Something that I do enjoy about watching games on TV is also keeping up with Twitter. I follow many former players, along with media personalities that cover Iowa State, and of course many fellow Iowa State fans. As I'm watching the game on TV, I am thinking to myself "man this is boring, and I hope we don't find a way to lose this game". When the game ended, many people said the win was ugly. Others said that there's so such thing as an ugly win.
What say you?
On one hand, we have a program that has averaged about 4 wins/year over the 119+ years of Iowa State football. We aren't really in a place where we can complain about wins, especially a win that puts us over par with our history as we get to win #5.
On the other hand, we played against the 112th Sagarin-rated team at home, put up only 13 points, and was in a fight that was very much up for grabs (for reference, we are rated 64th). As a self-respecting football fan, we expect a better performance at home against a crappy team don't we?
I guess my conclusion is that the situation is whatever you make it to be. If you are pumped about the win, and you don't care how it looked, more power to you. If you are glad we won but kind of disgusted in some ways, I empathize with you as well. Different strokes, different folks.
Moving beyond the big picture, there are a few things that I did like about the game. I liked how we put up over 250 yards on the ground and averaged 4.9 yards/carry (if you removed the fake punt). Speaking of the fake punt, it was a great call, even though it did not lead to any points. I also liked how guys like Albert Gary (5 receptions, 57 yards) and Jarvis West (3 receptions, 35 yards) stepped up in the place of the suspended Darius Reynolds, as football is the ultimate team sport. Even more, I liked how our defense stepped up in the 2nd half; Kansas put up over 150 yards rushing in the first half, but only rushed for 24 yards in the second half.
The big puzzler for me, is why we had Barnett drop back 30 times? I still feel like we get too pass-happy at times, and we really don't need to. I get you have to keep the defense honest, and really Barnett was the most effective runner this game (Jeff Woody got most of his yards in clean-up time).
Nevertheless, the Cyclones are now one upset away from bowl eligibility, as they head into the bye, before taking on Oklahoma State, @Oklahoma, and @Kansas State. The best news about this schedule is that there are no more games on FCS with crappy announcers (although I am not certain if there are any "good" announcers anymore). Do the Cyclones have another upset in them this season?