AMES, Ia. — One of the biggest messages Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell has tried to hammer into his teams is that if they’re going…
AMES, Ia. — One of the biggest messages Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell has tried to hammer into his teams is that if they’re going to have success, they need to win in the margins. Iowa State’s struggles with the fundamentals and avoiding costly penalties didn’t come back to bite them during a 26-13 win over Akron at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday.
But that may not always be the case.
“You can’t do that at Iowa State,” Campbell said. “You can’t win games. And we won today because we stayed the course and ran the football and stopped the run. Those things are really what allowed us to mitigate some of those mistakes. But at the end of it, if you’re talking about where we want to go and what we have the potential to do, obviously those things aren’t what we can do to win football games of the caliber we’re about to play in.”
Iowa State’s first win of the season wasn’t pretty and it certainly wasn’t perfect. It was full of mistakes that hurt the Cyclones, forcing them to fight all the way to the finish line of a victory over the Zips of the Mid-American Conference. There were fumbles, costly penalties and even a botched kickoff.
They were all easily avoidable miscues that cost the Cyclones in the moment, and could have cost them even more had it been against one of Iowa State’s ranked Big 12 Conference foes that’s still waiting on the schedule. But on Saturday, against a Zips team that arrived in Ames 2-0, it was enough to overcome.
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Barely.
Among the biggest problems: a personal foul flag on De’Monte Ruth for a late hit on an opposing player after an airmailed pass out of bounds; a fumble by wide receiver Tarique Milton; a kickoff by Chris Francis that sailed out of bounds; a facemask penalty by Braxton Lewis; and a late fumble by Sheldon Croney. Those are some of the reasons Iowa State wasn’t able to truly feel comfortable until Connor Assalley booted a 33-yard field goal with 9 minutes, 50 seconds remaining to give the Cyclones some breathing room.
“We’re not naive,” Campbell said. “I think the reality of it is, those are areas that on both sides of the football and even special teams where big plays happen — good things happen and then we shoot ourselves in the foot a little bit,” Campbell said.
And Iowa State usually paid the price Saturday.
Milton’s fumble gave Akron great field position on Iowa State’s 26-yard line. The Zips needed just three plays to reach the end zone and take a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Francis’ errant kickoff gave the Zips solid field position again, which led to a field goal to tie the game 10-10 in the second quarter. And Lewis’ penalty helped move the chains for the Zips and set up another field goal that brought them to within 17-13 of Iowa State.
“It’s just unacceptable,” said Iowa State wide receiver Hakeem Butler.
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But Iowa State was able to beat the blunders.
This time around.
Iowa State quarterback Zeb Noland completed 26 of 34 passes, mostly in short-yardage situations, for 233 yards and one score. Running back David Montgomery finally broke loose, running for 107 yards and one score. Assalley booted four field goals, from 27,29,33 and 37 yards. The Cyclones defense also limited Akron to 244 yards of offense including just 91 on the ground.
That helped elevate them above the errors this week. But with a trip to No. 17 Texas Christian coming up on the schedule, the Cyclones may not be able to survive those mistakes next week. Surviving against Akron is one thing. Getting over those mistakes against the Horned Frogs — one of the top teams in the Big 12 — is another.
And TCU is just the start of things for the Cyclones, who also have a trip to No. 15 Oklahoma State and a game against No. 13 West Virginia at Jack Trice Stadium in the near future.
“We’ve just got to keep pushing forward and getting better,” Noland said.
Some of the biggest areas they’ll need improvement in: avoiding those costly penalties, making those little mistakes on special teams and avoiding turnovers. Playing fundamental football was the Cyclones’ blueprint for success a year ago during their remarkable run. So far this season, the team has struggled in those departments.
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But they are making strides.
Montgomery’s breakout game, Noland’s efficient showing and the fact that the Cyclones were able to overcome the obstacles are solid signs. So is the fact that Iowa State held on to the lead although Montgomery was dinged up and Campbell limited his usage in the second half. The head coach even praised the growth of the offensive line.
If Saturday showed anything, it’s that there is still work to be done. But there’s also some reasons for hope.
“I would say we’re growing,” Campbell said. I think there’s a lot of growth.”
