This was in the Omaha World Herald. Nothing new, but interesting.
Published Tuesday | November 6, 2007
ISU Football: Chizik to continue QB rotation
BY STEVEN PIVOVAR
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
• On the Web: ISU Football
RELATED
• On the Web: ISU Football
Iowa State will continue using the two-quarterback system that helped produce its first Big 12 victory of the season.
Senior Bret Meyer and redshirt freshman Austen Arnaud combined for 288 yards of total offense in the Cyclones' 31-20 win over Kansas State. Meyer, the four-season starter, took 47 snaps and produced 14 points. Arnaud, a redshirt freshman who could be auditioning for the starting spot next season, led Iowa State to 10 points in his 19 snaps. The Cyclones' other seven points came on Chris Singleton's interception return for a touchdown.
Iowa State coach Gene Chizik said at his Monday press conference that he would like to use Arnaud for at least a minimum of 20 plays in each of the Cyclones' final two games — Saturday at home against Colorado and Nov. 17 at Kansas.
"We're going to play it by ear," Chizik said. "Austen playing about 20 plays on Saturday was certainly a good start. We'd like to play him a minimum of that in these last two games. We're going to let the flow of the game dictate that.
"We felt it was a good twist to use two quarterbacks against Kansas State. Bret and Austen do a lot of things similar but they do have some differences."
On the field, that is. Off the field, Meyer and Arnaud say there are good friends, which is one reason the senior seems at ease with giving up snaps in his final games as a collegian.
"We've known each other since he was a junior in high school," Meyer said. "Sometimes in this kind of a situation, guys aren't the best of friends. With us, we're definitely the best of friends."
Arnaud, the Gatorade player of the year during his senior season at Ames High School, played in three of Iowa State's first nine games. In recent weeks, he had been slowed by a foot injury.
Chizik and the Iowa State offensive coaches decided the week of the Kansas State game that Arnaud was healthy enough to take some snaps against the Wildcats. He entered the game on the Cyclones' third possession and directed Iowa State on a 90-yard touchdown drive.
His second series came early in the third quarter, resulting in a three-and-out. With the Cyclones clinging to a 28-20 lead in the fourth quarter, Arnaud came on and drove them 64 yards to set up Bret Culbertson's game-clinching 25-yard field goal. The big play on the drive was Arnaud's 51-yard pass to Todd Blythe.
"I want to thank Coach Chizik and the coaching staff to have faith in me to put me in in that situation," Arnaud said. "That's what these coaches do, put players in situations that allow them to make plays.
"This was definitely a confidence builder for me but it's just one game. I have to take the next one and go out and play."
The 6-foot-3, 222-pound Arnaud finished the game having completed 5 of 7 passes for 130 yards. He also rushed for 19 yards on six carries. Meyer accounted for 139 yards — 41 on seven rushes and 98 on 12-of-19 passing — to become the second quarterback in Big 12 history to exceed 10,000 yards in total offense.
Meyer, whose start against Kansas State was his 46th in a row, was one of the first players to congratulate Arnaud as he came off the field after leading Iowa State to a touchdown in the first quarter, extending the lead to 14-0.
"If you watched Bret on the sidelines, if there was anyone cheering harder for Austen, I'd like to see him," Chizik said. "Bret is a classy young man, and he's as happy for Austen as anyone. Bret has played some good football this year and he's played some poor football but the one thing he's never done is get rattled by the situation around him.
"He's done everything right. I'm proud that I got a chance to coach him his senior year and glad I got a year to spend around him."
With Meyer and Arnaud leading the way, Iowa State snapped a six-game losing skid and presented Chizik with his first Big 12 victory. The Cyclones are 2-8 heading into Saturday's game against Colorado, but have shown considerable improvement in the past three games in losses to nationally ranked Oklahoma and Missouri and in the win over Kansas State, which needed a victory to become bowl eligible.
The improved play comes in the weeks following a 56-3 loss to Texas that had some figuring the Cyclones were dead in the water.
"Wherever I've coached, there's always been one game a season that's a complete debacle," Chizik said. "At some places, you get beat really bad when that happens. I've been at some places, because we were so good athletically, that we were able to play that way and still win.
"That Texas game was our debacle. We couldn't do anything right. We told our football team after that game that's not who we are. That's who we were that day, but all the things we did wrong were correctable. We went back to work and we've done a good job of not letting the things we did wrong that day rear their head again."
Published Tuesday | November 6, 2007
ISU Football: Chizik to continue QB rotation
BY STEVEN PIVOVAR
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
• On the Web: ISU Football
RELATED
• On the Web: ISU Football
Iowa State will continue using the two-quarterback system that helped produce its first Big 12 victory of the season.
Senior Bret Meyer and redshirt freshman Austen Arnaud combined for 288 yards of total offense in the Cyclones' 31-20 win over Kansas State. Meyer, the four-season starter, took 47 snaps and produced 14 points. Arnaud, a redshirt freshman who could be auditioning for the starting spot next season, led Iowa State to 10 points in his 19 snaps. The Cyclones' other seven points came on Chris Singleton's interception return for a touchdown.
Iowa State coach Gene Chizik said at his Monday press conference that he would like to use Arnaud for at least a minimum of 20 plays in each of the Cyclones' final two games — Saturday at home against Colorado and Nov. 17 at Kansas.
"We're going to play it by ear," Chizik said. "Austen playing about 20 plays on Saturday was certainly a good start. We'd like to play him a minimum of that in these last two games. We're going to let the flow of the game dictate that.
"We felt it was a good twist to use two quarterbacks against Kansas State. Bret and Austen do a lot of things similar but they do have some differences."
On the field, that is. Off the field, Meyer and Arnaud say there are good friends, which is one reason the senior seems at ease with giving up snaps in his final games as a collegian.
"We've known each other since he was a junior in high school," Meyer said. "Sometimes in this kind of a situation, guys aren't the best of friends. With us, we're definitely the best of friends."
Arnaud, the Gatorade player of the year during his senior season at Ames High School, played in three of Iowa State's first nine games. In recent weeks, he had been slowed by a foot injury.
Chizik and the Iowa State offensive coaches decided the week of the Kansas State game that Arnaud was healthy enough to take some snaps against the Wildcats. He entered the game on the Cyclones' third possession and directed Iowa State on a 90-yard touchdown drive.
His second series came early in the third quarter, resulting in a three-and-out. With the Cyclones clinging to a 28-20 lead in the fourth quarter, Arnaud came on and drove them 64 yards to set up Bret Culbertson's game-clinching 25-yard field goal. The big play on the drive was Arnaud's 51-yard pass to Todd Blythe.
"I want to thank Coach Chizik and the coaching staff to have faith in me to put me in in that situation," Arnaud said. "That's what these coaches do, put players in situations that allow them to make plays.
"This was definitely a confidence builder for me but it's just one game. I have to take the next one and go out and play."
The 6-foot-3, 222-pound Arnaud finished the game having completed 5 of 7 passes for 130 yards. He also rushed for 19 yards on six carries. Meyer accounted for 139 yards — 41 on seven rushes and 98 on 12-of-19 passing — to become the second quarterback in Big 12 history to exceed 10,000 yards in total offense.
Meyer, whose start against Kansas State was his 46th in a row, was one of the first players to congratulate Arnaud as he came off the field after leading Iowa State to a touchdown in the first quarter, extending the lead to 14-0.
"If you watched Bret on the sidelines, if there was anyone cheering harder for Austen, I'd like to see him," Chizik said. "Bret is a classy young man, and he's as happy for Austen as anyone. Bret has played some good football this year and he's played some poor football but the one thing he's never done is get rattled by the situation around him.
"He's done everything right. I'm proud that I got a chance to coach him his senior year and glad I got a year to spend around him."
With Meyer and Arnaud leading the way, Iowa State snapped a six-game losing skid and presented Chizik with his first Big 12 victory. The Cyclones are 2-8 heading into Saturday's game against Colorado, but have shown considerable improvement in the past three games in losses to nationally ranked Oklahoma and Missouri and in the win over Kansas State, which needed a victory to become bowl eligible.
The improved play comes in the weeks following a 56-3 loss to Texas that had some figuring the Cyclones were dead in the water.
"Wherever I've coached, there's always been one game a season that's a complete debacle," Chizik said. "At some places, you get beat really bad when that happens. I've been at some places, because we were so good athletically, that we were able to play that way and still win.
"That Texas game was our debacle. We couldn't do anything right. We told our football team after that game that's not who we are. That's who we were that day, but all the things we did wrong were correctable. We went back to work and we've done a good job of not letting the things we did wrong that day rear their head again."
