Three takeaways from Iowa State football's loss at No. 8 BYU | Hines
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The Friday night lights proved to be entirely too bright for the Iowa State football team.
The Cyclones were not, somehow, blown out of Provo, Utah, despite being outgained by 306 yards, but still lost to No. 8 BYU, 24-10, at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
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BYU (5-0, 3-0 Big 12) made miscue after miscue, but the Cyclones (3-3, 2-2) were rarely able to take advantage in a way that ever truly threatened the Cougars.
Iowa State kept things close on the scoreboard, but the distance between the Cyclones and BYU was vast.
The Cougars were 0-for-3 on fourth down, failed to register points inside the Iowa State 10-yard line twice, lost the turnover battle, were flagged six times for 65 yards and botched a pair of punt returns – one pinning them at their own 1-yard line and another giving the Cyclones the ball in plus territory.
Despite all that, BYU outclassed Iowa State at nearly every turn. For as much of a nice story as the Cyclones have been in the early weeks of coach Jimmy Rogers’ tenure, this was a reminder of the gap between them and the top of the Big 12.
The offense is in a bad way
This was an offensive debacle of about the highest order. No aspect of the offense is safe from intense criticism in this game.
We have to start with the passing game as it’s been a reoccurring issue, and it perhaps was never as bad as it was against BYU.
Quarterback Jaylen Raynor was 16 of 29 for 98 yards and a touchdown.
Even those stats are a bit inflated as the Cyclones tacked on 67 passing yards and 131 total yards in the fourth quarter as they scrambled to get back into the game. They had just 31 passing yards and 69 total yards through three quarters.
Iowa State spent most of the game throwing the ball horizontally more than vertically, with most of Raynor’s attempts being made within a few yards of the line of scrimmage. He completed five passes in the second quarter – for a grand total of six yards.
Raynor has underwhelmed for much of this season, and calls for a real quarterback competition with backup Connor Moberly are only going to grow louder after this performance. It does seem as though there’s much more wrong with Iowa State’s passing game than just Raynor – they're down two starting wideouts and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of separation happening down the field – but the QB is always going to take the brunt of the blame.
The lack of a credible passing attack is hurting the ground game, too. After going for 212 yards last week against West Virginia, running back Aiden Flora was bottled up for most of the game, but did manage to grind out 86 yards.
Iowa State was 2 of 13 on third down
BYU has a good defense, no doubt, but offensive production this meager demands change.
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BYU didn’t light up the scoreboard and the Cyclones were able to keep the game within striking distance, but that obscures how badly the Iowa State defense has beaten.
The Cougars passed for 329 yards and rushed for another 177 to get to a total of 506 yards.
That’s now four of the last six halves (the second half against Utah and first against West Virginia being the exceptions) in which the Iowa State defense not only hasn’t lived up to its own standards but has been objectively poor.
Tackling continues to be an issue as does coverage down the field. Oh, and there hasn’t been much of a pass rush nor have they handled running quarterbacks well.
The optimism that the Cyclones’ defense could help carry a struggling offense is dissipating fast.
Bye-week blues
Iowa State heading into its bye week after this beatdown is something of a good news/bad news situation.
Certainly, it’s not going to be any sort of fun to have to live with the stench of this loss for two weeks. Things were so bad on both sides of the ball that the aroma will linger, and it will not be pleasant.
The good news? Well, the Cyclones have some soul searching to do, and the off week will allow them to do some serious self-scouting that, hopefully, they can use to set themselves right.
Will Iowa State consider a quarterback change? Will the defense look at significant tweaks?
It feels like everything should be on the table.
Iowa State columnist Travis Hines has covered the Cyclones for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune since 2012. Contact him at [email protected] or (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Three takeaways from Iowa State football's loss at No. 8 BYU | Hines