Happy Monday morning my fellow Cyclone Fanatics.
Well…it was kind of a rough last few days in beautiful Ames, Iowa wasn’t it?
This isn’t the Monday morning blog that I was looking forward to writing. We’ve all had a couple of days to let the Oklahoma State loss soak in. It’s now time to look to the future.
Here’s why you should still be optimistic about Iowa State going to a bowl game.
Colorado is 3-6. Missouri just lost at home to Baylor.
The next two are very, very, winnable football games for Iowa State. Yes, Colorado shocked a lot of people by beating A&M on Saturday. Colorado is a pretty solid home team. The Buffs are 0-4 away from Boulder.
And Missouri…what a weird football team this is. Like I wrote earlier, they lost to Baylor at home. Need I say more? If Baylor can win in Columbia, Iowa State can win in Columbia.
Iowa State can win these two games. I’m not saying that they will. I’m just throwing it out there today that it’s still very possible for the Cyclones to end the regular season with a 7-5 record, all while going 4-4 in the Big 12.
Go ahead. Call me a homer. Say I’m drinking the Kool-Aid. I’m really not. I’m being realistic. Iowa State can win these two games.
I pegged the Clones at 5-7 before the season began. They’ve already proven me wrong.
I’ll end my football segment with this. I still feel very positive about this team. One quote that Paul Rhoads delivered after Saturday’s loss pretty much summed things up for me. A reporter asked Rhoads why the Cyclones didn’t seem to match Oklahoma State’s energy in the game. Here was his response.
“That starts with coaching,” Rhoads said. “That starts with Paul Rhoads. I’ve got to provide the leadership and the direction of this football program from Sunday to Saturday, all of the way through the end of the football game, to make sure that we can match an opponents energy.”
That is called accountability my friends. I’m expecting a much more emotional effort against Colorado this weekend.
I’ll have a lot of football information on the site later today. According to an Iowa State University release, Paul Rhoads will not be at today’s press conference, as he will be attending the “funeral of a brother of an Iowa State player.”
Assistant coach Bill Bleil will be handling the Big 12 teleconference and today’s local press conference as well. I’ll be there for CF and again, we’ll have complete coverage for you all right here.
Another Busy Week In addition to Saturday’s football game with Colorado, other Iowa State athletic teams will be going at it this week. The Cyclone wrestlers will be in action Thursday evening, as South Dakota State will come to town. Then, on Saturday, the Harold Nichols Open will take place in the Lied Recreation Center.
Also this week, the men and women’s basketball teams will begin their regular seasons this weekend as well.
Oh yeah…that guy named Harrison Barnes is going to make his official announcement on Friday as well.
Should be an eventful week here at Cyclone Fanatic. Have fun.
