Iowa State’s habit of making mistakes and falling behind early in ballgames caught up with them Saturday in 37-14 loss to Texas in Ames. The Cyclones fumbled twice, threw an interception and missed a 29-yard field in four of their first five possessions.
I.S.U. coach Paul Rhoads says that’s not the way to win your conference opener. “You can’t play like we did to start this football game, again fortunately, and win a football game against the 17th ranked team in the country,” Rhoads said. He says they will have to address the problems and work to correct them.
The Cyclones picked up a key personal foul penalty after stopping Texas on fourth down while trailing just 13-0. The Longhorns scored on the next play and Rhoads says that was a turning point.
“It was certainly very pivotal,” Rhoads says. The Cyclones were looking to move to 4-0 on the season in front of the second largest crowd in Jack Trice Stadium. Rhoads says the mistakes are particularly disappointing as the defense was playing very well against Texas.
Rhoads says the defense continues to mature as it held a team averaging 226 yards a game rushing to 145. “That’s pretty dang good.” Iowa State falls to 3-1 on the season and now goes on the road to Baylor looking for their first conference win.