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ISU vs Iowa (Game Prediction)

By on Sep 14, 2006

– ISU vs Iowa (Game Prediction)

Walter Nickel to the rescue...This game is evenly matched and will be decided by turnovers. I think the Cyclones will get one more than the Hawkeyes and that will be the difference. Iowa State will find itself in an unusual postion in the fourth quarter, playing from behind. The Cyclones will get the ball with four minutes to go in the game and Iowa leading by 4. ISU will march down the field, and when everyone is expecting the ball to go to Blythe, Meyer will hit Walter Nickel in the end zone for the winning touchdown. It is still a Cyclone State!

PREDICTION: IOWA STATE 23 IOWA 20

Check out my full breakdown on the game and prediction:

Iowa State vs. Iowa Breakdown

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ISU vs Iowa (Position by Position)

By on Sep 13, 2006

– The oddsmakers have Iowa as 13.5 point favorite in the game on Saturday. That spread is absolutely ridiculous to anyone who knows anything about these two teams. I have watched both games these teams have played and I really think these two teams are pretty even. Let’s see how they breakdown position-by-position and see if this spread makes any sense. I am only going to include players that are likely to play on Saturday.

OFFENSE

Quarterbacks – ISU (Meyer) vs Iowa (Tate/Manson)

Advantage: ISU

Comments: If Tate was healthy I would have it even, but Tate is not 100%.

Running Backs – ISU (Hicks/Johnson/Scales/Kock) vs Iowa (Young/Sims/Busch/Davis)

Advantage: Iowa

Comments: Iowa has a stable of Running Backs, I think Sims has looked more explosive then Young.

Tight Ends – ISU (Nickel/Barkema) vs Iowa (Chandler/Moeaki/Majerus)

Advantage: Even

Comments: There will be several good tight ends in Iowa City on Saturday.

Wide Receivers – ISU (Blythe/Davis/Flynn/Sumrall/Hamilton) vs Iowa (Grigsby/Davis/Brodell/Douglas)

Advantage: ISU

Comments: The Cyclones have the three best receivers on the field.

Offensive Line – ISU (S Fisher/Brant/Zehr/Schmeling/Stephenson/P Fisher/Stephens) vs Iowa (Richardson/Jones/Eubanks/Elgin/Yanda/Olsen)

Advantage: Even

Comments: ISU and Iowa both have a good mix of veterans and talented youngsters on the line.

Overall Offense – ISU vs Iowa

Advantage: Slight Advantage Iowa State

Comments: ISU has a huge advantage at WR and Iowa has a big advantage at RB. The rest of the positions are fairly even. With Tate not quite 100% I will give ISU a slight advantage.

DEFENSE

Defensive Ends – ISU (Parker/Moorehead/Dale) vs Iowa (Iwebema/Mattison/Kanellis)

Advantage: Iowa

Comments: I give Iowa the edge because they are deeper. Parker and Moorehead usually play the entire game while Iowa can rotate.

Defensive Line – ISU (Curvey/Frere/Rubin/Braaksma) vs Iowa (King/Kroul/Ewen/Bain)

Advantage: Even

Comments: Curvey and King are standout players, both teams have decent depth.

Linebackers – ISU (Carper/Bowen/McKenzie) vs Iowa (Humpal/Klinkenborg/Miles)

Advantage: Even

Comments: If Klinkenborg doesn’t play, I would give Iowa State a slight advantage. My thoughts and prayers are with the Klinkenborg family.

Cornerbacks – ISU (Jackson/Singleton/Johnson) vs Iowa (Shada/Godfrey/Fletcher)

Advantage: ISU

Comments: Deandre Jackson tips the scales in favor of Iowa State.

Safeties – ISU (Banks/Berg) vs. Iowa (Paschal/Merrick)

Advantage: Iowa

Comments: Paschal was laying the wood last Saturday.

Overall Defense – ISU vs. Iowa

Advantage: Slight Edge to Iowa

Comments: Iowa has huge advantage at safety with Paschal and Merrick. ISU will need big games from their defensive stars (Curvey and Jackson) to even out the advantage.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Kicker – ISU (Culbertson/Griebahn) vs Iowa (Schlicher/Signor)

Advantage: Iowa

Comments: I think Shaggy and Schlicher are pretty even but ISU has been poor on kickoffs and coverage.

Punter – ISU (Brandtner) vs Iowa (Fenstermaker)

Advantage: Iowa

Comments: Fenstermaker is an experienced Senior and Brandtner will be playing his first collegiate road game.

Return Units – (PR Baum / KR Jackson/Flynn/Williams) vs Iowa (PR Brodell / KR Greene/Sims)

Advantage: ISU

Comments: Baum has been awesome on PR and Jackson was one of the best KR in the Big 12 last year.

Overall Special Teams – ISU vs Iowa

Advantage: Iowa

Comments: This is an area that Iowa State will need to improve on this week if they are going to beat Iowa. The Cyclone special teams have made too many mistakes the last two weeks.

OVERALL – I would give Iowa a slight advantage for two reasons: home field advantage and special teams. The X factor will be turnovers. If ISU can win the turnover battle then they have a good shot at winning this game.

This breakdown was fun to do but Bret Meyer and Drew Tate won’t be lining up across from one another. A more accurate way to breakdown the game is to do it position group vs position group. I will have a full breakdown on www.isuisu.com by the end of the night (Wednesday). Click on Cyclone Update – ISU @ Iowa for the full story.

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ISU – UNLV Post Game Thoughts

By on Sep 12, 2006

– Iowa State dominated the game through three quarters but couldn’t finish off UNLV and let them back in the game . I think I see a pattern forming, how about you?

Over these last few years we have really been spoiled by the discipline of McCarney’s teams. Iowa State was only penalized 6 times for 55 yards but it seemed like much, much more. It is also rare to see Mac’s teams put two fumbles on the ground, luckily ISU recovered both of them.

Speaking of being spoiled. How many of you thought that Bret Meyer didn’t play his best game last Saturday? Meyer completed 14-21 passes (67%) for 203 yards and 1 interception and we all thought he had below average game.

Weird Stat of the Week: Todd Blythe tackles 1, Todd Blythe receptions 0

Here are the players that stood out on Saturday:

Stevie Hicks (23 carries – 109 yards, 1 TD)
Walter Nickel (3 catches – 50 yards)
Ryan Baum (32 yard punt return)
Alvin Bowen (13 tackles)
Jon Banks ( 12 tackles) – much improved from week 1
Rashawn Parker (7 tackles, 2.5 TFL and 1 sack) – Mac said he graded out at 91%

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ISU Needs to Play 4 Quarters

By on Sep 12, 2006

– Every game Iowa State players and coaches hold up four fingers symbolizing that they own the fourth quarter. When are we going to actually see it on the field?

Iowa State was dominating the Rebels through three quarters. Need proof?

Fourth Quarter Dominance, huh?Score: Iowa State 16 UNLV 3
First Downs: Iowa State 17 UNLV 8
Rushing Yards: Iowa State 132 UNLV 40
Passing Yards: Iowa State 195 UNLV 119
Total Yards: Iowa State 327 UNLV 159

What happened in the fourth quarter?

UNLV outscored Iowa State 7-0
UNLV outgained Iowa State 133-13
UNLV had 27 offensive plays Iowa State had 3
UNLV had 9 first downs Iowa State had 0
Time of possession UNLV 9:43 – Iowa State 5:17

I am sure the coaches have pointed these statistics out to the players. If Iowa State is going to beat Iowa this week they are going to need to play all four quarters.

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Rant about Referees

By on Sep 12, 2006

– How in the world did we end up with Mountain West officials for the game Saturday? Why isn’t there a rule that keeps that from happening? If there is a game between a Big 12 team and Mountain West team there should be an You suck!officiating crew from another conference doing the game. I sure hope this gets changed in the near future.

I knew after watching the opening kickoff that we were going to get screwed by this group of officials. An Iowa State player had a beat on Eric Wright deep in Rebel territory when he was blatantly pulled down by his jersey from behind. Wright ended up returning the kickoff 54 yards to the ISU 45 yard line.

Here are some other ways the officials helped the Rebels. All of our spots were marked a half yard short and UNLV’s were marked a half yard ahead. There were two blatant pass interference penalties that weren’t called that happened right in front of the officials. We graze a facemask on defense, 15 yard penalty, a Rebel pulls down our player by the facemask, 5 yards. The UNLV RB was in motion before the play started about a half dozen times and it was never called. I am sure there are more, but these are off of the top of my head.

I sincerely hope that there isn’t a Big 10 or Big 12 crew doing the game this week. I want the best team to win, no matter who that is.

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I Hate the New NCAA Clock Rules

By on Sep 11, 2006

– I hate the new clock rules in the NCAA. How many of you agree with me? Did anyone else feel like the game against UNLV was only three quarters long?

Why do you try to fix something that isn’t broken? I really hope that this
rule gets changed ASAP. I know it probably isn’t going to happen this year,
but the rules better be changed for next season.

If you want to shorten the games there are several better ways to do it, for example there currently is a 20 minute halftime break, shorten that to 15 minutes. Another way would be to put a two minute time limit on all reviewed plays. They can even keep starting the clock on kickoffs, but they have to do away with starting the clock on change of possession.

The one thing that makes me feel good about getting the rules changed back:
Mack Brown hates the new rules and what Texas wants, Texas gets.

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Greater Des Moines Cyclone Club Luncheon Notes & UNLV Game Prediction

By on Sep 9, 2006

– Scott and I (along with our buddy Dan Reding) attended the pre-UNLV game luncheon yesterday and we thought we’d share some of the highlights from Coach Mac. Here goes:

– Coach came into the luncheon upbeat as ever and you just can’t help but like the guy and be thankful he’s here at Iowa State. I, along with a lot of people, have criticized him for not having the killer instinct or always playing to ‘not lose’, but there is no doubt Mac loves Iowa State, it’s football program and it’s fans. I don’t think there’s anybody who wants to win more than Coach.

– Mac said three of ISU’s Alumni back for the Hall of Fame ceremonies were going to speak to the football program that afternoon (Barry Hill, Keith Sims and Clay Stapleton).

– Marty, Mac’s wife, took the 3 OT game pretty hard on Thursday night so she repaid Mac that weekend by hitting (I’m assuming) Mac’s credit card pretty hard on an extended shopping spree the next day. “You gotta stop doing this”, she told him (in reference to the close game). I think all those in attendance would agree. Mac chuckled and agreed too.

Things to watch for from UNLV:

– Chop blocks from the lineman and the wide recievers. Mac said they probably chop and cut more than any other team they will face this year. Like to clear the path for their 6’5″ QB Rocky Hinds.

– Spread offense…said they give multiple looks, with multiple receivers and throw the ball all over.

– Speaking of their QB, Mac says this guy is big, can really sling the ball and can also use his feet. Should be a great matchup to watch with him and Bret.

– On Defense they use a 3-3-5 stack and blitz from all over…can put our offense in some bad situations if we don’t read, react and execute.

Random Notes about the Cyclone Offense:

QB
– Mac again reiterated that Austen Aurnaud has really impressed the coaching staff. Impressed with his maturity, arm strength and awareness. Said he’s as far a long (if not farther) than Bret was during his freshman year. You could see the excitement he has for his kid.

– With that being said he specifically mentioned that all of us fan should tell Meyer and Blythe, “It’s going to be great watching and cheering for you guys the next two years,” anytime we see them. Or in other words, “Please don’t leave early for the NFL!”

RB
– Said Johnson, Scales and Kock all deserved to see action at the RB spot due to their hard work in practice. Mac loves what Stevie brings, but also wants these other guys to start to contribute. We’ll see how those words translate over to the game (think we’ve heard that before).

– Thought we had a solid running game vs. Toledo, but not great.

WR
– Really liked what he saw from a passing game standpoint against Toledo. Good routes, throws and catches.

OL
– Was very pleased with only 1 false start penalty and also the 2 sacks. One of the sacks was for -1 yards, so he said they would take that combo pretty much every week. Let’s hope for more of the same from the OL, although they need to be more dominant at the point of attack for the running game.

Random Notes about the Cyclone Defense:

DL
– Mac sent all of his former players (now in the NFL) Cyclone shirts and hats. Said Nick Leaders was the first to call him back and had heard from some of the other guys on the current team that the two freshman DL (Nate Frere and Rashawn Parker) are for real. They really get after it on every play and plug things up in the running game. He was happy to hear his old position was in good hands for hopefully the next four years.

– Mac agreed and was impressed by the maturity they showed and toughness playing pretty much all game.

– Mac said too many mental mistakes on defense against Toledo to award an MVP, although singled out LB’s Alvin Bowen and Tyrone McKenzie as having great tackling days flashing their speed all over the field.

– Collins Eboh will not be a Cyclone (ever). Said he gave him a second chance, but the kid just didn’t take care of his academics. Mac seemed perplexed as he said Collins is a smart kid (compared CE’s 25 a.c.t. score to his own 24) but just didn’t do some of the things asked of him.

LB
– There had been some speculation as to why McKenzie was not with the team for two weeks this summer and Mac said he was excused to take care of some personal (sounded like family matter). It wasn’t anything he did wrong as some had thought.

– Bowen is probably fastest LB to ever play for the ‘Clones. Also loves Carper’s speed but he needs to continue to play more physical. Mentioned Garrin as being talented and fast too.

DB
– Matt Berg currently not on the two deeps (as to why he didn’t play against Toledo).

– Thought Singleton had a good game.

– Mentioned Devin McDowell would probably redshirt if we stay away from injuries and that Drenard Williams will be one of our kick returners (along with Deandre) and has been since he got here to Ames (as the official Toledo game depth chart had Flynn listed in his place).

Random Notes about the Cyclone Special Forces:

– Said nobody has owned up to the blocked field goal mis-hap. What I mean by mis-hap is when a kick is blocked and stays behind the line of scrimmage the SF’s are coached to scoop and score. When a kick goes over the line, a word is yelled out (he said the word, but I’ll leave it out of here in case the enemy is reading), which means to stay away from the ball (if it’s over the line it can not be advanced). Well, someone (who is yet to be determined) yelled out the word and everybody stayed away. Bad move – but Mac says that it has definitely been addressed in practice.

– Thought Shaggy showed great poise and liked his 5-5 effort on kicks.

– With the blocked kick (and failing to scoop and score) and the botched snap on the field goal attempt, basically was a 7 point swing in the game. Scoop and score and have a good snap on that field goal and we probably don’t see overtime. Just the tiniest mistakes (wrong call and high snap) can really change the face of a game.

There will be 57 recruits (a lot of juniors ) that will be at the game tonight.

Well, that’s all for now. Gotta get ready for the game. Overall it was a great luncheon and if you guys and gals haven’t attended one you should. Mac was great as always and when his days as ISU coach are over he should be a politician because he really has the gift of gab and is fun to listen to. On second thought, Mac is too honest and too good of a guy to be a politician.

My prediction for UNLV game:

– I look for another high scoring game and chance for redemption for Mac and the coaching staff (by redemption I mean putting away a team when we have them down 20-8). Our offense will score at will and Blythe will see the ball more than the three times he saw it in regulation last week. I hope everytime Blythe is 1 on 1 for the rest of his career we throw him the ball…not every other time, not every third time, but EVERY TIME. If they are going to cover him with one man we need to make them pay.

– Another big game for Meyer – and I think we’ll get a few more turnovers from our D. No overtimes this week:

Cyclones 48
UNLV 27

Wear your Cardinal clothes from head to toe and yell like hell!!!

GO CLONES!

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ISU -Toledo (Post Game Thoughts – 1 Week Later)

By on Sep 7, 2006

– I posted earlier that my initial thoughts were that ISU lacked “Killer Instinct” in their game against Toledo last Thursday. I still feel that way, but there were way too many positive things that happened in the game for me to dwell on that one thing. Now that I have had time to reflect on the game there are many things to be excited about in relation to Iowa State football 2006. Here are a few of those things:

Defense

1. The play of true freshman Nate Frere and Rashawn Parker on the defensive line. There guys went up against a Toledo offensive line that was one of the best in the country last year. Frere rotated with Tuba and ended up with 3 tackles. Parker had 5 tackles and made the two most important plays of the game late in the fourth quarter sacking Cochran on consecutive plays and keeping Toledo out of field goal range.

2. Iowa State’s defense against the run. Last year Toledo averaged 217 yards per game on the ground, the Cyclones held them to 45 yards in a 3 OT game.

3. The linebackers – In their first game as starters Alvin Bowen tallied 20 tackles and recovered a fumble and Tyrone McKenzie had 15 tackles, 2 TFL, a forced fumble and an interception.

Offense

1. Bret Meyer – I for one am excited that the coaching staff is getting Meyer more involved in the running game. Meyer is an excellent runner as he showed last week against Toledo gaining 70 yards and scoring three rushing touchdowns. It also signals to me that the coaching staff feels it can win with Arnaud if god forbid anything would happen to Bret. Oh by the way Meyer threw for 234 yards and 2 TD too.

2. Offensive Line – Iowa State rushed for 159 yards. That is the best performance on opening day in recent memory.

3. A healthy Stevie Hicks – Was it Stevie’s best performance? No, but it was nice seeing him healthy and he was impressive at times. I still think it is in Iowa State’s best interest to give Scales and Johnson a few touches each week.

4. Todd Blythe – I know it, you know it, and hopefully the coaches know it. Todd Blythe needs to get the ball more. If there was a Big 12 draft, and I had the first pick and I could pick any player from any team, I would pick Todd Blythe. He is the best playmaker in the conference.

Special Forces

1. Bret Culbertson – He is still perfect for his career on extra points and drilled his only FG attempt.

2. Josh Griebahn – I really admire Josh. He lost his scholarship a while back, but he stuck it out and found a way to help the team. His kickoffs were consistently inside the five yard line.

3. Ryan Baum – Baum broke a return of 39 yards in his only punt return attempt.

4. Drenard Williams – He didn’t do anything spectacular but he showed speed and athleticism on his two kickoff returns.

Hard Hats – It was great to see Jon Davis, Ryan Baum and Walter Nickel on the field.

Posted by Scott Fuller

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ISU – Toledo (My Original Post Game Thoughts)

By on Sep 7, 2006

– When I was walking back to my car after Iowa State’s 3 OT victory over Toledo last Thursday night, a friend of mine asked me if I had to write a headline right now for the front page of the website how would it read? I told him “No Killer Instinct”.

When did Iowa State miss its chance to stick a fork in the Rockets? With 10:33 remaining in the fourth quarter and ISU leading 23-15. The Cyclones had just made a huge play on defense, Tyrone McKenzie forced Chris Hopkins to fumble and Alvin Bowen had recovered at the Toledo 45 yard line.

Toledo came out with 8 men in the box, leaving single coverage on ISU’s stellar Wide Receivers; basically daring the Cyclone’s to go for the kill shot. Iowa State instead ran into the stacked front on first and second down and managed to lose one yard. Meyer connected with RJ Sumrall for 18 yards to the Toledo 26 on third down to keep the drive alive. The Cyclones then ran on the next three downs and gained only 5 yards setting up a 38 yard field goal attempt for Culbertson. Matt Purvis sent the snap on the field goal attempt over Austin Flynn’s head, ending the Cyclones chance to put away the game and setting the stage for Toledo’s game tying drive.

I love Dan McCarney, probably to a fault, but his inability to deliver the kill shot late in games is one thing that consistently bothers me about him. I completely understand what he and Barney Cotton were trying to do and I agree with them that we must be able to run the ball late in games to put away opponents, but if a team comes out and sells out to stop the run late in the game throw the ball and make them pay.

Posted by Scott Fuller

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ISU vs Toledo Prediction

By on Aug 31, 2006

– It’s six hours to game time and I’m here still typing up my prediction. Go figure. Back in college I’d have about six hours of tailgating under my belt, but I guess that’s what happens when you get old. Anyway, Scott and I started up isuisu.com as a way for us to share our love for Iowa State with everyone else who is as passionate as we are about the Cyclones. As Jamie Pollard has said, “It’s a great time to be a Cyclone!”. I agree.

There hasn’t been a time since I’ve been around ISU that there has been more excitement about the football program. If things work out we’ll be back in a bowl game again and we have the potential to be one of the best offenses in the country.

So we host Toledo tonight and everyone is probably saying, “who the heck is Toledo”? Well if you don’t know much about them or think it will be a cakewalk for the home team, think again. As we all know we don’t always show up against (on paper) inferior competition – just look at last years opener for the most recent example. Couple that with a never say die attitude from the Rockets and we’ll be in a dog fight all night.

That being said, I think Mac will have the troops riled up…the stadium will be rockin’ and we’ll come out and try to establish our dominance early. The running game is the key to the game and will be for virtually every game this year. If we can get back to the old days of running, ala. T. Davis, D. Davis, E. Haywood (R.I.P.) and the rest of the stud backs we’ve had over the past 10-15 years, then we may see the best offense in ‘Clone history.

My prediction – Cyclones establish the run early which opens things up for Meyer, Blythe and company all night. Add in a couple take-aways from the defense and we come out on top 38-17.

Offensive Player of the Game: Todd Blythe
Defensive PoG: Alvin Bowen
Special Forces PoG: Ryan Baum

We’ll see you at the game!

Brad

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