Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads has not named a starting quarterback for Friday’s regular season finale against West Virginia but admits Sam Richardson has the edge. The redshirt freshman saw his first extensive action against Kansas and connected on 23 of 27 passes for 250 yards and four touchdowns in a 51-23 victory.
Rhoads says Richardson would have seen the field earlier this season had he performed better in practice. “You watch a performance like that and the burning question is ‘why haven’t you put him in sooner?’..he obviously hasn’t been giving us that performance in practice or we would have put him in sooner,” Rhoads says.
Rhoads says he will make a final decision later this week after practice preparation is over.
Rhoads talks about Richardson’s demeanor as being “very composed, poised, almost non-assertive young man with an easy-going personality that is real easy to like.” Saturday’s victory made the Cyclones eligible for a bowl but Rhoads says they are not satisfied with six victories and there are several goals yet to reach.
This will be the final home game for a group of seniors that were party of Rhoads’ first recruiting class. Rhoads says it seems like only yesterday they arrived on campus. He says these seniors “have defined the culture of the modern era of Cyclone football, that’s pretty neat.”
After getting off to a fast start in its first season in the Big-12 West Virginia has fallen on hard times and stands 5-5 on the season. Rhoads says that shows how tough the league is and they are good football team that is very dangerous.
The Mountaineers are coming off a last second loss to Oklahoma and he says Oklahoma is the best football team in his opinion that his team has played all season. Rhoads says the team will eat a Thanksgiving meal together after Thursday’s practice in the team hotel where they stay before the game.