Wait, there’s a Des Moines in Washington?
I had to google to confirm. My mind is blown.
Yep. We pronounce it De' Moines with the s silent in Des and the s given its full value in Moines. It's a northwest thing.
Anyway, looking forward to a good game. I just saw that ISU had 2 All-Americans named recently by PFF -- both at our weakest areas to counter (RB, DB.) Assuming that your OL is serviceable, we don't stop the run very well with our small, stunting DL and we have a tough time against NFL-caliber DB's. But, we do have a very good offense (generally) led by our grand-transfer QB Gardner Minshew, 8 WR's (Winston, Martin, Sweet, Patmon, Calvin, Bell, Jackson, Harris) and 2 really good RB's in Williams and true-frosh Max Borghi.
I watched some of the WV-ISU game highlights. Obviously, one of the keys will be whether ISU can generate pressure rushing 3-4 or whether they will need to bring another body in to rush. The traditional way most teams like Cal, UW and the Big 10 teams we have played in the past 2 Holiday Bowls (Minnesota, Michigan St.) have slowed the Air Raid is by dropping 8 in coverage, having good LB play and having a good-to-exceptional NT to create pressure. Minshew is a better runner than Falk (so he can scramble), but the flow of the offense still revolves around quick, decisive passes to speedy guys in space and blocking downfield by WR's. Disrupt that flow and the offense gets muddy.