on its heels early yet again.
“I really wish we’d play (well) at the beginning and get off the field on third downs, and we just have not,” said ISU defensive coordinator Jon Heacock, whose unit is tied with Ohio State for fifth nationally in points allowed per game (11.0). We’re playing some really good football teams. We’re playing teams that are having success and can move the football on offense and we’re gonna play another one this Saturday.”
Harvey leads all Big 12 backs with nine rushing touchdowns and averages 6.4 yards per carry. Hudson leads the conference in yards per coach at 20.7 and has caught three touchdown passes. UCF benched Arkansas transfer quarterback K.J. Jefferson last week and fellow transfer Jacurri Brown — another dual-threat talent from Miami — is expected to make his first start on Saturday.
“It’s the Big 12,” ISU senior defensive tackle J.R. Singleton said. “Everyone has electric QBs and he has a huge arm. I mean, all three of their quarterbacks are bigger bodies, can run and take off and have really big arms, so it’s gonna be a real challenge for the defensive line to stop them.”
The Cyclones’ defense, in turn, will provide stern resistance that relentlessly ratchets up as the game progresses. ISU’s allowed foes to score a mere 26 points in the second half and just 13 points in the fourth quarter on a pair of late touchdowns in double-digit wins.
The Cyclones’ rank among the top 15 defenses in the country in passing yards allowed (fifth, 145.7 per game), interceptions (tied for fifth, 10), and total yards allowed (15th, 285.3). But ISU has struggled to get off the field on third downs, allowing opponents to convert on a startling 42.4 percent of those situations — an area that must improve if this historic run is to continue.
“I’m kind of the perfectionist, the bad guy in the building, but I just think we’ve got a lot of missed assignments we’re still having,” Heacock said. “We’re missing tackles out in space that would eliminate some things. We’ve not been good in situational football (or) third downs.”
But there’s an asterisk attached to ISU’s few defensive shortcomings, as well.
“We’ve been playing extremely hard,” Heacock said. “We have laid our hearts out there — let me say that. Our guys have laid their hearts out there on that field, and that gives you the best chance (to win).”
Heacock said his defense has yet to play “great football” and the same could be said of the Cyclones’ offense early in games. ISU is averaging a scant two points in the first quarter in Big 12 play, but that number balloons to 18.7 points per game in the second half.
So if there’s one underlying feature of this ISU team, it’s resilience. There’s never any panic or sense of alarm. That’s true on both sides of the ball, whether at home or on the road.
“(Head coach Matt) Campbell says it all: ‘Who’s gonna be the most desperate team on Saturday?’” said star sophomore quarterback Rocco Becht, who boasts a 10-to-three touchdown-to-interception ratio this season. “And I feel like we’ve been the most desperate team out there just because we remember our history and have our scars from the past. So remembering those games and the way (they) ended, we don’t want that to happen again.”
That’s why 6-0 isn’t a rallying cry. It’s a stepping stone along an always-perilous path — no matter the hype or level of national attention.
“We won’t continue to win football games if we can’t put together 60 full minutes of good football,” Campbell said.