When you are two for 13 on third down, lose the turnover battle three to zero, and get dominated at the line of scrimmage, it's tough to win football games as Iowa State found out in the Pinstripe Bowl falling to Rutgers, 27-13.
Despite not playing as well as they have at times this season, Iowa State still had a chance late in the game. They cut the lead to 20-13 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter on a 20 yard Jeff Woody touchdown run. But Rutgers answered when Chas Dodd threw up a hail-mary type pass and Brandon Coleman came down with it and raced 86 yards for the touchdown pushing Rutgers lead back to 14 and that was the ball game.
Iowa State's quarterback, Jared Barnett, got off to a bit of a slow start and Paul Rhoads opted to go with Steele Jantz who started the first half of the season for Iowa State at quarterback. His first two plays were rushes for 12 and 28 yards and it looked like Jantz would provide the spark Iowa State needed but it simply never materialized as he had his moments, but never found a good rhythm in the passing game.
The Iowa State quarterbacks combined to go 17-38 on the day with two interceptions. The obvious question following the game was what it means for Iowa State heading into next season and Rhoads even joked in the post game press conference that one of the reason he made the move was because he wanted to create a quarterback controversy. They'll have plenty of time in spring football to sort out the quarterback situation, but one thing that didn't help either QB out on Friday was the play of the offensive line.
The guys upfront simply didn't do a very good job of picking in the pressure Rutgers was bringing and they were bringing a lot of it. Running back Jeff Woody probably summed it up best, “We couldn’t complete a pass,” Woody said. “We couldn’t stop the blitzes when they were coming. We just didn’t execute the way we needed too.”
Rutgers had three sacks but they constantly had pressure on the quarterbacks and were stuffing the ground game. The Cyclones ran for only 91 yards after averaging 181 yards for the season.
Not only did ISU's offensive line get handled, but the defensive front wasn't much better. Rutgers ground game averaged only 91 yards per game during the season but that didn't stop the Scarlet Knights on Friday. They ran the ball 42 times with Jawan Jamison racking up 131 yards for the game and the Cyclones couldn't do enough to consistently get stops. Linebacker A.J. Klein did his part, however, finishing the game with 16 tackles.
Iowa State now heads for an offseason after what has to be viewed as a successful season. Iowa State battled through a brutal schedule and we able to be in New York City as a result. “This is a very good season,” Rhoads said. “As we move forward that’s not going to be good enough.”
And that right there is the key for the Cyclones. In Rhoads three seasons, they've exceeded expectations and are 1-1 in bowl games. There have been big wins, as well, but at some point they have to take the next step. Rhoads will probably turn his attention to finding an offensive coordinator to replace Tom Herman, but the focus still needs to be to continue the upgrade the talent on the roster which he's already done during his three seasons. As the talent upgrade continues, more consistency and even better bowl games should be in Iowa State's future.
The result on Friday was disappointing, but it still gave the Cyclones an extra month of practice, something that will no doubt pay dividends as they enter winter conditioning and get ready for spring practice.
