Iowa State Football Post Mortem: TCU

Ding dong, the streak is dead What Went Wrong Passing Game We are well past this being a noticeable problem for Iowa State… We are approaching Defc...

Summarized by AI ⓘ

What is the story about?

Ding dong, the streak is dead

What Went Wrong

Passing Game

We are well past this being a noticeable problem for Iowa State… We are approaching Defcon 1 levels here with Rocco and the passing game. If it’s not a missed throw, it’s a drop. If it’s not a drop, it’s a wrong route. If it’s not a wrong route, it’s back to being a bad ball. We are through 10 games of the season and this problem has not improved… it’s gotten worse. The Cyclones are top 2 in the Big 12… in drops. And Rocco Becht reached a low point on the year

both in yards (111) and completion percentage (37.5%) after going just 9 of 24 while also throwing a pair of interceptions. I have no idea if Rocco is dealing with an injury, or if it’s all mental, or what’s going on. I can’t diagnose anything from my living room… but something is very clearly wrong with the passing game… and it’s not getting better.

Fake PATs?

Does anyone know why we ran a fake extra point on the opening score of the game? And/or why we decided to run a fake extra point instead of just going for two? Why overcomplicate things? Why… just why? Thankfully it didn’t end up really mattering as Iowa State ended up securing the win anyway, but the potential for TCU to just need a field goal to tie the game rather than needing a touchdown for the lead was a very unsettling feeling knowing the points that were lost earlier in the game. The times at which this staff goes back and forth between aggressive and conservative is, at times, baffling.

What Went Right

Tre Bell, Josh Patterson, and takeaways

Tip of the cap to two guys who you may not have even heard of at the start of the year. Bell has been a mainstay in the secondary with the injuries to Williams and Cooper, and has had some highs and lows throughout the year, but Saturday down at TCU was really a special game from him. His second career INT and also forced a key late-game fumble on a long Horned Frog run that would’ve had them in field goal range at the worst. Also how about Josh Patterson coming down with his first career INT as a freshman? A great play on the ball to go up and rob Josh Hoover of a completion to try and spark that offense. For a team that had struggled to turn teams over the last month or so, they’ve forced SIX in the last two weeks.

Aiden Flora

Is that Trever Ryen? Kene Nwangwu? Jaylin Noel? Nope. It’s Aiden Flora.

Jon Heacock

There’s been some… discussion… recently about Jon Heacock at Iowa State… Whether it’s warranted or not, I’ll let you decide for yourself, but some things were made very clear, at least to me, on Saturday.

This man can still coach. He’s been given hell the last two years with injuries to the best of the best on his defense seemingly week after week, guys being out for the year, guys being out on a week to week basis… nothing has come easy, and even still, he has these games where it feels like the Cyclone defense gets back to that world beating group we all have seen previously.
This man still cares tremendously for his program, his unit, and his players.

Paul Rhodes after Oklahoma State type stuff right there, folks. Just awesome to hear.