Iowa State Cyclones: Keys To The Season, Top Game, Top Transfer, Fun Stats
Iowa State Cyclones: Key To The 2022 Offense
Move the chains better and more consistently.
It was the weirdest thing. The offense had a future NFL star running back in Breece Hall, the best tight end tandem in college football, and a veteran quarterback in Brock Purdy who hit 71% of his passes. Even with everything in place, there were way too many times when the offense struggled on third downs.
The 2020 team had a knack of almost always keeping things going – converting 45% of its third down tries – but last year’s attack converted just 36% of its attempts.
The team was able to win once in a while when it struggled to keep moving, but the O was under 36% in the losses to Iowa, Baylor, West Virginia, and Oklahoma. Two of the three losses in 2020 came when the O didn’t hit 36%.
Iowa State Cyclones: Key To The 2022 Defense
Generate even more big plays.
It’s hard to ask a defense with so many new parts to do even more to take the ball away and be disruptive, but the pass rush should be good and this coaching staff knows how to force mistakes.
The D spread out 11 interceptions last season, but it only came up with four recovered fumbles on the 16 forced, and two came in the win over Texas.
Of course turnovers matter to everyone, but in the overall picture of what Iowa State does – and how the team is great at capitalizing on momentum – takeaways are a big deal.
Over the 20 losses over the last four years, Iowa State came up with multiple takeaways in just four of them.
Iowa State Cyclones: Key Player To The 2022 Season
RB Jirehl Brock, Soph.
With a new starting quarterback and all those new guys on D, controlling the clock with a new running back matters.
No pressure, but Iowa State is going from three years of David Montgomery running the ball to three years of Breece Hall as the main man. All of that was coming off a 1,300-yard season from Mike Warren in 2015.
The downfield passing game has to be better, a whole slew of defensive parts need to rise up, and losing kicker Andrew Mevis is a big deal, but the offense and team need to work around Brock, or one of the other running back options.
Iowa State Cyclones: Key Transfer
LB Colby Reeder, Sr.
There’s no instantly replacing what Mike Rose and Jake Hummel brought to the linebacking corps, but Iowa State has a good tandem of O’Rien Vance and Gerry Vaughn to start with.
In comes the 6-3, 235-pound Reeder from Delaware with a great combination of pop against the run and pass rushing quickness. He should be a disruptive force right out of the box.
Iowa State Key Game To The 2022 Season
Baylor, Sept. 24
Okay, Iowa State. Just how ready are you to be a player in the Big 12 title race? The Big 12 opener is at home against the defending conference champion – and Baylor might even be better in a few ways. Last year was a tough 31-29 loss, but this time around it’s in Ames.
With Kansas and a home game against Kansas State to follow, beat the Bears and 3-0 in the Big 12 is possible before dealing with Texas and Oklahoma.
Iowa State Cyclones: 2021 Fun Stats
– 4th down conversions: Iowa State 15-of-22 (68%) – Opponents 7-of-18 (39%)
– Field Goals: Iowa State 22-of-24 – Opponents 8-of-14
– 2nd half scoring: Iowa State 211 – Opponents 105
O, D Breakdown | Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Top 10 Players | Iowa State Schedule & Analysis