Tampa had a tremendous game (as did most of the secondary) blocking pass coverage. See also Ocean City football continues to ride Mighty Mouse Jack Hoag If I could single out one guy that I thought really stepped up on Saturday, it would be TJ Tampa.

Thankfully, Iowa didn’t have much of anything on offense, so a lot of the mistakes Iowa State made went unpunished… but other teams will make a fool of us for similar mistakes… TJ Tampa Fortunately, we stopped after the third down, and on the fourth down in the red zone, Dekkers found Hutchinson for the only touchdown of the afternoon.īottom line: The play and execution in the red zone have to be better going forward. Iowa State THREE TIMES inside the 10 ran a “QB Power” type play where the snapper keeps his back to the side (ran twice with Dekkers, once as a direct snap “Wildcat” formation to Jirehl Brock), resulting in a pair of nil wins and a one-yard win. Now, this article isn’t usually a “deep dive” into specific details, but I’ll do that here, so sit with me for a moment. Their next drive found the Cyclones on a 14-play drive that went to the Iowa 5-yard line before a pair of incomplete passes and a Hunter Dekkers 1-yard run resulted in just 3 points, cutting the lead to 7- 3.Īfter a couple of punts, new Cyclone linebacker Colby Reeder would make his presence known with a tip-drill interception and return near the 10-yard line, where Hunter Dekkers would throw an incomplete pass followed by an interception to double coverage at the end zone. Iowa State would be back inside the top 10 in the first half. Prediction North Carolina State Odds: WCollege Football Picks from a Tested Model How did they pay for it? A fumble over the goal line recovered in the end zone. Iowa State ultimately forced an Iowa rotation that resulted in the Cyclones getting the ball in Iowa territory. Why didn’t they? Well, aside from the pair of blocked punts on special teams that put Iowa in the red zone, Iowa State got next to nothing from its own offense as they approached the goal line. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that the state of Iowa should have blown up Iowa on Saturday. When possibly the best play a unit can muster is a nine-yard punt return from Dimitri Stanley… you know it was a tough day… Goal situations to go Two punts were blocked (one that set up the only scoring drive for Iowa), a field goal that just cleared the crossbar, and a negative yardage punt return. So why, possibly on the larger “margin” that Campbell always insists, are we so bad? THAT is the question that must be answered and asked of the coaching staff and the players. Coach Matt Campbell knows this Hell, anyone with a pair of eyes and a basic understanding of the game of soccer would know this.

Special Teams Trainer or not, this team regularly fails at all extremes of special teams. I don’t understand how this team can be unquestionably bad year after year without any direction from the coaching staff. Of all the things that could go wrong against Iowa, it would surprise roughly zero Iowa State fans in the audience that special teams were the most abysmal part of the game on Saturday. Would he carry the momentum to Iowa City, or would the Hawkeyes stifle the Cyclones once again? Special teams (surprise, I know) Finally, Iowa State shows up and shows up against their minor opponent in the season opener.

Colby reeder