Big 12 roundup: ESPN previews Iowa State football season

ESPN released their preview for the 2014 Iowa State Cyclones season on their Big 12 college football blog.

The preview includes a three minute video asking head coach Paul Rhoads six questions, followed by a capsule of the traditional “key returnees”, “key losses”, highs and lows from last season, and so on.

Among the questions asked to Rhoads were who he expected to be improve on both the offense and defense compared to last season, and he pointed to tight end E.J. Bibbs on offense and defensive end Cory Morrissey on the other side of the ball.

Who’s the Big 12’s most underrated team? Rhoads said that based on their ranking of ninth in the preseason polls, it’s Iowa State. But if he had to pick a different team, it’d be TCU. We’re on the same page — while their offense is also getting restructured, their defense will likely be the highest rated in the conference when the season’s over.

ESPN predicts the Cyclones will win between 4-5 games, one higher than the Vegas over-under of 3.5 wins this season.

Other Big 12 News

— Jamile Johnson, a former Oklahoma recruit, decommits from the program. His reason? “I was just tired of pretending to be happy.”

— Trying to make it look more like an actual football stadium, the removal of the running track is the most notable change in Kansas’ renovation of Memorial Stadium. Here’s more on it from The Kansas City Star:

"Crews this week began laying down new turf alongside the sidelines and in the north bowl. In the coming days, a new decorative fence will be installed behind the south end zone, replacing a previous chain-link fence."

— West Virginia has an interesting take on the quarterback competition. They’re more worried about the backup position than their starter.