Austin Arnaud has seen the majority of playing time the past two weeks but Iowa State coach Gene Chizik won’t say Arnaud has separated himself from Phillip Bates in the quarterback derby for the Cyclones. Arnaud finished with 155 yards of passing and 51 yards of rushing in an overtime loss at UNLV. He led a 98 yard scoring drive to tie the game in the waning seconds.
Chizik says Arnaud has done "some really nice things", but says Bates has done some nice things as well, and both have had bumps. He says he was pleased to see Arnaud bring them back in the UNLV game. The Cyclones have the week off before opening Big 12 play against Kansas and Chizik says they have plenty to work on.
Chizik says they are not a very good football team right now and need to work on running the ball, and need to get more physical on the offensive line. Defensively he says the team is "feast or famine," good at some times, and other times giving up some big plays.
Chizik says the offense needs more yards from the tailbacks, and says he isn’t pinning that on one person, saying it is a combination for things from the tailbacks to the tight ends, to receivers blocking. The Cyclones finished their pre-conference schedule with a mark of 2-2.
Chizik says he feels they know what direction they’re heading in, but aren’t always playing in the best way to get there.