The Cyclones went into Iowa City looking to avenge a week one loss to the Pantherhawks, and were hoping to pull off a CyHawk upset.
They instead proceeded to fall flat on their face, losing to Iowa 42-3.
The Cyclones were dominated in nearly every aspect of the game, and were haunted by self-inflicted wounds in the form of penalties and coaching gaffes.
Most people thought/hoped this game could be close. Almost no one thought it would be a laugher.
This game started out ugly, and was sadly only downhill from there. The first quarter saw the Cyclones fail to move the football, largely due to the inaccuracy of Joel Lanning.
The Hawkeyes quickly jumped out to a 14-0 lead, with quarterback CJ Beathard tossing touchdowns to George Kittle and Akrum Wadley. Both touchdowns came remarkably easy for the Hawkeyes, and were the result of a series of busted coverages by the Cyclone defense.
The Cyclones would respond, going on an 11 play, 63 yard drive keyed by a long catch and run by Allen Lazard. This promising drive would end in a Cole Netten field goal, thanks to two inexcusable sacks taken by Joel Lanning, which wound up being Iowa State’s only points of the evening.
The second quarter was all Hawkeyes. They completely controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, as the Iowa State defense grew tired from constantly being on the field. CJ Beathard added two more touchdowns on long drives (66 and 86 yards), with Beathard running for a TD and tossing another to Matt Vandeberg.
Halftime was sweet mercy for the Cyclones, not only because the football abuse stopped, but we also got a reprieve from listening to the vocal drivel emanating from Matt Millen and Chuck Long.
The second half began with some nice stops by the Cyclone defense, as well as more offensive ineptitude from the offense. Starting to notice a trend here?
Though the defense held up for a while, keyed by nice defensive line play from Demond Tucker and Jhaustin Thomas, the flood gates eventually opened and the Hawkeyes blew the game wide open.
Iowa began to pound the rock, tacking on two rushing touchdowns thanks to the efforts of Akrum Wadley and LeShun Daniels. Daniels was easily one of the stars for the Hawkeyes, racking up 112 yards on 15 carries. Matt Vandeberg also had a big game for the Hawks, gaining 129 yards on 7 catches.
Eventually, though most Cyclone fans were pleading for mercy or chugging bleach, Matt Campbell and company gave Clone fans a reason to pay attention to the game: JACOB PARK.
That’s right, folks. We may, once again, have yet another Cyclone quarterback controversy on our hands.
Joel Lanning, who went a paltry 8-20 for 86 yards and one interception, looked equal parts nervous and inexperienced all game long. Jacob Park, though he struggled running the offense, showed great poise and a strong, accurate arm. Park would finish 6-15 for 79 yards, providing one of the few highlights of the night for the Cyclones besides Allen Lazard. Lazard finished with 7 catches for 111 yards.
In summary: not a lot went right, and plenty of things went wrong. Penalties, which plagued the Cyclones in their opening game, once again hurt the Cyclones (10 penalties for 73 yards total).
Looks like the first year of the Matt Campbell may be a rough one, folks.