Looking Ahead: My thoughts on Iowa State

AA is a very erratic passer. He his some nice throws but overall was inconsistent and inaccurate. I don't think against Iowa's front 4 AA will have the time to throw that he had against NIU. ARob is a solid RB but as Jon pointed out but, aside from one huge run, he had a pedestrian night against a D that isn't nearly as solid as Iowa's.

This will be a hard fought game but Iowa has way too many weapons on offense to be contained by Iowa State's defense. That being said, it will be closer than last years game but Iowa will still emerge victorious.

Arnaud 27/36 265 Yards

Granted he had the INTS.... but he definitely was accurate.
 
Arnaud 27/36 265 Yards

Granted he had the INTS.... but he definitely was accurate.

My initial reaction was that he was inaccurate as well. When I saw that line it surprised me, i specifically remember him air mailing 2 wide open receivers when he had a little pressure on him. one of the INTs was a terrible pass and the other was a good play by the LB (although the pass was very much thrown behind the receiver)

all in all a good (but not great) game for Arnaud.
 
Arnaud 27/36 265 Yards

Granted he had the INTS.... but he definitely was accurate.

He rarely throws a pass longer than 8 yards...thats why his completion percentage is so high. When he pushes it down the field his accuracy goes out the window. One play specifically comes to mind when he was rolling right and over shot the WR by a good 5 yards when it couldve been a TD
 
Three reasons we ought to pull this one off, not easily, but comfortably (like AZ last year):

(1) Jewel Hampton. Based on what we saw on the Big Ten preview, Jewel is looking tremendous, and if he is what we can expect from that, then Jewel will do something for the O that Iowa didn't have last year, and that's a legitimate every-carry threat to break away. A-Rob was an excellent back for 3/4 ypc, but if he broke it he could usually be chased down. Hampton is quick as a lightening bolt, and so the threat of him breaking it is going to hold the safeties on PA, opening up the passing game for Stanzi to light up a lackluster ISU secondary.

(2) No way they're winning this one on field goals. Their defense is considerably worse than their offense, and considering (1), we should expect decent if not good production from Stanzi and the O. They'll need to get in the end zone to win this one, and seeing as they've had problems with that recently, it's going to take a lot of luck, or an abnormal amount of STANZIBALLS, for them to bring home the Cy-Hawk trophy.

(3) Arnaud still can't take care of the ball. We all remember Sash's 3 interception performance last year, and I doubt he'll repeat, but I'd be surprised if the ISU offense didn't turn it over at least once, probably more than once against a much better defense than NIU's. Those extra chances, if nothing else, ought to be enough for Iowa to take this one handily. Of course, if Stanzi is the one turning it over, then it could be a close one.
 
My initial reaction was that he was inaccurate as well. When I saw that line it surprised me, i specifically remember him air mailing 2 wide open receivers when he had a little pressure on him. one of the INTs was a terrible pass and the other was a good play by the LB (although the pass was very much thrown behind the receiver)

all in all a good (but not great) game for Arnaud.

Agreed... He needs to make better reads and not throw the bad pass... but if you think 2 passes make him inaccurate then you didn't watch the rest of the game.
 
He rarely throws a pass longer than 8 yards...thats why his completion percentage is so high. When he pushes it down the field his accuracy goes out the window. One play specifically comes to mind when he was rolling right and over shot the WR by a good 5 yards when it couldve been a TD

I think one of the reasons his comp perc. was so high was because he was given time to go through his progressions and usually was checking down. When he was pressured he threw some bad balls.
 
My thoughts:
-ISU got lucky that Northern Illinois forgot to get off the bus in the first half. Northern Illinois left a lot of points on the field in the 2nd half. I think I could've played better at QB.
-ISU better man up when an opposing receiver catches the ball and make him pay for having to jump up to catch it.
-AA will get emotional during the Iowa game, and I think 2 interceptions is the minimum that he'll throw.
-AA has improved, but the new throwing motion he has is slower.
-I think the game this year will be much closer, but I honestly believe that Jewel is going to be one of the (if not the) best RB in the Big Ten.
 
Agreed... He needs to make better reads and not throw the bad pass... but if you think 2 passes make him inaccurate then you didn't watch the rest of the game.

Just saying I remember those 2 specifically and don't ever remember thinking Wow! that was a great throw. He also had 2 picks.

I was admitting that my perception wasn't accurate.
 
On a different note how brutal was that FSN broadcast? The announcers were terrible and that sideline reporter is something else.

My favorite part was when NIU finally scored a TD and the color guy kept screaming "Grady just grew up in that drive", "Grady is growing up in front of our very eyes"

Good job FSN

OMG, sideline guy almost got ran over by ISU players when entering the stadium. Halftime show was ridiculous with Jay Leno and Jonny Carson, also having McD's in the background with pictures of sandwiches in motion is a shameless plug. FSN is a joke, I really hope Mediacom does the broadcasts again next time.
 
I love the kid, great person...but this is a very important area that he is still struggling with, and Iowa's defense is not going to be the tonic as they drop a lot of backers into zone looks.

True, Austen is who he is, and he is going to turn the ball over a few times a game IMO. If he doesn't it's an anomoly at this point.
 
Iowa game plan will be same as usual. Shut down the running game and make the QB beat you. I haven't seen anything yet to indicate AA is up to the challenge. NIU was rushing 5 or 6 guys on most ISU pass plays. Iowa will not do that, so you'll see fewer wide open receivers.

I was not impressed at all with the ISU defense. I think at one time NIU was 0 for 7 on 3rd down conversions, but this was more due to an inept QB and questionable play calls rather than ISU's defense. Iowa will convert on a higher % of third downs which will cause the ISU defense to wear down more, and you'll see more failed arm-tackle attempts.
 
Did you guys catch the line one of the announcers said during half time about McDonalds and ISU having the same colors? I literally spit coors light all over my dog.
 
Also ISU had to "sell out" with thier safeties just to hold NIU to 4.3 YPC. They were able to do this because the NIU QB couldn't make them pay. That wont be the case on Saturday, I think they are going to have to choose between giving us 5+YPC or leaving their corners (who couldn't cover the NIU WR's) on islands with DJK and McNutt and thier LB's on our TE's.

If they do this Saturday I could see Stanzi going off for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns.
 
Did i hear it right that there were over 50K at the game? What does Trice hold?

EDIT: Holds 55K

Another ****-up by the FSN crew, they announced the attendance to be "50K+" sometime in the fourth quarter. Register game story today has the attendance just north of 43K, which is right around the actual amount of seats at Jack Trice.

Don't believe what you see at Cyclones.com. That same page used to list capacity at right around 42 or 43, and the place hasn't changed any.
 
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I went up and watched last night. Lamack is a the real deal. Third and one, or forth and one, they are going over him. The linebackers are much more athletic and an improvement from last year, number 20 is going to be a player. They are still very soft on the defensive line. They need Simms in the secondary. They were ripe for the pickings last night over the middle, the NIU QB missed a lot of wide open receivers.
 
I went up and watched last night. Lamack is a the real deal. Third and one, or forth and one, they are going over him. The linebackers are much more athletic and an improvement from last year, number 20 is going to be a player. They are still very soft on the defensive line. They need Simms in the secondary. They were ripe for the pickings last night over the middle, the NIU QB missed a lot of wide open receivers.

Iowa needs to be ready for that cheeky little sneak they run on 3rd/4th and short.
 
Did you guys catch the line one of the announcers said during half time about McDonalds and ISU having the same colors? I literally spit coors light all over my dog.

Funny visual, almost made me spit my coffee on my laptop.. I bet your dog didn't mind too much.
 

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