I am glad it was Labor Day weekend, I needed the extra day to recover from the season opening loss. With all of the build-up for the season it was definitely a let down. The hangover is finally over and I realize the game wasn’t as bad as it seemed last Thursday. Let’s take a look at what went right and what went wrong.
Positives
JJ Bass – the one position that showed the most improvement from last season was running back. Bass didn’t start Thursday, but he probably will this Saturday. ISU had more long runs from the RB position in one game then they did all last season. The fact that freshman Alexander Robinson started ahead of Bass has me feeling good about the future too.
Jesse Smith – Going into the season most people felt good about the outside linebackers, but were worried about who would start in the middle. Jesse forced a fumble and had 12 tackles in his first start.
Kick Returners – Allen Bell and RJ Sumrall both looked good returning kicks. Sumrall had a return of 41 yards and Bell returned 2 for 54 yards and just missed taking it to the house.
Mike Brandtner – The sophomore dropped three punts inside the 20 yard line and averaged 39 yards per punt.
Offensive Line (first half) – The Cyclones came out of the gates running the ball well. JJ Bass had over 100 yards at halftime. The line allowed only 1 sack and ISU averaged 4.1 yards per rush.
Atmosphere – The crowd of 47,313 showed up early and did their part. After seeing Iowa play at Soldier Field it made me appreciate the great playing turf we have at Jack Trice Stadium.
Jon Banks 7.5 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 break-up and a QB hurry
Todd Blythe – The coaching staff tried to get him the ball. He ended up with 5 catches for 65 yards and a touchdown. He narrowly missed another touchdown coming down out-of-bounds in the endzone after catching a long toss from Meyer. In the fourth quarter they took another shot downfield to Todd. Unfortunately he was pushed and shoved all the way down the field and for some reason the ref couldn’t find his yellow flag.
Youth Movement – Phillip Bates and Cameron Bell both received playing time as true freshman. It leads me to believe that Chizik feels both can help this year and he is confident he can bring in equal talent in the future.
Marquis Hamilton – 3 catches, 24 yards
James Smith – 7 tackles, forced fumble, interception
Negatives
Bret Meyer – It wasn’t just the two interceptions, he didn’t seem confident in the offense. Even the passes he completed didn’t seem to have much on them. I expect Bret to bounce back this weekend. We have to remember that it was Bret and everyones first game in the new offense.
Offensive Line (2nd half) – The Cyclones rushed for only 25 yards in the second half and managed only 89 yards of total offense.
Field Goal Unit – I think the message boards have been a little rough on Shaggy. He did miss two 44+ yard field goals, but those are hardly chip shots in college football. Some have mentioned there was a bad snap/hold on the first attempt
Blown Coverages – I am not sure who is to blame, but there were 2 or 3 plays that the Cyclone defense blew coverage. One of them was the 42 yard touchdown pass.
Defensive Line – The DL wore down in the second half despite the fact they rotated 8 to 10 players all game. The Golden Flashes rushed 33 times for 116 yards after halftime.
Kick Coverage – ISU appeared to have the momentum going into the locker room at half time when Jack Williams broke a 57 yard kickoff return, setting up a Kent State field goal.
Bad Snap – Iowa State was driving for what would have been the first score of the game, when Brandon Johnson’ s snap flew over Bret Meyer’s head and Kent State recovered.
Zac Sandvig – Sandvig muffed both balls that were punted to him. He did manage to recover on each occasion.
Wide Open Offense? – The Cyclones were supposed to showcase a high-powered wide open offense last Thursday, but what we saw resembled last years offense. I still think a wide-open attack is in the plans, but we may have to wait a while to see it.
