This may be a bit of a departure from my normal optimistic self. But there are two games that stick in my mind from the 2014 season that wrongly color the entire season for me. It wasn't a good season by any means, but these two games felt like lost opportunities.
The first one was the opener against NDSU. We jumped out on them early and had a 14-0 lead and it looked like we may roll to a victory. Losing Bundrage on the third play was sad, but it didn't seem to slow us down. But when Farniok went down it was like everything stopped. The loss of one guys shouldn't have had that kind of impact on the game, but it sure seemed like it did. Maybe NDSU just finally got their act together. They did have a lot of success against P5 teams in past years. But it sure seemed like a switch went off and Iowa State shut down. To witness that hurts and to think about it to this day still brings back bad memories.
The second one was the game at Kansas. I was worried about it going down there. And when we learned our starting QB was out for the game, that made my fears even greater. It a miserable experience to have made the trip down there to watch what we saw. It was a game you expect to win, even without your starting QB. It was somewhat reminiscent of the last time I made that trip and we got a game taken from us when were in a position to win a division.
Those two games seem to be the low point for me. If they had turned out differently, I'm not sure what I would feel like about a 4 win 2014 or what that would make me feel like looking forward to 2015. I do expect us to be much better this year. I hope we avoid two games like NDSU and KU this year.
The first one was the opener against NDSU. We jumped out on them early and had a 14-0 lead and it looked like we may roll to a victory. Losing Bundrage on the third play was sad, but it didn't seem to slow us down. But when Farniok went down it was like everything stopped. The loss of one guys shouldn't have had that kind of impact on the game, but it sure seemed like it did. Maybe NDSU just finally got their act together. They did have a lot of success against P5 teams in past years. But it sure seemed like a switch went off and Iowa State shut down. To witness that hurts and to think about it to this day still brings back bad memories.
The second one was the game at Kansas. I was worried about it going down there. And when we learned our starting QB was out for the game, that made my fears even greater. It a miserable experience to have made the trip down there to watch what we saw. It was a game you expect to win, even without your starting QB. It was somewhat reminiscent of the last time I made that trip and we got a game taken from us when were in a position to win a division.
Those two games seem to be the low point for me. If they had turned out differently, I'm not sure what I would feel like about a 4 win 2014 or what that would make me feel like looking forward to 2015. I do expect us to be much better this year. I hope we avoid two games like NDSU and KU this year.
