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Playing the waiting game
ISU could be left out of the bowl picture with a 6-6 record
By Bobby La Gesse
Date Posted: 2009-11-21
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Now the waiting begins.
By letting a seven-point halftime lead slip away, the Iowa State football team’s chance to guarantee a bowl berth disappeared as it fell 34-24 to Missouri on Saturday. All the Cyclones can do for the next two weeks is sit and see if they are selected to play in a bowl game.
“I’m thinking about it right now,” offensive tackle Scott Haughton said.
So is Cyclone Nation.
ISU (6-6, 3-5) is bowl-eligible, but the possibility still exists it could be left out of the Big 12 bowl picture.
Eight conference teams have already qualified for the postseason. Kansas can still go bowling if it beats Missouri next Saturday. That would make nine Big 12 teams bowl-eligible with only eight bowl tie-ins.
The good news for the Cyclones on Saturday was the potential pool of Big 12 bowl-eligible teams shrunk by two on Saturday. Nebraska ended Kansas State’s chances with a 17-3 victory and Baylor’s hopes of postseason play were dashed by Texas A&M.
After the game, ISU coach Paul Rhoads lauded his teams’ accomplishments this season and said the Cyclones deserve to play in a bowl game.
“If you would poll people across the country at the beginning of the year, if Iowa State would have six wins, I don’t think you would have very many people on the yes side of that,” Rhoads said. “This football team has shown great determination and great production. They’ve had the ability to win in a close game.”
But they weren’t able to do it on Saturday.
ISU scored the final 10 points of the first half to take a 17-10 lead into halftime, but the Cyclones weren’t able to keep things going in the second half. Missouri (7-4, 3-4) used two big plays through the air, a 70-yard touchdown reception by running back Jerrell Jackson and a 63-yard score by wide receiver Danario Alexander to take a seven-point lead.
Jackson and Alexander combined to catch 19 passes for 315 yards.
ISU was able to tie the game with a trick play as Haughton took a backwards pass 12 yards for a touchdown. It was Cyclones’ first touchdown by an offensive lineman since Jim Thompson in 1992.
But the offense, which moved the ball well in the first half, couldn’t get anything going in the rest of the game. ISU converted only one first down on its final three possessions.
Conversely, Missouri, which gained 539 total yards, continued to move the chains in the fourth quarter, adding a 38-yard field goal and a 1-yard touchdown run to secure a bowl berth.
“Besides the big plays, a lot of yards were gained down the field,” Rhoads said. “I am disappointed in our run defense.”
Rhoads plans to throw himself into his coaching duties instead of reflecting on his team’s bowl fate.
Even though the Cyclones won’t practice again until after Thanksgiving, Rhoads and his staff will grade the Missouri tape, evaluate the regular season and prepare for the next recruiting contact period, which begins on Nov. 29.
The players, though, are already pondering their future.
“I just wish that we knew right away and not have to sit around and wait to find out,” safety James Smith said. “That is kind of hard on us.”
Bobby La Gesse can be reached at (515) 663-6929 or rlagesse@amestrib.com.
ISU could be left out of the bowl picture with a 6-6 record
By Bobby La Gesse
Date Posted: 2009-11-21
Iowa State's Austen Arnaud battles for yards as Missouri's Andrew Gachkar tries to bring him down in the third quarter of the Tigers' 34-24 win in Columbia, Mo.
Tribune photo by Nirmalendu Majumdar
Tribune photo by Nirmalendu Majumdar
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Now the waiting begins.
By letting a seven-point halftime lead slip away, the Iowa State football team’s chance to guarantee a bowl berth disappeared as it fell 34-24 to Missouri on Saturday. All the Cyclones can do for the next two weeks is sit and see if they are selected to play in a bowl game.
“I’m thinking about it right now,” offensive tackle Scott Haughton said.
So is Cyclone Nation.
ISU (6-6, 3-5) is bowl-eligible, but the possibility still exists it could be left out of the Big 12 bowl picture.
Eight conference teams have already qualified for the postseason. Kansas can still go bowling if it beats Missouri next Saturday. That would make nine Big 12 teams bowl-eligible with only eight bowl tie-ins.
The good news for the Cyclones on Saturday was the potential pool of Big 12 bowl-eligible teams shrunk by two on Saturday. Nebraska ended Kansas State’s chances with a 17-3 victory and Baylor’s hopes of postseason play were dashed by Texas A&M.
After the game, ISU coach Paul Rhoads lauded his teams’ accomplishments this season and said the Cyclones deserve to play in a bowl game.
“If you would poll people across the country at the beginning of the year, if Iowa State would have six wins, I don’t think you would have very many people on the yes side of that,” Rhoads said. “This football team has shown great determination and great production. They’ve had the ability to win in a close game.”
But they weren’t able to do it on Saturday.
ISU scored the final 10 points of the first half to take a 17-10 lead into halftime, but the Cyclones weren’t able to keep things going in the second half. Missouri (7-4, 3-4) used two big plays through the air, a 70-yard touchdown reception by running back Jerrell Jackson and a 63-yard score by wide receiver Danario Alexander to take a seven-point lead.
Jackson and Alexander combined to catch 19 passes for 315 yards.
ISU was able to tie the game with a trick play as Haughton took a backwards pass 12 yards for a touchdown. It was Cyclones’ first touchdown by an offensive lineman since Jim Thompson in 1992.
But the offense, which moved the ball well in the first half, couldn’t get anything going in the rest of the game. ISU converted only one first down on its final three possessions.
Conversely, Missouri, which gained 539 total yards, continued to move the chains in the fourth quarter, adding a 38-yard field goal and a 1-yard touchdown run to secure a bowl berth.
“Besides the big plays, a lot of yards were gained down the field,” Rhoads said. “I am disappointed in our run defense.”
Rhoads plans to throw himself into his coaching duties instead of reflecting on his team’s bowl fate.
Even though the Cyclones won’t practice again until after Thanksgiving, Rhoads and his staff will grade the Missouri tape, evaluate the regular season and prepare for the next recruiting contact period, which begins on Nov. 29.
The players, though, are already pondering their future.
“I just wish that we knew right away and not have to sit around and wait to find out,” safety James Smith said. “That is kind of hard on us.”
Bobby La Gesse can be reached at (515) 663-6929 or rlagesse@amestrib.com.
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