Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads says he has no doubt the Cyclones will be able to put Saturday’s loss to Texas behind them as they get ready for Saturday’s visit to Baylor. He says it is one judging by the attitude of the team that they rebounded quickly from.
Rhoads says the team is eager to be coached and realized the mistakes they made and are anxious to get on the field again. The Cyclones played with fire in their first three games by committing numerous turnovers and falling behind early. It finally burned them against Texas.
Rhoads says it was more like a baseball bat hitting them with reality that starting that way against a highly ranked team doesn’t give you much chance to win. It’s a problem the Cyclones need to solve as a tough Big 12 slate continues.
He says they know how tough the league is from a national standpoint and he says they met the nonconference challenge and now need to do so in the conference. Rhoads says the Cyclones need to stop turning the ball over. They rank near the bottom in the country in turnover margin.
Rhoads says they will work on ball security drills again and again and will remind the players they have to take care of the ball better.
The Cyclones have posted some big wins away from home the past couple of years and Rhoads says they have confidence playing in enemy stadiums.
He says they have a good road plan of taking the environment and travel out of it and focusing on the game. Rhoads says the Cyclone defense has done a good job of limiting the damage after turnovers the last two games. He says they’ve only given up 16 points in six possessions on their side of the 50-yard line.
With three of the next four on the road the Cyclones will need to play well. Rhoads says the biggest change on the road is crowd noise and you have to be careful about not having false starts.
Iowa State is 3-1.