It seems that for ISU football, things that shouldn't be struggles are struggles.
Two years ago ISU struggled with Drake. Yeah, it was a crappy day, but ISU should not have struggled that badly. Then, last year, struggling with UNI, and then with KU, and then this year, with UL. On a more micro scale, ISU struggles with special teams, dropping passes, blocking, year after year. At some point, special teams need to be routine...P5 (and G5 as we saw last Saturday) are too hard to be giving away points on special teams.
Over the past three years, ISU has played OU (the best team in the conference and three-years-running participant in the college playoff) as well, or better than, any team in the Big 12. The ability is there, but why does ISU end 7-6 last year? Why the struggles?
As one of my Texas friends says...there are plenty of hard deals...don't run out of gas turning easier deals into more hard deals.