Opponent Previews 2008: Iowa State
The consensus expectation seems to be that Iowa State will finish last in the Big 12 North (Sporting News, Athlon, Phil Steele, USA Today, Lindy, etc. etc.) The silver lining for Cyclone fans is it won’t be hard to exceed expectations.
ISU opens with South Dakota State and Kent State. That would seem like a 2-0 start (despite Kent State’s nine-point victory over the Cyclones a year ago). They must travel to Iowa city for the annual rivalry game with Iowa. They managed to win the contest a year ago in their own stadium, so an upset there seem to at least be a possibility. They then travel to face UNLV which is forecast to finish somewhere in the middle to the bottom of the Mountain West conference. A 4-0 start is entirely conceivable.
Iowa State opens the conference slate with a home date against Kansas and then hits the road to take on Baylor. A 5-1 record through six games isn’t all that far-fetched. Things get tougher from there as they host Nebraska, A&M and Missouri and travel to face OSU, CU, and KSU. But all it would take would be a single victory in their final six games for ISU to achieve bowl eligibility. A 6-6 team that finishes 1-5 may not be all that enticing to bowl sponsors, but with a glut of bowls they could earn a bid almost by default.
And a bowl game would be a victory for a team that finished 3-9 a year ago, will start a new quarterback, and is expected to start only eight seniors. 2009 will likely be head coach Gene Chizik’s best opportunity to make ISU a winner, but 2008 could be a year where ISU surprises some people and takes a step forward. If Chizik can mastermind a defense to keep games close, they could luck themselves to 0.500. And if you’re a Cyclone fan, right now that’s all you can hope for this season.
Did you enjoy this article?
Send it to a friend
Get Husker news by email
Follow us on Twitter
Related Stories: Iowa State
Post a comment