SB Nation - Houston Jones

Cy-Hawk Week: Links

Mark Kieffer — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:33:38 -0000

Good afternoon/evening all! After coming back from a long weekend in the Rockies, Clone Chronicles is back on track! Even though Week 1 did not end until yesterday, today was still the day players and coaches talked to the media. Below are some takes on the game:

Iowa opens as a 6.5 point favorite, with an over/under at 45 points.
Paul Rhoads expects Iowa to bring it.
Sedrick Johnson is expected to play, Houston Jones is out, and the Cy-Hawk game is about chicken wings.
Ames Tribune's Bobby La Gesse has a Grandma that makes infamous mashed potatoes.
Iowa drops out of the AP and Coaches' Polls.
Adam Robinson apparently takes over for Paki O'Meara at running back. Let the controversy begin!
O-linemen Kyle Calloway and Julian Vandervelde are back. Good. This now gives Iowa fans only 1 excuse if they lose, and you know they love their excuses
Tim Griffin calls the Cy-Hawk game a 3 star matchup.
The Gazette apparently thinks that Paul Rhoads offered Stanzi a scholarship at Pittsburgh. Since when does a DC offer a QB? I'd love to hear Rhoads' side of the story to see a) if this is true or b) if Pitt offered Stanzi, Rhoads said "we offered Stanzi" (referring to the Pitt program) and The Gazette somehow interpreted it as Rhoads doing the recruiting.

Another side note, do you get fired up by mascots staring each other down? I certainly do not.

I'd rather see something like this:

(via www.isuisu.com)

Quick Football Updates: 9/6/09

Mark Kieffer — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 06:13:25 -0000

Hey all,

There are a few key notes that I intended to make after the NDSU game, but didn't get around to mentioning:

Kelechi Osemele left the NDSU game early due to injury as well. Apparently it wasn't serious and he should play against Iowa.
Sedrick Johnson had to leave the NDSU game early due to a sprained ankle. It's uncertain whether he will play next week against Iowa at this point.
Houston Jones hurt his ankle this past week. If you were at the game, you could see him in street clothes with something on his ankle.
Darius Darks did play against NDSU, as I saw him out there on quite a few plays. He didn't have any receptions so he didn't show up in the boxscore. Remember, he switched to #6 this season.
Jason Carlson and Hayworth Hicks are out for the season as they are academically ineligible

Since this news is a couple of days old, you may have already heard all of this, but I wanted to chime in with my thoughts:

First, offensive line is an area that we cannot afford to lose people; we are so thin at that position. It's great that Osemele is OK and it stinks that Hicks is out. I just hope that our starters on the line can stay healthy all year. It's already a below-average unit, and more blows would just lead to a long season offensively.

Secondly, WR is an area where you obviously don't want to have guys injured but can handle it if some guys are out. We have enough depth to handle some guys missing some time here and there. Obviously with Sedrick you want to have him out there as he has the potential to be that guy who can stretch the field. I wasn't under the impression that Jones and Carlson would play much his year as they are down there on the depth chart; I just am not sure if anything would be different if both guys were healthy.

What do you make of the news?

New Depth Chart Released

Mark Kieffer — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:12:18 -0000

Per Cyclones.com

The Cyclones Football team released the latest depth chart tonight. I would assume that barring injury these will be how it plays out for the NDSU game, but these types of things are always subject to change.

Here's a quick look (in order from starter to 3rd string):

Offense:

QB: Austen Arnaud, Jerome Tiller

RB: Alexander Robinson, Jeremiah Schwartz, Bo Williams

WR1: Marquis Hamilton, Jake Williams, Houston Jones

WR2: Sedrick Johnson, Joel Zitek

WR3: Darius Reynolds, Josh Lenz, Darius Darks, Jason Carlson

TE: Collin Franklin, Derrick Catlett

LT: Kelechi Osemele, Brayden Burris

LG: Alex Alvarez, Hayworth Hicks

C: Reggie Stephens, Sean Smith

RG: Ben Lamaak, Trey Baysinger

RT: Scott Haughton, Zack Spears

Not too many surprises with the offense. The Offensive Line was pretty much set and Osemele was the leading name for that LT spot for a while. Don't freak out by seeing Darks down so low on the Depth Chart. He's trying to overcome a hamstring injury and was forced to miss a lot of time during fall camp. Bo Williams drops to 3rd, but I don't think it's anything against him, as he's a more of a traditional type of a back, as opposed to a receiver in the backfield. Overall there wasn't as many position battles for the Offense as there was for the Defense.

Defense:

LE: Rashawn Parker, Cleyon Laing, Patrick Neal

DT: Austin Alburtis, Bailey Johnson, Taylor Mansfield

NG: Nate Frere, Stephen Ruempolhamer, Jerrod Black

RE: Christopher Lyle, Roosevelt Maggitt

Sam: Josh Raven, Jacob Lattimer

Mike: Jesse Smith, Matt Taufoou, A.J. Klein

Will: Fred Garrin, Derec Schmidgall, Jake Knott

RCB: Leonard Johnson, Devin McDowell

LCB: Kennard Banks, Ter'ran Benton, Jeremy Reeves

SS: David Sims, Michael O'Connell, Zac Sandvig

FS: James Smith, Alan Bell

On Defense, not too many suprises. I suppose the notable one for me is that I was under the impression that Taufoou was going to play that Sam spot, but I guess not. No suprises in the Secondary at all.

On the Defensive Line, I knew the DT and RE spot would be wide open, and we will learn more about Lyle and Alburtis as the season goes on. This unit is going to have the most questions in my mind because there are two new starters, and also because the unit was not very good last year.

I'm not going to create a separate section for this, but it appears that LJ is going to return Kicks and Punts, but there are a lot of guys listed there. There was some discussion about having LJ just focus on defense and having someone else do it, and I also thought that Darius Reynolds may do some returns. I guess with Darius, however, I'd rather be a starting WR than just a return guy.

I know this news has me fired up for the football season! It's nice to get an idea of where people are going to be playing and what we might expect for next year.

What are your thoughts on the Depth Chart? Any surprises?

Iowa State: Beyond the Box Score Preseason Offensive Preview

Bill C. — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:00:10 -0000

More photos » by Charlie Neibergall - AP

Who am I? What am I doing here?

Browse more photos »

Confused? Catch up with the BTBS Primer.

Yeah, yeah...I'm a day late with this. I'm not your nerd jester! We are down to our second-to-last regular season opponent of the year, the Cyclones of Iowa State. Once again, a new era starts in Ames. Is Paul Rhoads the man for the job?

2008

Record: 2-10 (0-8 in the Big 12)
S&P+: 177.7 (104th in the country, 12th in the Big 12)
Scoring Margin: 304-430 (-126)
Conference Scoring Margin: 176-334 (-158)
Wins (S&P+ Ranking in parentheses): #107 Kent State, 1-AA South Dakota State
Losses: #10 Missouri, #13 Iowa, #14 Oklahoma State, #20 Kansas, #21 Nebraska, #40 Baylor, #79 Kansas State, #82 Colorado, #88 UNLV, #98 Texas A&M

This is going to be the backhanded compliment of all backhanded compliments, but...for a 2-10 team that didn't beat a team ranked higher than 107th, Iowa State really wasn't that bad. They managed a scoring margin of just -126 points, which certainly isn't good at all, but again...for a 2-10 team, that could have been worse. That's what happens when you lose by 2 to Kansas, 3 to UNLV, 4 to Colorado, 8 to Kansas State, 12 to Iowa, and 14 to Texas A&M. If ISU had just figured out a way to be five points better in 2008, they would have been a much more respectable 5-7...

...and Gene Chizik would have left anyway. In the end, results from 2008 don't matter because Iowa State is once again starting from scratch in 2009. They've got some experience here and there, but a) probably not enough, and b) we don't really know what Paul Rhoads is going to do with that talent until the season starts.

Coaching

Head Coach: Paul Rhoads
Record at Iowa State: UNDEFEATED!!!!

Paul Rhoads has been a pretty stellar defensive coordinator for many years at the college level, but I think when he was being considered for the job, his most important qualification was what comes at the beginning of the second paragraph of his bio (PDF): "Born in Nevada, Iowa, just 10 minutes from Jack Trice Stadium..."

For all of Rhoads' accomplishments, the biggest draw for hiring him to coach the Cyclones had to have been simply that he's an Iowa boy (alma mater: Missouri Western), he likely considers ISU much more of a destination job than the last guy they hired, and he won't be looking for a bigger lilypad the moment the opportunity arises. He will build Iowa State for the long haul, and I think as long as he produces any sort of results whatsoever, he will be given a lot of rope.

An assistant to Dan McCarney when McCarney first came to Ames, Rhoads pretty quickly worked his way up the coaching ladder. He was LB/DB coach for five seasons in Ames before Walt Harris hired him as Defensive Coordinator for the Pitt Panthers. In eight seasons with Pittsburgh, he put together consistently solid defenses and was maintained when Walt Harris left for Stanford and the Wannstache took over. Pitt's defenses forced a ton of turnovers and always ranked pretty highly in terms of yardage allowed. In 2008, he moved south, replacing Will Muschamp as Auburn's Defensive Coordinator. Auburn's basic stats slipped under Rhoads, but everybody pretty much agreed that they were asked to do far too much with an incompetent Tiger offense putting them in sub-optimal situations.

Like Bob Stoops, Bo Pelini, and Mike Sherman, Rhoads assumes a Big 12 head coaching position with a strong defensive background. How will that translate to life in the Big 12 North? How much will recruiting need to improve for the Cyclones to move into the North's upper echelon (which, let's face it, isn't that "upper" at the moment)? Can it happen?

Offense

Overall Stats

S&P+: 88.1 (#101)
Success Rate+: 90.3 (#100)
PPP+: 86.1 (#101)

Standard Downs S&P+: 92.1 (#91)
Passing Downs S&P+: 92.8 (#87)

Redzone S&P+: 82.3 (#112)

Q1 S&P+: 92.6 (#82)
Q2 S&P+: 89.4 (#99)
Q3 S&P+: 78.2 (#114)
Q4 S&P+: 110.9 (#37)

1st Down S&P+: 94.5 (#82)
2nd Down S&P+: 93.9 (#84)
3rd Down S&P+: 89.4 (#90)

Rushing Stats

Rushing S&P+: 88.4 (#97)
Rushing SR+: 90.7 (#99)
Rushing PPP+: 86.8 (#94)

Standard Downs: 89.7 (#96)
Passing Downs: 95.2 (#80)

Redzone: 80.2 (#112)

Line Yards+: 90.5 (#102)

Passing Stats

Passing S&P+: 87.5 (#94)
Passing SR+: 90.4 (#90)
Passing PPP+: 85.0 (#93)

Standard Downs: 94.4 (#79)
Passing Downs: 90.1 (#88)

Redzone: 89.1 (#86)

Sack Rate+: 105.5 (#56)

Aside from their 3rd-to-4th quarter splits, these numbers are pretty consistently terrible. It's important to remember the strength-of-schedule component to the "+" number here. Iowa State put respectable offensive numbers--25.3 points per game, 386.8 total yards, 5.5 yards per play--but these came against defenses that were giving up 400 or 500 yards to everybody else (plus, a lot of the yards came at the end of blowouts). In the end, the 387 yards per game were far below what would have been expected against the defenses Iowa State faced, and it damaged their rankings.

Other thoughts:

Aside from their strong fourth-quarter rankings (which, as we've seen with other teams, can be skewed if you're blowing other teams out, or getting blown out, and your starters aren't playing much in the fourth quarter), ISU's biggest strength was in pass blocking, where they were above average with a 105.5 Sack Rate+, 56th in the country. Beyond that? Not much to be happy about...or, for an opponent, not much to be scared of.
ISU was consistently below-average in both the running and passing games, ranking 97th and 94th, respectively. They ranked between 90th and 101st in most Success Rate+ and PPP+ breakouts. They were bad across the board.

Quarterback

The stats don't like Austen Arnaud, but he's got at least a decent amount of upside.

2008 Unit Ranking: #92 in the nation (#11 in the Big 12)

Projected Depth Chart
Austen Arnaud (6'3, 220, Jr.)
Jerome Tiller (6'4, 185, RSFr.)
Brett Bueker (6'4, 213, RSFr.)

In glimpses, Austen Arnaud has size, a strong arm, and at least decent running ability. He completed 61.6% of his passes in 2008 for a solid 2,792 yards, 15 TDs and 10 INTs. He also mixed in 401 rushing yards and 5 TDs. In normal times, those would be considered numbers worthy of all-conference consideration. But in the Big 12, these aren't normal times. Arnaud's numbers put him at just 9th in the conference yardage, 11th in passer efficiency. And once again, when you factor in what was expected given the defenses Arnaud was facing, a decent quarterback probably would have produced more.

That said, if Arnaud has strong receiving talent around him, he's a good enough passer to get them the ball and let them make him look good. He does not, in fact, have that talent around him.

Behind Arnaud are a couple of big (well, tall...at 6'4, 185, Jerome Tiller is far from big--Mizzou WR L'Damian Washington is supposedly 6'4, 180, and Dave Matter and Gabe Dearmond can't help but mention how skinny he is every time they talk about him) youngsters fighting it out to become his successor in 2011. Tiller was a decent-looking 3-star recruit in high school and is likely being groomed for the job.

Running Backs

If Alexander Robinson always played like he did in 2007 against Missouri, he'd be an all-conference back.

2008 Unit Ranking: #90 in the nation (#10 in the Big 12)

Projected Depth Chart
Alexander Robinson (5'10, 184, Jr.)
Bo Williams (6'0, 217, So.)
Jeremiah Schwartz (5'11, 238, RSFr.)

Though the unit ranked just 90th in the country last year, I'm thinking the running backs have the biggest ceiling of any offensive unit Iowa State has. In his first year as a primary ball-carrier, Alexander Robinson fared...alright. His 703 yards, 6 TDs and 4.6 yards per carry were certainly respectable, and Missouri fans know he's capable of pretty solid play after his 2007 performance against them, but again...in a conference full of explosive weapons, Robinson gets lost in the shuffle. Using the POE measure discussed here, Robinson ranked 187th in the country (of about 270 eligible) with a POE of -4.4. Taking into account his relatively weak offensive line, he moved to 126th in AdjustedPOE with a -0.4, meaning when blocking was taken into account, he was almost a precisely average running back last year. Average running backs are capable of a big game or two each year, but that's about it.

Of course, average is better than poor, which is what Austen Arnaud's pass targets were, so Robinson officially qualifies as a bright spot from 2008. He will be joined in the backfield by the intriguing Bo Williams, a former 4-star recruit who originally signed with Florida before transferring. Williams and Robinson running behind a reasonably experienced offensive line suggests that Iowa State's running game should improve a decent amount in 2009. But when your RBs are ranked 90th in the country, improvement only takes them to what...75th? 70th? Still some work to do here, but clearly Williams has some potential.

Wide Receivers / Tight Ends

Darius Darks: possibly ISU's most potentially explosive threat, "potentially" being the key word.

2008 Unit Ranking: #96 in the nation (#11 in the Big 12)

Projected WR Depth Chart
Darius Darks (6'1, 175, So.)
Sedrick Johnson (6'4, 199, So.)
Marquis Hamilton (6'4, 228, Sr.)
Houston Jones (6'1, 193, Sr.)
Jason Carlson (6'0, 205, So.)
Lonzie Range (6'3, 183, RSFr.)
Darius Reynolds (6'3, 190, Jr.)
Joshua Bellamy (6'1, 200, Jr.)

Projected TE Depth Chart
Derrick Catlett (6'4, 252, Sr.)
Collin Franklin (6'6, 248, Jr.)
Carter Bykowski (6'8, 249, So.)

As nice as it might be having a couple of good running backs, Iowa State desperately needs some rejuvenation in the receiving corps. No returning wide receiver averaged more than 12 yards per catch, though there's at least some hope in the fact that two of ISU's leaders last year were true freshmen, former 4-star recruit Sedrick Johnson and 3-star Darius Darks. Neither did a whole lot--Johnson caught just 18 passes for 188 yards (albeit with three TDs) and Darks caught a ton of passes (49) for not a ton of yards (9.7 per catch, very Thomson Omboga-esque)--but they were young and there's obviously plenty of playing time available in Ames. If they can continue to develop, this unit could be pretty decent, especially if another newcomer or two turns out well.

Marquis Hamilton and Houston Jones are what they are--if this were baseball, I'd be calling them innings eaters (the Josh Fogg variety more than the Esteban-Loaiza-in-his-prime variety) and leave it at that--so really, if this is going to become a truly dangerous unit, newcomers will need to play a role. One of two JUCO transfers, either Darius Reynolds or Joshua Bellamy, will need to turn out pretty capable, or they'll need to luck out with another ready-to-rumble true freshman or two (main candidates: Josh Lenz, Donnie Jennert, or Keith Blanton). Reynolds, a 4-star JUCO recruit from Reedley CC in California, has the best resume of the bunch, but we'll see.

UPDATE, 1:57pm - I completely forgot to talk about the tight ends.

As down as I am about a few of Iowa State's units, I actually like their tight ends a decent amount. Even though Derek Catlett only managed 20 catches for 220 yards last year, he finished the year with eight catches and 121 yards in the final two games, against Missouri and Kansas State. I realize I'm probably high on him simply because he looked really good against Mizzou and was non-existent to me the rest of the year, but it is what it is. Meanwhile, Collin Franklin is pretty decent as well. Really, if we look at the two players as one entity, they're impressive--35 catches, 478 yards, 2 TDs. They're not all-conference caliber players, but at the very least one of them could emerge as one of the better North tight ends behind Mike McNeill (and hopefully Andrew Jones).

Offensive Line

Big dude.

2008 Unit Ranking: #89 in the nation (#10 in the Big 12)

Projected Depth Chart
G Reggie Stephens (6'4, 338, Sr.)
G Ben Lamaak (6'5, 320, Jr.)
C Alex Alvarez (6'2, 294, Jr.)
T Hayworth Hicks (6'3, 354, Jr.)
T Kelechi Osmele (6'5, 338, So.)
T Matt Hulbert (6'7, 299, Jr.)
G Joseph Klerekoper (6'5, 305, So.)
G Trey Baysinger (6'6, 317, So.)
T Zack Spears (6'6, 306, So.)
C Ethan Tuftee (6'4, 294, Fr.)

When I was initially ranking offensive lines, I didn't take into account strength of schedule enough. Now that I have a full-fledged SackRate+ number to call on...yeah, Iowa State doesn't look that great. One thing they do have going for them, however, is experience. Their 61 returning career starts is fourth-most in conference. Another thing they have going for them: size. The average weight of their projected starters: 329 pounds. These guys have a lot of nice, corn-fed Iowa names like Lamaak, Klerekoper, Baysinger, Tuftee, and...uhh, Osmele. They should be able to do at least reasonably well against lighter defensive lines.

Really, their size is a potential wildcard. If 220-pound Bo Williams turns out to be a solid running back, they could have a nice, big rushing attack to wear defenses out a little bit.

Then again, a variation of this huge line ranked 102nd in LineYards+ last year, so maybe not.

Summary

If you're looking at specific moments, you can talk yourself into Iowa State a bit. Austen Arnaud went 27-for-45 for 268 yards and 3 TDs against a pretty good Kansas secondary in 2008. Alexander Robinson put up 87 yards in just 11 carries against Nebraska. Darius Darks had seven catches for 113 yards against Oklahoma State. Bo Williams signed with Florida...Florida! But you need more than moments to keep up in the Big 12, and it's still hard to rank given Iowa State units too highly, even within just the Big 12 North. Arnaud's not as good as Todd Reesing, and he's probably not as good as (or at least no better than) Blaine Gabbert or Zac Lee. Robinson's certainly not as good or as proven as Derrick Washington or Roy Helu, Jr. Darks and Sedrick Johnson are not going to remind anybody of Dezmon Briscoe and Kerry Meier...or even Jared Perry and Danario Alexander. The line has experience and potential...but Missouri's offensive line has experience, potential, and actual results.

I love nothing more than pointing out "These guys aren't as good/bad as you think" as much as humanly possible. But while Iowa State certainly has the potential to put things together and win a couple of Big 12 games if things go right, I don't think it's a stretch to say that they just don't have enough to compete week in and week out. It will be interesting to see how Paul Rhoads both a) develops what he's got and b) figures out how to attract more talent to Ames, but I think expectations are low for Year #1 for very good reason. Prove me wrong, 'Clones.

2009 Big 12 Football Previews: Iowa State

ccmachine — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 07:21:49 -0000

More photos » by Charlie Neibergall - AP

Alexander Robinson returns as the Cyclones leading rusher.(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Browse more photos »

Iowa State started their 2008 campaign 2-0 but they followed it up with 10 consecutive losses. Insert new Head Coach Paul Rhoads and a new offensive philosophy and the Cyclones are ready to end a few droughts. They haven’t won a road game since October of 2005 and haven’t won a conference game since November of 2007

Offense

Iowa State averaged 386.8 yards and 25.3 points per game last season but are installing a new offense in `09. Perhaps inspired by the success of Oklahoma, O-State, Texas and Texas Tech the Cyclones are the next team in the Big 12 to move to the spread offense. Tom Herman has moved from Rice to Ames and will try to duplicate the success he had with his spread attack there.

The key to any spread attack is a solid quarterback who makes sound decisions and distributes the ball effectively and it will be up to Austen Arnaud to fill that role. Last season he threw for 2,792 yards and 15 touchdowns while only throwing to the guys in the other colored jerseys 10 times. Alexander Robinson but behind him there are no experienced players at that position. The receiver position is a little better where Houston Jones is the only returning starter. That’s not to say they are without any other experienced receivers, they just don’t have a lot.

*Offense*	*Per Game*	Rank
Scoring	25.3	59
Rushing	138.4	67
Passing	248.4	31
Total	386.8	44

The quarterback is the key component in the spread attack but the offense also need talented players at the skill positions as well as depth. ISU returns starting running back

The offensive line is fairly solid with three returning starters. The Cyclones will be breaking in new starters at both tackle positions.

Defense

Paul Rhoads is a defensive coach and that’s exactly what Iowa State needed. The Cyclones gave up almost 36 points per game in `08 and above anything else that the one stat that has to be improved upon immediately. As the defensive coordinator for Auburn and Pittsburgh, Rhoads is used to coaching top notched defenses but at this point the Cyclone defense is a long way from being described as top notch.

*Defense*	*Per Game*	*Rank*
Scoring	35.8	110
Rushing	176.2	95
Passing	276.7	116
Total	452.8	112

ISU only returns five starters from last year but with a new coach and new coordinator everyone is starting over. A tell tale sign of a struggling defense is when the team’s leading tackler is a safety and that’s what we find in this case. The Cyclones are going to have to have to improve on stopping plays up front and not letting them get into the secondary. The Cyclones will have three seniors along their defensive line and two of their three linebackers are seniors.

At first glance having a former walk-on start at middle linebacker could be another red flag. However, Jesse Smith isn’t your normal walk-on. He has a motor that doesn’t quit and a knack for finding the ball. The Cyclones actually could use a few more players like him.

The secondary may be the best unit on the defense. Safety James Smith led the team in tackles last year and will provide senior leadership to the secondary. Sophomore cornerback Leonard Johnson is getting a lot of attention as possibly one of the top corners in the Big 12.

*RETURNING*	LEADERS
Passing	Austen Arnaud, 247/401, 2,792, 15 TDs, 10 INTs
Rushing	Alexander Robinson, 153/703, 6 TDs
Receiving	Darius Darks, 49/477, 1 TD
Tackles	James Smith, 85
Sacks	Christopher Lyle, 5

*2008 High*	*2008 Low*
48-28 Win Over Kent State	35-7 Loss To Nebraska

Best of 2008 #9: The Iowa State Second Half

irish1611 — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:18:08 -0000

VS.

The game was dubbed the "basement battle": two teams with losing records struggling to find an identity. The Buffs had seven rather highly touted recruits in town: 3*/4* LB Michael Clay, 4* DT Latu Heimuli, 3* OT/DE Nik Abele, 4* DE Nick Kasa, 4* Bradley McDougald, DB Deji Olatoye and 4* WR Diante Jackson. Saying it was a big recruiting weekend would be an understatement. Most of these guys would be major gets on the national scene. CU had just come off a bad loss against Texas A&M at Kyle Field for what should have been win number five in the all important race to six. The Iowa State game was supposed to be the clinching game for a bowl bid. That got me and a ton of Buff fans worried about the motivation this team would have for Iowa State with seemingly two losses remaining on the schedule (Oklahoma State and Nebraska). Many were wondering what would come that Monday morning if Colorado actually lost to Iowa State, all but guaranteeing a four-win season. The difference between five and four isn't huge at first glance but losing to Iowa State and A&M back to back and only winning one conference game in the down Big 12 North would have been devastating. You thought recruiting was hard now, think about if we lost to Iowa State? Surely WR Diante Jackson wouldn't be considering us now, Olatoye may not have committed, McDougald wouldn't be a high interest guy and you always have to wonder about a guy like Abele who is getting big interest from a lot of programs right now.

for more on the 9th best moment of 2008, see after the jump...

It was another momumental day for one RB Darrell Scott. It was his first start as a Buff. Something we thought we would have seen a few more times before the 10th game of the season. True freshman QB Tyler Hansen also got his first start. Both debuts did not start well. It was a tale of two halfs. The offense, to nobody's surprise, was awful. Scoring zero points and went into halftime down 10 - 0. QB Tyler Hansen only completed 4 - 12 passes for 48 yards and an interception. The running game never really got going. And the special teams, oh the special teams. They were so bad that day that it sent me into a tizzy. The rap sheet looked like this:

-2 missed chip shot field goals in the first half
-1 blocked extra point that was a looming problem when looking at the scoreboard for most of the game
-2 consecutive roughing the punter penalties
-1 kickoff out of bounds in the fourth quarter
-2 kickoff returns to the 35 yard line +, especially the one on Iowa State's last drive that gave them a short field.

I sit in section 104 at Folsom field which is literally right next to the visiting section. Nothing was more embarrassing than to hear Iowa State "fan" chuckling and saying "I can't believe we are winning." You could tell hardly any of them followed the team but they were transplants and decided to go to the game expecting to get beat of course. But then something happened for CU: Urgency and QB Cody Hawkins.

Now we have been hearing about this spread offense since spring ball. The way the Buffs run it, we look like a team that just doesn't want to walk back to the huddle but will take the maximum amount of time off the clock. We watch Oklahoma and it is like a fast break offense. But urgency clicked in and the Buffs, for the first time, ran the fast break spread offense to perfection. QB Cody Hawkins administrated the offense extremely well. And you know what happened to that Iowa State defensive line? They got tired, really tired and it was easy pickins in the fourth quarter. Darrell Scott got rolling on the first drive of the second half including a rumbling 37 yard carry down the sideline that next year he will take the house. He finished with 19 carries and 87 yards; a career high for the highly touted freshman from California. QB Cody Hawkins looked, well, like he did in 2007 at times, certainly nothing we have seen in 2008. He finised 20 of 29 for 226 yards and 4 touchdowns. Not many professional quarterbacks have a half like that especially when spotting the opposition 10 points. Hawkins led scoring drives of 81, 80 and 84 yards. The Buffs had just five drives of 80 yards or more the whole season prior to that Saturday. The CU offense totaled over 400 yards for the only time this season and would go on to score 28 points in one half which was the most totaled in one half all year. The offensive explosion was enough to make this one of the best moments of 2008.

But the real reason to celebrate was the excitement in Folsom Field on the last drive of the game. Because this happened:

Iowa State at 1:30
1st and 10 at ISU 39	Austen Arnaud pass complete to Houston Jones for 11 yards to the 50 yard line
1st and 10 at COL 50	Austen Arnaud pass complete to Marquis Hamilton for 9 yards to the Colo 41
2nd and 1 at COL 41	Alexander Robinson rush for 27 yards to the Colo 14
1st and 10 at COL 14	Timeout Iowa State, clock 00:40.
1st and 10 at COL 14	Austen Arnaud pass complete to Houston Jones for 8 yards to the Colo 6
2nd and 2 at COL 6	Austen Arnaud rush for 1 yard to the Colo 5
3rd and 1 at COL 5	Timeout Iowa State, clock 00:14.
3rd and 1 at COL 5	Austen Arnaud pass incomplete to R.J. Sumrall.
4th and 1 at COL 5	Austen Arnaud pass complete to Darius Darks for 4 yards to the Colo 1 for a 1ST down.
1st and Goal at COL 1	Team pass incomplete.
2nd and Goal at COL 1	Alexander Robinson rush for a loss of 2 yards to the Colo 3
	End of 4th Quarter

After poor kickoff coverage and a 27 yard run, the Cyclones were down to the 14 yard line with plenty of time to score. But poor play calling, bad clock management and a big tackle by DE Maurice Lucas gave the home team a chance at the end of the game. Iowa State and their big 6'4" quarterback in QB Austen Arnaud were at the one yard line with one last chance to win. If you asked the fans at Folsom Field, half of them probably couldn't bare to watch. That scary thought came back into play: what if the Buffs actually lost to Iowa State? Luckily, Iowa State showed why they are a two win team. Inside the one yard line, Iowa State runs wide instead of straight at a "less than powerful" defensive line. By wide run, I mean an option to the short side of the field that was gobbled up by CB Jimmy Smith and S Daniel Dykes. It was one of the more bizarre halfs of football I have ever seen. The Buffs have had two wins in come from behind fashion. The other one was against another weaker opponent in FBS school Eastern Washington. The Buffs won that day on a CB Cha'pelle Brown interception returned for a touchdown.

Losing to Iowa State would have been disastrous to this program. Fortunately for the Buffs, it turned out to be one of the more entertaining games of the year. To relive the moment, go here to BuffTV and search for the Iowa State game.

Box Score of the Iowa State Game
The Ralphie Report's Post-Game Review

Best of 2008 List
10) The Victory Against CSU at Mile High
9) The Iowa State Second Half

Poll

Do you think Cody Hawkins can be the quarterback he was in the second half of the Iowa State game more consistently next year?

Yes, he had a banged up offensive line and a bunch of slow WR's around him.

20 votes

No, he is too physically limited. Great kid but we would be better suited with Hansen, Ballenger or Evans.

20 votes

40 votes | Poll has closed

The Fog of '09 - North Offenses

Bill C. — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:00:06 -0000

Two years ago, it was pretty easy to see what was in store for the Big 12 in football. Colt McCoy was having a monster RSFr season. Chase Daniel and Graham Harrell were having monster sophomore seasons. Stephen McGee and Bobby Reid were young and looked like gamers. Josh Freeman was a true freshman starter, and while he looked it from time to time, his upside was huge. Even Bret Meyer and Blake "Blizzle Szyzzle" Szymanski had their moments.

Beyond that, the offensive lines (especially Oklahoma's) were young, as were the RBs and WRs. Oh yeah, and just about every proven defensive end had run out of eligibility. While there was still defensive talent throughout the conference, it was clear that the next couple of years were going to see some unprecedented offensive continuity and success in the Big 12.

Sure enough, that's what happened. And it was an even bigger surge than anybody expected. Todd Reesing and Zac Robinson outshone their promising counterparts (Dylan Meier and Reid) and thrived. Jeremy Maclin and Michael Crabtree were All-Americans as redshirt freshmen. Add to that the fact that half the league's starters are of the "3-year" variety, and this run of offense has just been ridiculous. Josh Freeman is still talked about as a potential first rounder in the 2009 (or 2010) draft, and he's at best the #8 QB in the conference.

But it all changes in 2009. Daniel and Harrell? Gone. Crabtree and Maclin? Almost certainly gone. McCoy, Bradford, Freeman? Possibly gone. Chase Coffman, Joe Ganz, Marlon Lucky, Nate Swift, Chris Ogbonnaya, Quan Cosby, Jordan Shipley, Shannon Woods and Eric Morris? Gone. Even the J-Train, Jorvorskie Lane, has finally exhausted his eligibility. So many guys who have become household names in the midwest are leaving.

And that says nothing about William Moore, Brian Orakpo, all of KU's linebackers, Nic Harris, and the potential defensive exodus. Or even Dave Christensen, Matt Eberflus, Brent Venables, Kevin Wilson, and the potential assistant coaching exodus.

The watchword for '08 was "offensive explosion." For '09? "New" Through the clarity of 2007 and 2008 lies the fog of 2009. We don't yet know all who will return and who will not, but one thing's for certain: everything changes in 2009.

It's still pretty hard to grasp this yet, as we don't know who will be leaving for the draft, but let's take a super-duper early look at who might be good (or not so good) in 2009. We'll start with the North Division. To do this, I'm not going to jump into BTBS numbers. There will certainly be a time and place for that. Today, we'll simply go unit-by-unit and make some early rankings. And I'm not even going to think about redshirts or incoming recruits. Making predictions about how newcomers are going to fit in and/or thrive can drive you crazy. Plus, you'll probably be wrong. Remember how Darrell Scott and Jocques Crawford were supposed to be total studs the moment they walked in the door at CU and KU?

In other words, the projections after the jump are strictly from this year's depth chart.

Quarterbacks

Kansas (Todd Reesing)
Kansas State (Josh Freeman--for now)
Iowa State (Austen Arnaud)
Missouri (Blaine Gabbert)
Nebraska (Patrick Witt/Zac Lee)
Colorado (Cody Hawkins/Tyler Hansen)

I probably shouldn't stick CU's duo below two relative newcomers at MU and NU, but I just can't help it. And if Josh Freeman is gone and Carson Coffman is next year's starter at KSU, pencil KSU into the #4 or #5 spot. And while either Gabbert or Witt/Lee (Pac Litt?) can or will overtake Arnaud by the end of the season, I couldn't rank two returning starters below QBs who've never taken a meaningful snap.

Running Backs

Missouri (Derrick Washington, De'Vion Moore)
Nebraska (Roy Helu Jr., Quentin Castille)
Kansas (Jake Sharp, Jocques Crawford)
Colorado (Rodney Stewart, Darrell Scott)
Iowa State (Alexander Robinson)
Kansas State (Lamark Brown, Logan Dold)

Of all the departures for '09, the running back position actually looks not only solid, but strong. Washington, Helu and Sharp are all relatively proven at this point, and at any moment Stewart and Scott could emerge in a big way. Even Alexander Robinson and Lamark Brown have had their moments this year. This is something to watch for '09--while offenses may not be as high-flying, they still might be pretty darn effective thanks to the ground games.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

Kansas (Dezmon Briscoe, Kerry Meier, Johnathan Wilson)
Missouri (Jared Perry, Danario Alexander, Andrew Jones)
Kansas State (Brandon Banks, Deon Murphy, Aubrey Quarles)
Nebraska (Niles Paul, Menelik Holt, Mike McNeill)
Colorado (Josh Smith, Scotty McKnight, Riar Geer)
Iowa State (Houston Jones, Sedrick Johnson, Derrick Catlett)

Kansas is clearly #1 here, but after that, #2-#5 is something of a crapshoot. I feel like a homer for putting Mizzou at #2, but while they won't have the speed of KSU's unit, they'll still have the speed-size mix that few other teams do. And naturally, I'm assuming Jeremy Maclin is gone. Mizzou is clearly #1 if Maclin returns, but I very much do not see that happening. Paul and Holt could make NU's unit pretty effective, but they haven't gone all the way in proving that just yet.

Offensive Lines

Missouri (OG Kurtis Gregory, C Tim Barnes, OT Elvis Fisher)
Nebraska (C Jacob Hickman, OG Keith Williams, OT Jaivorio Burkes)
Colorado (OT Nate Solder, OT Ryan Miller, OG Devin Head)
Kansas State (OG Brock Unruh, OT Edward Prince, OT Nick Stringer)
Kansas (OT Jeremiah Hatch, OT Jeff Spikes)
Iowa State (OG Reggie Stephens, OT Ben Lamaak, C Alex Alvarez)

Missouri will have by far the highest-upside offensive line in the North next year. That can only help when a) protecting a young QB and b) clearing the way for the North's #1 RB. If Mizzou is to win the North despite having to replace Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin, it's Washington and the nice O-line who will get it done.

After Mizzou, NU's probably got the most upside in this unit. Colorado's fought through youth and injuries this year and could emerge next year with a solid O-line because of the struggles. After that...no idea. KSU returns quite a bit from an iffy-at-best O-line, and KU loses both starting guards and center. Not good. And while I like Reggie Stephens at ISU, he's about all ISU has.

So, keeping this as unscientific as possible, if we assign 6 points for every #1 ranking, 5 for every #2, et cetera, how do the North offenses add up?

North Offenses, 2009

Missouri (20 points)
Kansas (18 points)
Nebraska (15 points)
Kansas State (13 points)
Colorado (10 points)
Iowa State (8 points)

If Josh Freeman goes pro

Missouri (21)
Kansas (18)
Nebraska (16)
Kansas State (10)
Colorado (10)
Iowa State (9)

If Jeremy Maclin DOESN'T go pro

Missouri (21)
Kansas (17)
Nebraska (15)
Kansas State (13)
Colorado (10)
Iowa State (8)

I'm obviously not going to take this rather arbitrary ranking system too seriously and say "See? This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Missouri will have the best offense in the North next year!" or anything like that. This does show, though, that each team will have defined strengths and weaknesses (Mizzou = good running, iffy passing; Kansas = good passing, iffy blocking, KSU = good passing, no running, CU = possibly good running, no passing), which means unit-to-unit matchups and home-road scheduling will matter more next year than it has in the last couple of years.

And speaking of those matchups, tomorrow we'll look at North defenses.