Iowa State Football: 3 takeaways from Camping World Bowl loss to Notre Dame

Iowa State football the 2019 Camping World Bowl in disappointing fashion as it seems like the Cyclones didn’t even show up versus Notre Dame.

Did Iowa State know there was a game on Saturday afternoon? Having about four weeks off between the season finale and the Camping World Bowl may have put the Cyclones in a relaxed mood as they looked sluggish for 60 minutes, losing to Notre Dame 33-9.

The Cyclones struggled on the offensive side of the ball, but the defense didn’t fare much better as Ian Book did whatever he wanted and Tony Jones Jr. rushed for 135 yards.

Iowa State dropped to 7-6 with the loss and the Cyclones head into the 2020 offseason with plenty of question marks, but also a solid young squad.

What’d we learn from the Cyclones’ loss?

3. Offense struggled when Charlie Kolar was contained

Notre Dame drew up the perfect game plan to slow down the Iowa State offense and that apparently meant containing All-Big 12 tight end Charlie Kolar.

The talented sophomore tight end had 48 catches for 675 yards and seven touchdowns on the season but he was held to just three receptions for 22 yards against the Irish. It may not have seemed like a big deal, but he was an integral part of the offense all season long and one of Charlie Brewer’s favorite targets. When he was contained, Brewer struggled.

Notre Dame deserves a ton of credit for this as they designed coverages to take away short post routes over the middle that are usually open or dumps over the top as well, hedging him out of Brewer’s vision.

Moving forward, Iowa State needs to find more weapons so that when one guy is limited, the offense doesn’t fall apart.