The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Texas Tech
By Ross
When you beat a ranked Texas Tech team on the road by 34 points, not a lot goes wrong. Almost everything went right for ISU last night. With so much going the way of the Cyclones, leave a comment if I missed anything.
The Good
– The Cyclones won the coin toss and Paul Rhoads decided to go on defense first. The defense went on the field and stopped the Red Raiders right away after only one first down. Jared Barnett and the offense then got the ball and orchestrated a beautiful opening drive. Barnett converted two third downs on the drive and capped it off with himself keeping it for a 13-yard touchdown run. It was the perfect start for the Cyclones.
– The running game was the best it has been all year by far and in recent memory. James White was running all over Tech as he carried the ball 31 times for 138 yards and a touchdown. He was juking, spinning, and just hitting the hole hard. Duran “Duck” Hollis also broke the 100 yard mark last night on only 4 carries. The freshman running back started the second half with a huge 71-yard TD run and put the Clones up 31-7. Jared Barnett also ran for 92 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown. He picked up several first downs with his legs when nothing was available downfield. Also, Jeff Woody got a lot of action last night and had a decent game. He carried the ball 11 times for 36 yards and a touchdown. The best thing about this great night running the ball, they are all sophomores or freshman.
– You don’t gain 368 yards running the ball without great play from the offensive line. The Cyclones got that from their’s. Kelechi Osemele played probably his best game of the season, he was mauling defenders. On the play that the Cyclones went up 14-0, Ethan Tufte suffered an injury. Freshman Jacob Gannon did a great job of replacing him. The offensive line struggled the last couple of weeks but played their best game of the year last night.
– The defense last night was spectacular. They held Texas Tech, a team known for its offense and a team that has scored over 35 points every game, to only one touchdown. Everyone did their job. The line was putting pressure on Doege, the linebackers were great like usual, and the secondary held a quarterback who has thrown for over 400 yards three times this year to 171 yards last night. I especially noticed A.J. Klein last night, he was making most of the tackles. Ter’Ran Benton and Jeremy Reeves both picked off Doege. Also, a big moment early in the game was when Tech decided to go for it on a 4th and 1 and the defense stopped the Red Raider RB. A+ to the defense.
– Jared Barnett. What can you say? It was his first career start and it was against a ranked team on the road. He played an almost flawless game. He completed 14 out of 26 passes and threw a touchdown. More importantly, he didn’t turn the ball over. I thought a key to the game was for Barnett and the offense to control the ball and keep Seth Doege and the Tech offense off the field. He did that. What impressed me the most was his ability to make big plays and pick up first downs with his legs. Unbelievable start to hopefully a great career at Iowa State.
– Zach Guyer was 2 for 2 on fields goals and 5 for 5 on extra points. Guyer drilled a 26-yarder and a 42-yarder. Hopefully this can keep up for the rest of the year.
– Paul Rhoads did it again. After losing four straight games, CPR got his team to play their best game of the year. Without a doubt, he is the right man for this job and I can’t wait to see what he will do in the future.
The Bad
– The only thing I can really think of was Grant Mahoney’s missed 50-yard field goal. It looked like there was some confusion on the sidelines. After he missed the kick, Paul Rhoads turned around as if questioning why Guyer wasn’t kicking the field goal.
The Ugly
– James White’s fumble on Tech”s one yard line. It looked like the Clones were going to go up 28-0 but instead he lost the ball. I got a little nervous after the fumble because I really thought it would come back and bite us. It didn’t and it is safe to say that James White more than made up for it with his performance.
– The performance of the Iowa Hawkeyes. If you missed it, the Iowa Hawkeyes lost yesterday to the Minnesota Gophers (the same team that lost to New Mexico State and South Dakota State earlier this year). Minnesota might be the worst team in the whole FBS and it was just too funny watching the Hawks struggle against them. Sorry but I had to put this due to my friend who tells me everyday how bad the Cyclones supposedly are and about how the Hawkeyes are still better. Oh, he also said this would be an easy win. Sorry, Mitch.