Cyclones Survive UNI Scare » Brats & Beer

October 1, 2006
posted under: Iowa State football

My alma mater Iowa State very nearly blew it last night but managed to overcome their own mistakes and beat Northern Iowa 28-27. The Cyclones turned the ball over three times and gave up three touchdowns in the first half before rallying for the win. And even then they needed the Panthers Brian Wingert to miss a 51-yard field goal attempt with six seconds remaining to clinch the victory. This team is officially starting to worry me. A lot.

ISU scored on their opening drive of the game to take a 7-0 lead but was stymied the rest of the first half while UNI rolled up 21 points, including a touchdown off an interception thrown by Bret Meyer. Todd Blythe caught a 22-yard touchdown pass to get things going again for the Cyclones in the third quarter and Ryan Baum returned a punt 39 yards to the end zone to tie the score in the final period. But then a couple fumbles, one by Baum on a punt return, led to two UNI field goals and Meyer had to lead a desperation drive with two minutes to play for the winning score.

This is not the way a promising Big 12 contender should be winning games against Division I-AA opponents. While I’m glad to see that the Cyclones are back in the winning column, beating the Panthers on a last second drive does not exactly fill me with confidence with #21 ranked Nebraska coming to Ames next week and a road trip to Oklahoma the following week. Big Red had its hands full with Kansas yesterday, but ISU can’t give up turnovers to a team like that and expect to win.