I feel better after watching the replay

[Gary_ISU]

I had my 3 year old daughter at her first game on Saturday. Because of that, I did not see much of the game and left early. It is certainly a joy of parenting to be able to take your kids to their first game.

Watching the replay last night was encouraging. We dominated the game for 3 quarters. Up until UNLV's last 2 drives late in the 3rd and 4th quarters, I would say we had out gained them 325 to 150. We were able to move the ball, running and passing, and the defense looked very good. Unfortunately, we were not getting it done on the scoreboard. I think the main problem in this game was penalties.

-- 15 yard facemask that gave UNLV a first down on their field goal drive
-- 15 yard unsportsmanlike against Fischer that turned a 2nd and 6 to 2nd and 21 and ended that drive
-- holding by I think Brant on the first drive in the 2nd half that stopped that drive
-- false start by Brant on our only drive in the 4th quarter that made it 1st and 15. We ended up being short by about a yard or 2 on 3rd down

I typically do not single out the officiating but there were some questionable spots and they missed an obvious false start on UNLV's last drive. Part of the reason Blythe did not get the ball was Meyer. He missed him terribly on one play in the first half that would have went for 25-30 yards. Meyer looked a little indecisive this game. I think that is the best Hicks has run the ball since the Miami of Ohio bowl game.

I thought the play calling was pretty good. We had some nice plays to Nickel and even completed a pass for positive yardage to Hicks out of the backfield. We threw down field to Davis for the first time in a long time. But, the series of downs right before the field goal was horrible. First down to Scales for nothing. Not a bad call. Second down to Scales for nothing. Terrible call. Third down fade to Daivs. Absolutely horrible play call. Do we remember the MU game? Have we ever completed a fade to Davis? Blythe had single coverage on the other side of the field. Get him the ball.

Kick coverage is horrible. I would almost rather see us kick it out of bounds and give them the ball at the 35.

I have no idea if this team is any good. I saw some very encouraging things in the replay. I am still most concerned with our O-line and Mac's inability for whatever reason to finish off opponents.

 

[MrApathy]

overall
RECEIVING Rec Yds Avg TD
Austin Flynn 8 109 13.6 0
Todd Blythe 5 93 18.6 2
Jon Davis 5 87 17.4 0
Walter Nickel 4 54 13.5 0
R.J. Sumrall 4 77 19.3 0
Stevie Hicks 3 4 1.3 0
Ben Barkema 2 13 6.5 0

Davis looks improved this year which is suprising considering the achilles injury and possibility he should of been done for most of the season if not all.

Blythe had 3 balls thrown towards him. first was intercepted Blythe well covered.
second over thrown defender had his arm on Blythes back nearly the whole route.

3rd should of been a catch and a much needed first down in the third quarter but Blythe slipped.

dont think Blythe played his best.

Passing
Iowa State CMP ATT YDS TD INT YDS/ATT
Bret Meyer (7) 14 21 203 0 1 9.7
not a horrible night for Meyer.
Hicks looked good and I hope him and the Oline can beat the snot out of EIU

just for UNLV game
Receiving
Iowa State ATT YDS TD AVG
Jon Davis (81) 2 57 0 28.5
Austin Flynn (8) 4 56 0 14.0
Walter Nickel (16) 3 50 0 16.7
R.J. Sumrall (5) 2 27 0 13.5
Ben Barkema (41) 1 8 0 8.0
Stevie Hicks (27) 2 5 0 2.5

Davis 44 yard catch was huge for us but all the receiving core did well Blythe sometimes is a better target for the defense than Meyer. its all about turning strengths into weakness UNLV got a int on pass to Blythe.

hope Blythe is pissed off and working on his game for Iowa.

apparently Baylors assistant coach got reprimanded for a tirade over mwc officials.

 

[jay moe]

I also watched the replay last night and feel somewhat better about the overall performance. I was a little confused as to why Scales was in at the moment that was discussed in the first post. Was Hicks hurt, or winded? What about Kock? Didn't like any of the calls on that first and goal situation. Should have put the game away right there! I am concerned about UNLV's ability to hit us big with misdirection plays, I hope that gets corrected for Saturday.

 

[Wesley]

Gary_ISU has ther best post of the week in my book.
When at the goal line, with Meyer's speed and Blythe's ability to catch the ball, it was inane for rookie Scales to run it near the goal. Did we not have fumble problems last year in the same situation. Is our o line strong enough to make holes near the goal line? I would bet a few bucks that McC wanted to build confidence in his o line and in Scales. That confidence builder cetainly did not happen.
As far as penalties go, I think we better get our heads screwed on for Iowa City. Expect false starts in Iowa City anyway. What good is the o line if they continue to get penalties? As far as Blythe with no catches, don't we have a series of play formations which ensure single coverage for Blythe. I do not care if the USC transfer back is that great and the best we will face all year (I find that hard to believe), since Blythe at 6-5 can still get the ball if thrown in the proper place. He has done it before and will again.

 

[Al_4_State]

I hate to feed McCarney's bs spin, but that Dback is #2 on Mel Kiper Jr's big board.... he might be (I really hope) the best dback we face all year.