The Iowa State Cyclones will be in search of their first Big-12 victory of the season this weekend when they visit Missouri. The Cyclones have dropped consecutive games to Texas and Baylor and now stand 3-2 overall.
Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads says it’s sometimes easier to coach after a loss than a win and he says that fits his team. He says they can see the improvement they are making, but understand they need to do more things right to win in the Big 12.
Rhoads says the Cyclones remain a confident team as they have lost to two very good football teams. He says there’s a top ten teams and then the rest of the teams are fairly close to what they can do and his team sees that.
Rhoads says he will decide on either Grant Mahoney or Zach Guyer as the starting kicker later in the week. Mahoney missed two extra point attempts in the loss at Baylor. He says Mahoney was the best kicker last week, but he says it’s a “no brainer” to open the competition up again.
T.C.U. is expected to announce this evening that it has accepted an invitation to join the Big 12 Conference. Rhoads says their addition would be good for the league and the I.S.U. program as they are replacing a Texas school with another Texas school.
Rhoads says there are plenty of things to work on this week, including the defense which needs to become more gap sound. He says they gave up a number of yards because they were not located where they should be, they have to do better at converting third downs. Missouri is also 0-2 in the league race but Rhoads is not approaching this as a must win.
He says they are all must win as you have to win six games to make the postseason, and he says making single games a must win can get you in real trouble. With Shonrelle Johnson nursing a neck injury sophomore James White has stepped in and provided the Cyclones with a big play threat at running back.
Rhoads says White is showing more speed than they credited him for as he has gone the distance with long runs in two consecutive weeks that they would not have said he could do.