Iowa State Football: 3 takeaways from overtime win over Northern Iowa
1. Iowa State’s offense was too conservative
Was it because Matt Campbell was trying to keep the offense under wraps until the Cyclones met a tougher opponent? That idea seemed to fade away in the second half because why the heck would the Cyclones purposely keep the offense in check while trailing a team like Northern Iowa?
On second or third-and-longs late in the game, Campbell’s offense dialed up halfback dives up the middle which gained only a couple of yards. The true head-scratching call was late in the fourth quarter on a third-and-5 when the offense chose a run play between the tackles and gained one yard while trailing by three.
It just didn’t make sense.
Why didn’t the offense take any shots? There’s no way Northern Iowa’s defense is that dominant, right? Brock Purdy didn’t take many shots down the field like he would have a year ago and it kept the game close. Not only that, but the run game was average, at best.
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It’s time for the Cyclones to open the playbook moving forward because this game was ugly and the 5-10 yard passes throughout the game are going to only work for so long. The play-calling was far too conservative and nearly led to an upset in Ames.
Side note: Can we talk about Purdy having major guts by saving the game, diving at a loose ball at the 1-yard-line in triple-overtime? The kid is built different.