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Rhoads using actions, not words, to try to snap road losing streak
By By Bobby La Gesse
Date Posted: 2009-09-14
When asked if he will emphasize Iowa State’s 17-game road losing streak or ignore it prior to the first road game, first-year football coach Paul Rhoads didn’t respond.
He sat silent. He didn’t utter a single word.
After spending the offseason and fall camp openly discussing the Cyclones’ road woes, Rhoads isn’t breaching the subject in the days leading up their trip to Kent State (1-1) on Saturday (6 p.m., ESPN 360).
“I’m painfully aware of the road losing streak and so is our team,” said Rhoads to open his Monday press conference. “That is all I will have to say about that.”
Rather than talk about ISU’s problems, Rhoads plans to fix them.
The Cyclones (1-1) need quarterback Austen Arnaud to regain his form after throwing four interceptions against Iowa. They also need sophomore wide receivers Darius Darks and Sedrick Johnson, who both stood out last year and haven’t caught a pass all season, to play a bigger part in the offense.
And on top of that, Rhoads still has work to do with the defense.
He thought the defense made improvements in the 35-3 loss to Iowa last week. Point totals aside, Rhoads said his defense tackled better in space and safeties David Sims and James Smith and defensive end Christopher Lyle played well.
But if the Cyclones are to win their first road game since beating Texas A&M 42-14 in 2005, Rhoads knows his unit will have to do more than talk about how it got better.
“I’ve had a chance to watch the game film twice and there were a lot of embarrassing things,” Rhoads said. “We are not the Steel Curtain by any stretch.”
For Rhoads, the worst thing to come out of Saturday’s game was how ISU — the entire team, not just the defense — stopped fighting once the Hawkeyes scored two third quarter touchdowns off of Cyclone turnovers.
“You could see the football team start to lose a little faith and we started to get pushed around a little bit,” Rhoads said.
ISU has come close to ending the losing streak in the past.
The Cyclones gave up 12 points in the final 5 minutes, 35 seconds to fall to Toledo 36-35 in 2007. ISU lost 34-31 at UNLV in 2008 and Alexander Robinson was tackled a yard short of the end zone as time expired in a 28-24 loss at Colorado last year.
To end the streak this week, Arnaud said the Cyclones will have to do what it did to snap their 10-game losing streak to start the season: play four full quarters.
“We see that road win ahead of us and we aren’t shying from it at all,” Arnaud said. “We definitely want to get that done.”
Tight end Derrick Catlett knows the losing streak is there, regardless if the Cyclones talk about it or not.
He just wants to snap it before it becomes something bigger.
“It’s just one of those things,” Catlett said. “The Cubs have the curse and stuff like that. We are just trying to get rid of that and give people something else to talk about.”
Jarvis out for Kent State
Kent State announced on Monday that running back Eugene Jarvis is out for the season with a kidney injury. He had 255 rushing yards and four total touchdowns against ISU the last two seasons.
ISU-Kent State game on the Internet
This Saturday’s game is not on TV, but will be shown on ESPN360. The game can only be watched if an Internet provider has an agreement with ESPN to show ESPN360.
Mediacom does provide its subscribers ESPN360.
Bobby La Gesse can be reached at (515) 663-6929, or rlagesse@amestrib.com.
By By Bobby La Gesse
Date Posted: 2009-09-14
First-year ISU coach Paul Rhoads, right, is taking his team on the road for the first time. The Cyclones will be trying to break a 17-game road losing streak against Kent State.
Tribune photo by Ronnie Miller
Tribune photo by Ronnie Miller
When asked if he will emphasize Iowa State’s 17-game road losing streak or ignore it prior to the first road game, first-year football coach Paul Rhoads didn’t respond.
He sat silent. He didn’t utter a single word.
After spending the offseason and fall camp openly discussing the Cyclones’ road woes, Rhoads isn’t breaching the subject in the days leading up their trip to Kent State (1-1) on Saturday (6 p.m., ESPN 360).
“I’m painfully aware of the road losing streak and so is our team,” said Rhoads to open his Monday press conference. “That is all I will have to say about that.”
Rather than talk about ISU’s problems, Rhoads plans to fix them.
The Cyclones (1-1) need quarterback Austen Arnaud to regain his form after throwing four interceptions against Iowa. They also need sophomore wide receivers Darius Darks and Sedrick Johnson, who both stood out last year and haven’t caught a pass all season, to play a bigger part in the offense.
And on top of that, Rhoads still has work to do with the defense.
He thought the defense made improvements in the 35-3 loss to Iowa last week. Point totals aside, Rhoads said his defense tackled better in space and safeties David Sims and James Smith and defensive end Christopher Lyle played well.
But if the Cyclones are to win their first road game since beating Texas A&M 42-14 in 2005, Rhoads knows his unit will have to do more than talk about how it got better.
“I’ve had a chance to watch the game film twice and there were a lot of embarrassing things,” Rhoads said. “We are not the Steel Curtain by any stretch.”
For Rhoads, the worst thing to come out of Saturday’s game was how ISU — the entire team, not just the defense — stopped fighting once the Hawkeyes scored two third quarter touchdowns off of Cyclone turnovers.
“You could see the football team start to lose a little faith and we started to get pushed around a little bit,” Rhoads said.
ISU has come close to ending the losing streak in the past.
The Cyclones gave up 12 points in the final 5 minutes, 35 seconds to fall to Toledo 36-35 in 2007. ISU lost 34-31 at UNLV in 2008 and Alexander Robinson was tackled a yard short of the end zone as time expired in a 28-24 loss at Colorado last year.
To end the streak this week, Arnaud said the Cyclones will have to do what it did to snap their 10-game losing streak to start the season: play four full quarters.
“We see that road win ahead of us and we aren’t shying from it at all,” Arnaud said. “We definitely want to get that done.”
Tight end Derrick Catlett knows the losing streak is there, regardless if the Cyclones talk about it or not.
He just wants to snap it before it becomes something bigger.
“It’s just one of those things,” Catlett said. “The Cubs have the curse and stuff like that. We are just trying to get rid of that and give people something else to talk about.”
Jarvis out for Kent State
Kent State announced on Monday that running back Eugene Jarvis is out for the season with a kidney injury. He had 255 rushing yards and four total touchdowns against ISU the last two seasons.
ISU-Kent State game on the Internet
This Saturday’s game is not on TV, but will be shown on ESPN360. The game can only be watched if an Internet provider has an agreement with ESPN to show ESPN360.
Mediacom does provide its subscribers ESPN360.
Bobby La Gesse can be reached at (515) 663-6929, or rlagesse@amestrib.com.
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