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Big 12 Preview: Iowa State Cyclones
By James Lawrence | August 3, 2008
2007 was supposed to be a great season for Iowa State - the QB/WR duo of Brett Meyer and Todd Blythe - ISU’s eventual career passing and receiving leaders - returned for their senior seasons, and former Auburn and Texas DC Gene Chizik had been brought in as head coach to bring defensive toughness to the squad. Those hopes lasted up until back-to-back losses to Kent State and Northern Iowa - ie, the second week of the season. An upset victory over intrastate rival Iowa didn’t make the pill that much easier to swallow, as the Cyclones finished 3-9 for their worst record in four years. (wow, only that long?)
Gene Chizik returns as HC after a horribly disappointing 2007. Despite the result, I’m willing to write it off (at least for now) as an adjustment season as the role of head coach is obviously very different than the role of defensive coordinator. Defensive recruits across the country will still know the name Gene Chizik, and his schemes and playcalling at Auburn and Texas certainly contributed to those units’ success.
This preview is going to be short and sweet, and the summary is the same at all positions: look elsewhere.
As a freshman, Bret Meyer led the Iowa State Cyclones to a bowl victory over the post-Ben Roethlisberger Miami Redhawks in 2004. From then on he repeatedly fell short of (perhaps unrealistic) expectations, losing a disappointing bowl game to TCU as a sophomore and then going 7-17 in his final two seasons. Last season, he passed for just 2151 yards and a 9-13 ratio. Keep in mind that this is the second-best QB that Iowa State has ever had, after Seneca Wallace. Austen Arnaud will start this season as a sophomore, and with the 54% completions and 0-1 ratio he had last season with Todd Blythe, we can only expect an even more complete failure without the star WR.
Senior runningback JJ Bass rushed for 462 yards and a 3.8 ypc average last season. He could easily be subbed for by Alexander Robinson (465, 3.9) or even Jason Scales (333, 3.4) and it wouldn’t really matter. If some league allows you to take all three players and start them simultaneously, but only counting as one spot on your starting roster… it’s still not worth it. Moving along, then…
Todd Blythe was the leading receiver in Iowa State history, hauling in 3096 yards and separating himself from #2 by over 400. Last season, he caught 779 yards and 5 TDs. This is the best WR in school history, catching passes from the second-best (and with the highest totals) QB in school history. How do you think RJ Sumrall and Marquis Hamilton are going to perform? I shouldn’t need to actually answer that one.
Defensively, Iowa State allowed 31.8 ppg last season and did not have any standout players. Despite the presence of Gene Chizik, he still does not have any of his own players in the starting defensive lineup, and the offense won’t be keeping this unit off the field for long. They don’t have to face Oklahoma, Texas, or Texas Tech… but they’ll still be giving up big plays and big totals.
On special teams, Iowa State has a freshman kicker, Zach Guyer , and their offense sucks too much to give him many FG attempts. Despite rolling out the red carpet to the end zone on defense, RJ Sumrall had only 348 yards in KO returns and no touchdowns.
Bottom line - there is nobody worth drafting on this team!
Iowa State should easily finish last in the Big 12 North, and their much anticipated showdown on Oct 11 with Baylor will determine the Big 12 anti-champion.
Topics: Big 12, College Football, James Lawrence, Preview |
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