Well, that was easy. While Arizona seemed like a tough test on paper, No. 14 Iowa State faced about as much resistance as a rubberband trying to stop an 18-wheeler in a 39-14 Cyclone win.
It became fairly obvious how the game was going to go on the opening kickoff when the return man was tripped up and lost a fumble. A review wound up saving him temporarily, but it was a bad omen for the Wildcats. The first drive went from bad to worse when a tough snap to handle forced a field goal off line wide right.
It’s tough to say the Cyclones came away unscathed, given the multiple defensive stars that faced injury concerns; however, the scoreboard was about as good as a fan could have asked for to improve to 5-0.
Offense Plays SoWell
Iowa State’s offense had a great game against an Arizona team that averaged less than double digit points allowed coming in. Leading that charge was junior transfer wide receiver Chase Sowell, who picked up four receptions for 146 yards. It was great to see Sowell get going, as he is a guy with high expectations that came into the game with 32 yards total. Quarterback Rocco Becht tossed for 243 on the day, so Sowell accounted for 60% of the production through the air.
It did not take long for Sowell to get going, catching a deep ball on the opening drive to set the Cyclones up on the one-yard-line.
After Arizona gave Iowa State a huge momentum boost by missing a field goal on their opening drive, Sowell made sure the miss had a lasting impact. I had my eyes peeled to see how Iowa State approached the kicking game without Kyle Konrardy, and boy did I get my answer in a hurry. They brought out the swinging gate for a two-point conversion attempt, a gate that would crush the life of Arizona.
J’s make ‘em pay
Cornerbacks Jontez Williams and Jamison Patton were reminiscent of the hit 2022 movie titled “Everything Everywhere All at Once” on Saturday. They each corralled interceptions, yet that was not the most impressive part of their day. On 48 pass attempts, Arizona star quarterback Noah Fifita completed 32 for 253 yards, two scores and two interceptions. The two were a key part of forcing incompletions and keeping Fifita at bay.
Passing attacks like TCU and Kansas are threatening down the road. If the dynamic J’s can keep making plays, it will set the Cyclones up nicely.
Run Game Unproductive
Iowa State took 46 rushes on the day for 112 yards (2.4 yards per carry). That should not be an immediate cause for concern as the three faces of the rushing attack, Carson Hansen, Abu Sama III and Becht have been that since the beginning of the 2024 season. Fans know what to expect from that group at this point, but those expectations should be higher than 2.4 yards per carry.
Notably, four rushes for 29 yards came from backup quarterback Connor Moberly and Becht posted a Jerome Bettis-esque statline of nine rushes for -10 yards and three touchdowns on sneaks. Hansen and Sama combined for 31 carries and 89 yards, a less than ideal 2.87 yards per carry.
Usually you see lots of rushing yards racked up late in blowouts. Things didn’t work out that way this week as the team’s longest rush was 13 yards.
Not Again
The defensive stars were dropping like flies with injuries. Thank goodness Matt Campbell seemed to not be terribly worried about many of the injuries postgame, because Cyclone fans could do without another season of an Abbott and Costello bit asking “Who’s on defense?”
After losing star defensive back Jeremiah Cooper to an ACL injury for the season, Dom Orange, Jontez Williams and Khijohnn Cummings-Coleman all exited the game Saturday with injuries.
Campbell said he believes everyone that got dinged up during the game with the exception of Cummings-Coleman could have returned if necessary. Cummings-Coleman’s status was being evaluated over the weekend.
Cooper is taking on a coaching-style role in his absence as Rob Gray writes, so he is still going to be a valuable asset to the squad this season.
The Cyclones seemingly narrowly avoided some health scares, which is a good reminder to play a bit safer during blowouts. Now, I completely understand throwing the kitchen sink at every team until the final whistle, that’s how I love to play. There just has to be a time to lay off the gas to protect players. The Cyclones are usually in one-score games every week these days, so maybe we needed to shake the blowout management rust off.
My other not again moment of the game was the punt return where return man Xavier Townsend was absolutely blasted. There was room for debate of whether a shove from a teammate led to the kicking team crashing into Townsend, but either way it was something I did not need to see twice in a three-game span. Against Iowa, the Cyclones did not get the call when they maybe should have, and this time around they got the call when they maybe should not have.
It would have been a massive momentum shift early, yet the Cyclones narrowly avoided it. No more shoving people into the return man though, please.
Up next is a road matchup at 11 a.m. Saturday in Cincinnati. The Bearcats are a solid 3-1 team that just beat an unpredictable Kansas on the road 37-34.
