Paul Rhoads
Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads says senior receiver Quenton Bundrage will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a torn ACL in Saturday’s 34-14 loss to North Dakota State. The receiver spot is the deepest on the team and Rhoads says that added depth helps and it’s time for the other players to step up.
Bundrage was ISU’s leading receiver a year ago and finished third in the Big 12 Conference with nine touchdown receptions. “He’a a big playmaker, as witnessed by all the touchdowns that he scored a year ago…and he took it hard as you would expect him to,” Rhoads says. Rhoads says Bundrage was in a lot of pain physically after the game and in a lot of pain mentally after learning his season is over.
Rhoads says after a disappointing loss it is actually a good time to play Kansas State. He says it’s a challenged to face a Big 12 opponent and ranked opponent and forces them to focus on the task at hand.
Rhoads says there is no panic after Saturday’s loss but there is a sense of urgency to correct problem areas. “That’s exactly what I told our staff, that’s exactly what I told our players. Urgency in getting your job done,” according to Rhoads.
The Cyclones gave up nearly 300 yards of rushing on Saturday but Rhoads says poor tackling was not the issue. “We didn’t get off blocks well enough as a defensive unit, and we didn’t get enough people to the ball,” Rhoads says. He says they let the Bison get into too many manageable short and medium down situations.