Iowa State walks out with a win IF...

[im4cyclones]

If they move game time up to 11am but forget to tell Iowa.

If a shipment of new scooters is delivered to Iowa City.

If their locker room thief steals KF's lucky gum.

Or...

One word - Rhabdo.

 

[Frak]

I'll say one thing, the two teams ISU has played so far are notorious for not making mistakes. They never do and they didn't. Iowa will make some mistakes. That might open the door for ISU.

 

[HitItHard58]

Our offense has to do the opposite of what they did last year and keep the hawk D on their heels. I think the o-line can hold their own as long as Mangino's gameplan is solid and not a total Mess. It's way too much to ask of our front 5 to go toe to toe with their d-line and try to pound it up the gut constantly.

 

[CoKane]

If we score more points then they do

 

[MNCYWX]

... IF we get under center for 3rd & 1, 4th & 1.

 

[cyclones500]

OP's question is framed as "what's the ONE thing ISU must do better to win." It's tempting to list more than 1, which a lot of us have already done in this thread. It's human nature.

Even if you can keep it to only one, there are so many options.

But here's mine: Iowa State wins if the Cyclones rush for 90% as many yards as Iowa.

 

[boyd]

My nephew asked me today "what one thing does ISU have to do better than Iowa to win this weekend?"

He is young, cut him some slack. But if I only had ONE thing I would say:

IF we win the O-line battle against Iowa's defensive front we will walk out with a win.

Your prognostications???

If we get the deep pass game going. Adios hawks. And congrats on being a Clone fan nephew.

 

[Omaha Cy]

I think if Iowa has a bad day running the ball, then ISU gets the W.

On the flip side, if the Cyclones running backs combine for 200 yards receiving like the UNI kid, then ISU wins as well.

I have NEVER heard of a RB getting 200+ receiving yards. Was Roger Craig circa 1987 secretly put on the field? My buddy who is a hawk fan said their safety(?) could not cover that guy at all.

 

[CyFanInChiLand]

The play of our offensive line is going to determine this game. If they can give Sam time to throw and open some holes every once in a while, I think we win. Them maybe having a hurt Drew Ott definitely helps, and Carl Davis got shaken up last week, too.

The second biggest thing would be the play of Iowa's offensive line. They haven't had much of a ground game thus far (Rudock is the leading rusher). Plus they lost Scherff. If Cory can get in there and allow others to get in there, we can make Iowa's offense look worse than they did against Ball State.

Whichever way the battles of the line go will determine the winner. In the preseason that would have been far and away Iowa, but now with the injuries and having seen these guys play I think ISU has a chance. I think ISU has the better offense and Iowa has the better defense. So the 3rd thing would be if ISU is scoring points it will put pressure on Greg Davis to throw the ball and that's what ISU wants.

I just don't get the whole 'we need to make them throw the ball' mentality this year. Iowa has chucked the ball all over the damn place with a very high completion percentage. This seems to be one of the only years I can remember where I think we need to shut down their receivers and TEs to win the game. I'm not scared of their RBs in the least bit.

 

[Daserop]

they are less ******.

 

[urb1]

Play like they did during the first half against KSU, all the way through the game.

 

[CycloneVet]

Play like they did during the first half against KSU, all the way through the game.

That occurs it will be a laugher.

 

[Section110]

I just don't get the whole 'we need to make them throw the ball' mentality this year. Iowa has chucked the ball all over the damn place with a very high completion percentage. This seems to be one of the only years I can remember where I think we need to shut down their receivers and TEs to win the game. I'm not scared of their RBs in the least bit.

This guy knows what he's talking about.

It seems to me that whoever says the Cyclones need to shut down the run in order to win hasn't watched Iowa's first two games. They've passed a heck of a lot more than they've ran because they've struggled to run. When you look at Rudock's numbers it's pretty clear he's passed the ball very well also.

Now, if Iowa manages to get the running game going on Saturday then that will certainly cause more problems for ISU, but all the evidence from Iowa's first two games points to a team that appears to be much more comfortable passing the ball than running it. Which is interesting because that's not usually Iowa football under KF. Anyways, I think for this year's matchup ISU would be much better off shutting down the pass and forcing Iowa to try to run. Especially with Scherff out of the game.

 

[Doctor]

Iowa is a bad team. They talked themselves into thinking they're good by playing a horrible schedule.

I think they're a 5 loss team and should have 2 losses already. If they don't get lucky in their first two, I really think they're a 7 loss team.

We can beat them. I think they'll play tight and we'll be loose. We have better RBs and WRs. I think the QB is a push.

On defense, we're ok and I think they're just ok.

But to answer his question, if we don't have more than 1 TO, we win.

 

[khardbored]

Don't turn the ball over and stop their running game

#TwoThings

I would say "execute on special teams"

(all aspects - kickoffs, punts, kickoff & punt coverage plus the all important field goals. Their kicker was 1/4 last week.)

 

[isu81]

I just don't get the whole 'we need to make them throw the ball' mentality this year. Iowa has chucked the ball all over the damn place with a very high completion percentage. This seems to be one of the only years I can remember where I think we need to shut down their receivers and TEs to win the game. I'm not scared of their RBs in the least bit.

Agree here. I think one of the reasons they have sputtered on the ground is that they haven't even attempted to run. Last week, they threw 52 times vs. 29 rushing attempts. But those passes are shorter, ball control passes. Their problem was getting the ball in the end zone, combined with having a kicker that can't make FG's. Attempting 4 FG's against Ball State (many of them short) is terrible, missing three of them is worse. I think it plays well to our bend-but-don't break style. If we can avoid big plays and keep them out of the end zone on longer drives, we win.

 

[CyTwins]

This guy knows what he's talking about.

It seems to me that whoever says the Cyclones need to shut down the run in order to win hasn't watched Iowa's first two games. They've passed a heck of a lot more than they've ran because they've struggled to run. When you look at Rudock's numbers it's pretty clear he's passed the ball very well also.

Now, if Iowa manages to get the running game going on Saturday then that will certainly cause more problems for ISU, but all the evidence from Iowa's first two games points to a team that appears to be much more comfortable passing the ball than running it. Which is interesting because that's not usually Iowa football under KF. Anyways, I think for this year's matchup ISU would be much better off shutting down the pass and forcing Iowa to try to run. Especially with Scherff out of the game.

Then why are most fans wanting the backup in there and why did Kirk play him?

 

[Dandy]

QBSR completes 70% of his pass attempts.

 

[ISU22CY]

I'll say one thing, the two teams ISU has played so far are notorious for not making mistakes. They never do and they didn't. Iowa will make some mistakes. That might open the door for ISU.

Synd Cat would disagree with you on that one, they were way off base as far as mental errors you rarely see from a KSU team.

 

[wonkadog]

This guy knows what he's talking about.

It seems to me that whoever says the Cyclones need to shut down the run in order to win hasn't watched Iowa's first two games. They've passed a heck of a lot more than they've ran because they've struggled to run. When you look at Rudock's numbers it's pretty clear he's passed the ball very well also.

Now, if Iowa manages to get the running game going on Saturday then that will certainly cause more problems for ISU, but all the evidence from Iowa's first two games points to a team that appears to be much more comfortable passing the ball than running it. Which is interesting because that's not usually Iowa football under KF. Anyways, I think for this year's matchup ISU would be much better off shutting down the pass and forcing Iowa to try to run. Especially with Scherff out of the game.

I still fail to believe that they're not going to be able to run it against us. It was just 2 weeks ago that an FCS team destroyed our D for 300+ yards. Then Waters went for almost 150 last week. Until I see it I won't believe that Iowa is going to abandon a huge advantage (their O-line vs. our D-line) to throw the ball all day.