when we play smart and hard. It actually was fun watching this Iowa State team in the last 3 quarters against the best offensive team in the nation.
Some observations and opinions:
Lanning is going to make some mistakes (like the fumble where he hung in the pocket too long or you can call it a poor block by the O linesman), but he is a strong runner and really has some zip on the football. He maybe does not have the accuracy quite yet (comes from play time), but he delivers the ball with some velocity. Sam has been a great Cyclone, but I think his injuries have really effected his confidence. He (Sam) just is not the elusive runner he has shown in the past and his accuracy, strength, and touch on the ball are not there at the moment. Too bad...since this should have been Sam's year to shine as a fifth year senior. If Sam is not 100% physically or mentally, not sure why the coaching staff has had him in all these games to date even if he knows the offense better than anyone.
My big disappointment this year has been Mangino's playbook. I was a real big Mangino fan from what he did previously at kansas and oklahoma. Really thought in his 2nd year as O coordinator with a fifth year QB, talented wide receivers, and experienced O-line we could average 35-40+ a game and take some heat off the defense....especially in this crazy pass happy league. Bright spot has been the running game. We just need to do more of that and less finesse.
Defense has had one real bad game this year. Yes...I sometimes cuss when we give up so much cushion in our secondary....especially in 3rd down and long situations. If our offense would have shown up in the rest of the games we maybe would have been looking at 3 more wins to date (that includes our kicking game) with the defense we have.
Did I say enough how I hate the lateral wide receiver screen. That costs us more downs than any play in Magino's playbook. We always miss the blocks and the play is blown up almost before the receiver catches the ball.
Enough complaining... because overall the CYCLONES showed up today and proud of how they finished.
Some observations and opinions:
Lanning is going to make some mistakes (like the fumble where he hung in the pocket too long or you can call it a poor block by the O linesman), but he is a strong runner and really has some zip on the football. He maybe does not have the accuracy quite yet (comes from play time), but he delivers the ball with some velocity. Sam has been a great Cyclone, but I think his injuries have really effected his confidence. He (Sam) just is not the elusive runner he has shown in the past and his accuracy, strength, and touch on the ball are not there at the moment. Too bad...since this should have been Sam's year to shine as a fifth year senior. If Sam is not 100% physically or mentally, not sure why the coaching staff has had him in all these games to date even if he knows the offense better than anyone.
My big disappointment this year has been Mangino's playbook. I was a real big Mangino fan from what he did previously at kansas and oklahoma. Really thought in his 2nd year as O coordinator with a fifth year QB, talented wide receivers, and experienced O-line we could average 35-40+ a game and take some heat off the defense....especially in this crazy pass happy league. Bright spot has been the running game. We just need to do more of that and less finesse.
Defense has had one real bad game this year. Yes...I sometimes cuss when we give up so much cushion in our secondary....especially in 3rd down and long situations. If our offense would have shown up in the rest of the games we maybe would have been looking at 3 more wins to date (that includes our kicking game) with the defense we have.
Did I say enough how I hate the lateral wide receiver screen. That costs us more downs than any play in Magino's playbook. We always miss the blocks and the play is blown up almost before the receiver catches the ball.
Enough complaining... because overall the CYCLONES showed up today and proud of how they finished.
