Just wanted to post my thoughts on the Houston game.
I truly believe this is a game the Iowa State of the past lays an egg in. I was at the game so I saw some things that maybe weren't available to see on TV. Here are my thoughts, focused on the offensive performance with some short comments on the defense.
Defensively, Houston was showing a single high safety pre-snap most of the game; however, when the ball was snapped, their safeties and/or in some cases linebackers would recover quickly to a high position if we were passing or doing a RPO. This made it very difficult for Rocco to make reads and I think that was a big factor in his lackluster first half performance. However, they were mostly playing zone as a result, and Mouser made a great adjustment in the second half and our receivers started doing curl routes that sat in the dead spaces between these zones. Houston's main gamplan was simply to not get beat over the top and to keep it close as a result; we tried to go deep a few times in the first half because pre-snap it looked promising with a single high safety but that was a disguise and so those play calls did not work. Good job by Rocco to understand not to make that throw and to simply take what he could. Great defensive gameplan by Houston to give them a chance to win this game but honestly they did not have the horses. Jayden Higgins is a DOG and that catch he made that got called back is an absolute travesty because it was electric and would have been amazing to see on an NFL Draft production. Still, he got his 6 with a well-placed back shoulder fade that seems like his bread and butter.
Our run game was not fantastic but effective. Even on obvious run plays we were still able to gain yards most of the time. The Houston defensive line is honestly pretty serviceable and maybe the best we've played so far this year. Even still, we averaged 4.4 yards per carry. Oh wait, that was what we averaged without the Abu Sama touchdown run, which is still a serviceable number. We actually averaged 6.3 yards per carry including that run. Pretty dang efficient running game. O-line deserves a lot of credit. This is again because Houston was committed to not letting us beat them over the top. We were eventually going to break the big one with our talent at RB, don't forget, Jaylen Jackson had a long run as well.
Houston ran a bunch of 'RPO' with all intentions to run it. Our young linebackers generally did okay, but there were times where they took bad angles and that's when they gave up the few big runs they had. Definitely some coachable moments there but overall they did a great job. I will say, we are lucky to have shut them out. On the play where Houston threw a pick into the endzone, one of our safeties, Trevon Howard, was backpedaling to follow his assignment and tripped. His man had no Iowa State players within 15 yards of him in the endzone and Donovan Smith missed him. He did not have a completely clean pocket so credit to the D-line BUT he wasn't so pressured that he could not get the throw off. A better team and QB (even Baylor next week) easily scores at TD there. Instead he holds onto the ball and slightly underthrows it into a 1v1 with Jontez Williams and we know how that is gonna go.
Finally, the Houston team was pretty chippy at times and there were definitely some flags that could have been thrown for after the play personal fouls against them. I counted at least 3 instances that on a neutral field or at Jack Trice where what Houston players were doing post-whistle is a guaranteed flag. However, they were not thrown and our players had to have the mental toughness and maturity to get through it, which by and large they did. Credit to them and the coaching staff.
So credit to Houston for a wacky ass gameplan that nearly worked. Even still, Iowa State probably could've won this by almost twice as much if they were playing their best game. They did not have the A game Saturday, especially offensively in the pass game, and honestly I want to save the stinkers for the Houstons of the world. Overall, I'd give the defense an A-, the offense a C, and the special teams a B.
I truly believe this is a game the Iowa State of the past lays an egg in. I was at the game so I saw some things that maybe weren't available to see on TV. Here are my thoughts, focused on the offensive performance with some short comments on the defense.
Defensively, Houston was showing a single high safety pre-snap most of the game; however, when the ball was snapped, their safeties and/or in some cases linebackers would recover quickly to a high position if we were passing or doing a RPO. This made it very difficult for Rocco to make reads and I think that was a big factor in his lackluster first half performance. However, they were mostly playing zone as a result, and Mouser made a great adjustment in the second half and our receivers started doing curl routes that sat in the dead spaces between these zones. Houston's main gamplan was simply to not get beat over the top and to keep it close as a result; we tried to go deep a few times in the first half because pre-snap it looked promising with a single high safety but that was a disguise and so those play calls did not work. Good job by Rocco to understand not to make that throw and to simply take what he could. Great defensive gameplan by Houston to give them a chance to win this game but honestly they did not have the horses. Jayden Higgins is a DOG and that catch he made that got called back is an absolute travesty because it was electric and would have been amazing to see on an NFL Draft production. Still, he got his 6 with a well-placed back shoulder fade that seems like his bread and butter.
Our run game was not fantastic but effective. Even on obvious run plays we were still able to gain yards most of the time. The Houston defensive line is honestly pretty serviceable and maybe the best we've played so far this year. Even still, we averaged 4.4 yards per carry. Oh wait, that was what we averaged without the Abu Sama touchdown run, which is still a serviceable number. We actually averaged 6.3 yards per carry including that run. Pretty dang efficient running game. O-line deserves a lot of credit. This is again because Houston was committed to not letting us beat them over the top. We were eventually going to break the big one with our talent at RB, don't forget, Jaylen Jackson had a long run as well.
Houston ran a bunch of 'RPO' with all intentions to run it. Our young linebackers generally did okay, but there were times where they took bad angles and that's when they gave up the few big runs they had. Definitely some coachable moments there but overall they did a great job. I will say, we are lucky to have shut them out. On the play where Houston threw a pick into the endzone, one of our safeties, Trevon Howard, was backpedaling to follow his assignment and tripped. His man had no Iowa State players within 15 yards of him in the endzone and Donovan Smith missed him. He did not have a completely clean pocket so credit to the D-line BUT he wasn't so pressured that he could not get the throw off. A better team and QB (even Baylor next week) easily scores at TD there. Instead he holds onto the ball and slightly underthrows it into a 1v1 with Jontez Williams and we know how that is gonna go.
Finally, the Houston team was pretty chippy at times and there were definitely some flags that could have been thrown for after the play personal fouls against them. I counted at least 3 instances that on a neutral field or at Jack Trice where what Houston players were doing post-whistle is a guaranteed flag. However, they were not thrown and our players had to have the mental toughness and maturity to get through it, which by and large they did. Credit to them and the coaching staff.
So credit to Houston for a wacky ass gameplan that nearly worked. Even still, Iowa State probably could've won this by almost twice as much if they were playing their best game. They did not have the A game Saturday, especially offensively in the pass game, and honestly I want to save the stinkers for the Houstons of the world. Overall, I'd give the defense an A-, the offense a C, and the special teams a B.