Iowa State walks out with a win IF...

[Judoka]

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.

I see you aren't familiar with Greg Davis.

 

[Jgraham]

If there is a storm and the game is called at half.

 

[LutherBlue]

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.

Took the words right out of my mouth. Iowa will get a lot of yardage, but can ISU make them kick FGs? If so, Cyclones can make it a game.

 

[jbhtexas]

At some point in order to turn the corner, ISU has to consistently successfully execute "basic" FB plays, particulalry in the 2nd half. This means converting 3rd/4th down and 1. This means not dropping passes that should be easy catches. This means not getting dumb personal foul penalties. It's hard enough to win when taking care of these basic things, and nearly impossible to win when they aren't handled well.

Perhaps I'm naive, but I'm encouraged listening to Mangino interviews because he seems to genuinely understand that ISU needs to get better at these sort of things in order to win. No place like the Iowa game to get started.

 

[LoveItOrLeaveIt]

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.

ISU is OK on defense, huh? You must not have much in the way of standards.

 

[FreeBorn]

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???

I doubt the clones can win that battle inside. The hawks got two very, very good D tackles. The ends aren't good though, with Ott being out.

 

[KMAC_ATTACK]

If our Offense can score in the second half….

Its really quite simple…its not our defense thats losing games, its our offense.

Seriously - 2 games, 11 possessions in the second half, we're not finishing. By the way, we've been outscored in the second half 31-0.

Its not hard to see why we're 0-2.

 

[istater7]

If we convert over 60% of our 3rd downs.

This is what I was going to say. Converting 3rd downs would have won the K-State game. Need to keep those drives moving, especially late in the game.

 

[istater7]

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.

K-State made quite a few mistakes with all the penalties they had. No turnovers but the penalties seemed very unlike a Bill Snyder team.

 

[VeloClone]

turnover battle.....meh.....I have seen too many three and outs already to get excited about turnovers from this team.
Pick sixes??? maybe time to get excited.

Look at the bright side. ISU had four drives against NDSU where they failed to get a first down. Against KSU they had three of those drives and actually had fewer than KState. At least they are trending in the right direction.

 

[rholtgraves]

They will win if Iowa turns it over and can't convert on scoring opportunities and has stupid penalties. That's why Ball State was in the game. Ball State scored all 13 of their points bc of Iowa turnovers or penalties. On the other side Iowa missed an opportunity to score a TD bc of a receiver not securing the ball and shanked 3 makeable FGs.

ISUs offense and defense has been pretty bad so far. The one very positive aspect of the offense is that once they get in the red zone they are scoring TDs. 4 out of 4 for the season. That is one of only two statistical areas that ISU leads Iowa in nationally, the other is passing yards defense.

 

[dualthreat]

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.

Yea they struggled to run the ball and should have lost to BALL STATE. You think modeling that defensive strategy is a bad idea?

 

[Luth4Cy]

I care way more about stopping Iowa's pass then the run. Wally will do the same thing he did last season. Instead of stopping the run he'll work to contain the run. If the runs contained and our defense avoids giving up big plays through the air our defense will have played well enough to win.

 

[GoClones123]

I think most of these are valid points. I am sticking with my O-line/D-line analysis though. I think Iowa hasn't been tested this year yet. I watched the Ball State game and their offense was timid and confused the whole first half. I think Iowa has a good defense on paper but do not know how that translates up against a more physical core of WR's, RB's and TE.

I am hoping ISU's speed will catch them off guard both offensively and defensively. Especially our WR group, Iowa's secondary has had to play nothing remotely to that speed or size. It will be interesting to see it unfold.

 

[heitclone]

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.

This....go back to the Steele Jantz game, everyone gets caught up in what Jantz did but ppl forget that Shontrelle Johnson had a 100yd game that day. James White got the carries near the end zone and 2 TDs but Johnson was the workhorse that day. It was easily Shontrelles best day as a Cyclone but it gets overshadowed by Jantz.

 

[heitclone]

Yea they struggled to run the ball and should have lost to BALL STATE. You think modeling that defensive strategy is a bad idea?

I think you'll see a completely different strategy out of Iowa Saturday, doesn't mean they WILL run the ball but I think we'll see a lot more of Weisman than UNI and Ball State did. If this isn't the case and Iowa drops back to throw 55 times, we'll be in very good shape.

 

[FreeBorn]

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.

They do have good talent, but a horrible game day head coach. They have many playmakers on offense, but absolutely no direction or identity of offense. Typical kf offense.

That team is at least two td's better than the clones this year (talent-wise), but the coaching is so horrible on the offensive side. This is why the clones could win the game on Saturday.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I'm going to go with "offense in the second half" :twitcy:

 

[QCHawkeye]

This is how you beat Iowa.

Use multiple fronts coming at Iowa from different angles and do not turn the ball over. Also, don't be afraid to let Iowa kick FG's because they can't do it.

Ball State gave Iowa fits on offense but throwing different looks at them and Iowa couldn't pick it up and it forced Jake Ruddock to check down often.

Iowa's defense is extremely good so you can't make mistakes on offense and have to score points in the red zone.

Of course I could be totally wrong and Iowa unleashes something we've not seen this season but right now Iowa isn't a very solid unit overall. That's the facts.

 

[CycoCyclone]

Score more points and don't be afraid to do so in the second half

It sounds cliche but we really do have to outscore the opponent. We don't win a defensive battle in this fan's eyes.