Game 4—@Iowa State Cyclones

[dre22era]

Our offense looks gassed out there

[dre22era]

We are a soccer school dammit we should not be having kicking problems. 

What was that 

[Let'sGoZips94]

Nelson has been awful. 

[Captain Kangaroo]

Nelson just not sharp enough today.

[dre22era]

Game Over Akron Defense kept us in it but the offense ran out of gas.

Kato in the 2nd half basically look like Tyrod Taylor on Thursday night 

[Captain Kangaroo]

We were good enough to beat Nebraska today, not not Iowa State.

[dre22era]

Pissed we basically threw the white flag with all that time left.

[Let'sGoZips94]

Just now, dre22era said:

Pissed we basically threw the white flag with all that time left.

 

I was thinking the same thing. 

[dre22era]

2 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

We were good enough to beat Nebraska today, not not Iowa State.

Holding Iowa State to only field goals in the 2nd half we were indeed good enough to beat them if our QB could make a accurate throw. 

[zzx]

2 hours ago, dre22era said:

Pissed we basically threw the white flag with all that time left.

 

Coaching just not sharp enough today

[zipsoutsider]

12 minutes ago, zzx said:

 

Coaching just not sharp enough today

Coaching had nothing to do with failing to get the ball to wide open receivers. That's the biggest reason we lost, followed closely by Special Teams.

[72 Roo]

This wasn't our best effort, but we hung with a damn good team. Hats off to TB and staff for getting our talent level to the point that we could do this. In past years we would have been blown out. Now our guys go into games expecting to win. They are good and they believe it. I hope our injuries heal quickly and we go play smash-mouth defense with the MAC. Kato and the O will get better altho' Kato picked a hell of a time to miss open receivers.

 

BTW, you are lucky you didn't play us Nebraska! Now pay up.

[zippy5]

They should mail the check enclosed in a thank you card

[NWAkron]

1 hour ago, 72 Roo said:

This wasn't our best effort, but we hung with a damn good team. Hats off to TB and staff for getting our talent level to the point that we could do this. In past years we would have been blown out. Now our guys go into games expecting to win. They are good and they believe it. I hope our injuries heal quickly and we go play smash-mouth defense with the MAC. Kato and the O will get better altho' Kato picked a hell of a time to miss open receivers.

 

BTW, you are lucky you didn't play us Nebraska! Now pay up.

My positive spin is that for a change we can point to the problem (in this case Katos passing) instead of the usual "our team sucks."

[ZachTheZip]

It was not a bad game for us being on the road against a team with talent roughly equal to or better than the very best MAC teams, but in the end we beat ourselves in a game where we needed to play mistake-free.

 

On the bright side, for the first time in a long while, our biggest problems can be resolved with coaching, practice, film, and discipline and don't just boil down to "major lack of talent/depth" at one or more positions.

[Blue & Gold]

ABJ (Associated Press): Zips stymied by Iowa State defense in 26-13 loss

 

Worthless article.  

 

I've never been real high on Van Edwards at RB, so this stat struck me: "...until the Zips develop a consistent running game, the going could be tough. UA ran the ball 31 times for 91 yards against Iowa State with 56 of those yards coming from Nelson."  

 

[UA1987]

37 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

ABJ (Associated Press): Zips stymied by Iowa State defense in 26-13 loss

 

Worthless article.  

 

I've never been real high on Van Edwards at RB, so this stat struck me: "...until the Zips develop a consistent running game, the going could be tough. UA ran the ball 31 times for 91 yards against Iowa State with 56 of those yards coming from Nelson."  

 

Bring on Sands, Suggs, and White

[Blue & Gold]

Nice Spark game summary

[Cykron]

On 9/22/2018 at 12:29 PM, Captain Kangaroo said:

Jamal Davis bringing it again!

 

#9 should have been wearing cardinal red as he spent so much of the day in our backfield!  

[Cykron]

Finally getting some time to be online.  Had a great time over the weekend, including time with Zips fans who I met at our tailgate or in the visitor's section.  We even flew an Akron flag on a tent in a prominent tailgating location.  I'll post some photos when I get them from the people who took them.  
 

[Cykron]

Here are some thoughts I wrote for another blog (more about our players and from our perspective, but I thought it might be of interest):

 

Cyclone fans did a great job of getting into the stadium early and wearing gold/yellow (even a Packers jacket was appropriate) to honor Celia Barquin Arozamena.  The tribute began as the band played a subdued rendition of “The Bells of Iowa State” that established a deeply moving and somber mood.  The video tribute to a student-athlete from Spain, the moment of silence, and the national anthem placed Iowa State in its global context perhaps like never before.

 

It was a special privilege to have this week’s Kid Captain, Zach Plueger, and his family at our tailgate before the game.  Zach looked great out at midfield for the coin toss with his wheelchair being pushed by #32 David Montgomery himself. 

 

Andrew delivered another memorable tailgate meal.  Watching him cook on the discada is like seeing art made.  It was especially fun to have Akron fans from Ohio, as well as ISU alumni with young families return to Ames for the tailgate.

 

Now to the mundane matters of the game itself. 

 

Workmanlike effort for Iowa State in the victory.  Although Akron jumped out to an early lead and was never far behind, I never felt like the outcome was in jeopardy.  However, it was another week of rather uninspired play calling by Coach Campbell.  Not as bad as in Iowa City, but it was certainly a step back from the wide-open field for the Oklahoma game.  Please, when Butler gets one-on-one with a short cornerback, just throw him the ball.  Or when we have three receivers out wide against two defensive backs, get them the ball.  Both teams struggled on third down, but our struggles happened close enough to get field goals. 

 

Defensive adjustments led to the win.  Iowa State has allowed only 6.9 points in the second half of the last 14 games (and most of those are high-powered Big 12 offenses).  Akron’s QB completed only 12 passes.  His TD toss was a thing of beauty, but he seemed off on many throws.  The pressure he felt from our line was largely a result of good coverage.  JaQuan Bailey #3 was one of our leading tacklers.

 

Akron’s defensive end #9 seemed like he was in our backfield all day.  It was only after the game that I learned that untested #63 Collin Olson was starting on our O-line.  Perhaps there was a connection.

 

Why play Brock Purdy, third string QB, for two plays, including a designed run for him?  Perhaps it was just to get him some more experience on the field, but it came at a time in the game when I thought it was more important to get the first down and keep the drive going.

 

Tarique Milton #14 may be the future for us at WR.  Even though he fumbled (our first real fumble in two seasons), Campbell kept him in the game for kick returns and as a primary target on pass plays.  I took notice that Campbell didn’t just yank him.

 

We got our first true glimpse of Johnny Lang #24 as he scampered around the left side for a nifty 12 yard gain.  And Kene Nwangwu #3 had a great kickoff return.  Our depth and speed at RB is going to be very valuable at some point this season. 

 

In last week’s press conference, Akron’s coach Terry Bowden, said that 5 or 6 of their first half penalties against Northwestern were because their Center couldn’t hear the snap count.  In Evanston!  I was hoping that a hostile crowd at Jack Trice Stadium would be devastating for him, but they went to a QB clap that seemed to work.  However, they did seem to have trouble getting the play called in from the bench.  Nice job fans! 

 

The essence of the second half is that neither team did very well on third down, but ours happened with better field position, so we got points from field goals.  

[Cykron]

Now, it is time to get back to cheering for the Zips for the rest of the season.  

[Ham]

12 hours ago, Cykron said:

Now, it is time to get back to cheering for the Zips for the rest of the season.  

Even when we go to Canada? ( They have me worried.)

Our running game needs to step it up!

Kato's int obviously cost us points, but to say "he wasn't sharp all day" is an understatement.  

It's unfair to discount our D's performance when evaluating ISU offensive out put. 

[Cykron]

1 hour ago, Ham said:

Even when we go to Canada? ( They have me worried.)

Our running game needs to step it up!

Kato's int obviously cost us points, but to say "he wasn't sharp all day" is an understatement.  

It's unfair to discount our D's performance when evaluating ISU offensive out put. 

 

"It's unfair to discount our D's performance when evaluating ISU offensive out put."  True.  I'm just seeing it from our perspective.  If we can have been able to match our offensive production against Oklahoma, particularly with Butler and Jones.  The fact is that you stopped what we tried for the entire second half, but only after we got within field goal range.  

[Ham]

Cykron, I was only needling you about Canada.  I should have referenced the DM Register concerning our D.  Not only denigrating our D Sunday, they referenced us as an FCS opponent earlier in the week.  Akron Zips, you think ABJ is bad, "The Paper Iowa Depends On" prints Friday night football results in their Sunday edition, nothing Saturday morning!