What a profoundly confusing a frustrating performance this was. First, a defense that has been absolutely elite at preventing big plays gives up THREE 50+ yard touchdowns in the first half, while the offense actually doesn’t play poorly, but the inability to finish off drives we saw in the UNI and Iowa games reared its ugly head once again. After halftime, the defense tightened up significantly, and the offense continued to play well through the third quarter.
Then the wheels fell off the bus.
A few takeaways from the game:
1) Iowa State’s special teams unit isn’t necessarily a huge negative, but its complete dearth of genuinely positive plays outside of a really nice season from Joe Rivera creates the illusion of a large negative.