Iowa State at Colorado
Written by Jack Jones - Google +
The Iowa State Cyclones look to become bowl eligible when they travel to face the Colorado Buffaloes this Saturday in Big 12 North play. Iowa State is coming off a heartbreaking overtime loss to Nebraska, while Colorado is coming off an improbable loss at Kansas. The odds for this game show us a line of Iowa State -2.5 over Colorado with a total set of 55 points.
The Cyclones lost to Nebraska 31-30 in overtime last week, a game that nobody expect them to be in. Iowa State (5-5, 3-3) attempted a fake extra point after scoring in overtime, and went for the two-point conversion which was intercepted in the end zone. Give the Cyclones a lot of credit for fighting back from a 24-10 fourth quarter deficit, giving the Huskers all they could handle.
Now Iowa State will have to try and get mentally prepared following such an emotional loss, and they’ll need to come back with another great effort if they want to become bowl eligible for a second straight year. Head coach Paul Rhoads took this team to a bowl game in his first year on the job last season, and it would be quite an accomplishment to send them “bowling” again considering where this program was at when he took it over.
The Cyclones aren’t a team that “wows” you every time they hit the field. In fact, they rank 95th in the country in total offense and 93rd in total defense. But they play a bend but don’t break style, and they continue to come up with timely turnovers week after week. QB Austen Arnuad has thrown 10 touchdowns to 13 interceptions this season. He is decent, but the Cyclones love to pound the ball with Alexander Robinson as much as possible. A-Rob has rushed for 826 yards and 8 touchdowns this season while averaging 4.9 per carry.
The Buffaloes (3-6, 0-5) are coming off the biggest collapse in team history, which led to the firing of head coach Dan Hawkins. Kansas came back from a 35-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win 52-45 last Saturday. The fifth-year head coach was terminated with three games remaining in the season, and longtime assistant Brian Cabral will take over as their interim coach. He was previously the team’s defensive coordinator.
RB Rodney Stewart scored his third rushing touchdown of the game to give the Buffaloes their biggest advantage at 45-17, but the Buffaloes went on to run the ball just four more times when they could have milked the clock. Hawkins’ son Cody was 24-of-30 for 263 yards and three touchdowns entering the fourth quarter. That makes the situation even more sticky considering Cody is within reach of several Colorado passing records, and perhaps Dan was trying to pad his stats.
Dan went 19-39 during his rocky tenure here at Colorado. The Buffaloes have lost 15 straight road games and went 10-27 in Big 12 play. Their road record in the conference was 2-23 under Hawkins. Talk of possible predecessors to Hawkins are surrounding around 70-year-old Bill McCartney. He last coached in 1994 and led Colorado to their only national championship in 1990. Of coaching for the Buffaloes, McCartney stated, “If Colorado was interested in me, I would definitely be interested in returning”.
BetUS Projected Score: Iowa State 29 – Colorado 26
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