Iowa State football: Five takeaways from loss against Iowa Hawkeyes

September 14, 2013; Ames, IA, USA; Iowa State Cyclones safeties Jacques Washington (2) and Deon Broomfield (26) chase down Iowa Hawkeyes running back Mark Weisman (45) in the second half at Jack Trice Stadium. Iowa beat Iowa State 27-21. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA Today Sports

Iowa State fans are trying to recover from their major hangovers after watching their team fall to a disappointing 0-2 start against the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Here’s five things to take away from the game, and I promise not all of it is doom and gloom.

1) Iowa’s gameplan of running the ball worked perfectly.

Unless the Cyclones can show they can stop the running game, opposing teams will continue to drive it through them. Iowa dominated time of possession and called 83 total offensive plays — 60 of them were rush attempts. Running back Mark Wesiman couldn’t be put down as expected picking up 145 yards on 35 carries. The Hawkeyes overall had 218 yards on the ground.

2) Iowa State will never stop teams from running the ball.

In 10 of the last 11 games, the Cyclones have given up 177 or more total rushing yards. That’s resulted in a 2-8 stretch, and as explained before Iowa State just needs to find a way to score more on the offensive end. The up-tempo offense will put the defense in a bad position anyway

3) Quenton Bundrage’s breakout performance gives hope for the offense.

Bundrage finished with seven catches for 146 receiving yards and had three touchdowns. He was the reason why the Cyclones still had a chance to win until the final snap with a little comeback in the fourth quarter. He’ll easily become the team’s go-to receiver.

4) Sam Richardson has a long way to go.

This whole season will be a work in progress for Richardson unfortunately. He completed 22 of 39 passes, and many of those 17 misses were on inaccurate throws. He shouldn’t be criticized for every errant pass — the offensive line still looked awful — but anyone believing that Richardson would come in and put up efficient, 300-plus passing yards a game won’t be seeing that happen anytime soon.

5) Iowa State’s offensive line should receive the bulk of criticism in the running game.

The Cyclones had 59 yards of rushing on 24 attempts. It’s not just James White, Shontrelle Johnson, Aaron Wimberly, and others that are struggling at giving Iowa State a good running attack. It’s the offensive line that can’t open up any wholes for the backs to make plays. If that offensive line doesn’t improve even slightly, ISU won’t win a game all year because they’ll be extremely one-sided and Richardson isn’t developed enough to take over games.