2011 Iowa State Cyclones Football Preview

There is no question that head coach Paul Rhoads has the Iowa State Cyclones on the right path. What Iowa State needs now is consistency.

After securing a bowl win in his first season, the first such victory in Ames since 2004, the Cyclones were ready to take the next step. What happened instead was that Rhoads – a wise man but not a messiah – encountered a very familiar and sobering reality of not just college football, but college sports in general: Coaches can coach well, but they’re still not in full control of their fates. The fluctuations of the attention spans of 18- and 20-year-old men will lead to questionable decisions and erratic performances. The kinds of things that happen in the blink of an eye, the things that can’t be taken back once they’re locked into the past tense, will periodically crop up and ambush a team that plays hard but not always well. This was the larger fact of the matter for Iowa State in 2010.

This was a team with two personalities last season. The first could play with anyone in the country, beating Texas Tech with a 52-point can of unleashed fury. The team that could stare down any opponent was also the squad that shocked Texas on the road in Austin, throwing down an authoritative and steely performance in enemy territory against a more talented and credentialed opponent. The good Iowa State version was the team that played an excellent game on home turf and came within a (failed) two-point conversion of defeating Nebraska, the eventual Big 12 North Division champion in the final year of divisional play for the league.

The other Iowa State, though, which received the same instruction and guidance from Rhoads and his staff? Well, that was the team that got eviscerated in a 68-27 beatdown by a Utah squad that – as revealed by blowout losses to Notre Dame and TCU – really wasn’t all that special. The bad Iowa State endured a 52-0 embarrassment at Oklahoma, a 35-7 loss to in-state rival Iowa (another team with a big brand name but which wasn’t really all that special by the time the 2010 season ended), and a puzzling 20-point loss to lowly Colorado which denied this team a bowl game. Colorado was, of course, the same outfit that blew a 28-point fourth-quarter lead against league doormat Kansas. Iowa State – the conqueror of Texas and the equal of Nebraska – lost to the Buffs by 20? That’s how baffling ISU proved to be last season. The decisive losses to good teams were one thing; the loss to Colorado proved that the Cyclones have a longer road to travel and a lot of growing up to do.

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Now, on to the Xs and Os and the Jimmies and Joes. One foremost query facing Rhoads and staff this season is how Iowa State will produce on offense without quarterback Austen Arnaud and running back Alexander Robinson. The Cyclones return five offensive starters, but must find a way to replace the vast majority of their scoring from last season. The early word is that Steele Jantz has a slight edge for the starting quarterback spot. The race is far from over, though: Jerome Tiller is also jockeying for the opening day nod. The offense will need to improve on an every-Saturday basis – the Cyclones scored just 21 points per game last year. The 52-point output against Texas Tech would certainly rate as an “outlier” in statistical parlance, so in many ways, this was a team that could be counted on for little more than 17 points against the teeth of its schedule. That number has to rise for the Cyclones to make a bowl game. The defense returns seven starters and will be asked to carry offense as it goes through growing pains.

The schedule does Iowa State no favors. The Cyclones play 11 BCS opponents in 2011. A home contest against rival Iowa and a trip to Connecticut form the notable non-conference games. A Big 12 road schedule that includes trips to Missouri, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma will make securing a bowl bid a difficult prospect.