ISU coach Gene Chizik The Gene Chizik era at Iowa State opened with a 23-14 loss as the Cyclones fell to Kent State in Ames. I-S-U took a 14-9 lead early in the third quarter, but where then never able to get anything going offensively. Chizik had this to says the team wasn’t consistent enough and made every mistake you could make in a first game. But, he says the mistakes they made were correctable..

Chizek says losing wasn’t what they wanted, but they’ll come back and go back to work. The new coach wouldn’t fault the effort of his team. "It’s all coaching, starting with me," Chizek says. He says the team played hard right to the end, they just made every mistake you could make.

Chizik was on the sidelines for the first time as a head coach after years of being a coordinator in the press box. He says it was differnet and it wasn’t the way he wanted the night to turn out. "But, I’m not gonna let anybody see us sweat," Chizek says, "I’m gonna go back to work." He says they’ll figure out a way to get better.

He says there were some positives to come out of the game, as they played hard to the end and had a rusher go over 100 yards. Junior runningback J.J. Bass had 133 yards and one touchdown, to lead the Cyclones in rushing. Iowa State faces in-state rival Northern Iowa in their next game one week from Saturday (September 8) in Ames.