Cyclones earn opening win over Huskies
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| Iowa State senior tight end Collin Franklin sings the school song with the student section after Thursday's 27-10 victory over Northern Illinois. (Ben Frotscher/Daily News) |
AMES — Iowa State’s football team showed signs of greatness at times.
It also showed signs of major problems. Just look at the three turnovers, a missed field goal and some sloppy tackling.
But for in the season-opening game against Northern Illinois, style points can get thrown out the window. Iowa State’s offense was just too much to handle Thursday night as the Cyclones claimed a 27-10 victory over the Huskies at Jack Trice Stadium.
“We started like we had prepared the whole training camp and then first-game mistakes started creeping in and we had too many of them,” Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads said. “You can’t turn the ball over three times and expect to win a majority of our football games.”
Iowa State outgained the Huskies 403-249 on offense, with senior quarterback Austen Arnaud going 27-of-36 for 265 yards passing. He also had two interceptions.
“I think it was consistent,” Rhoads said of Arnaud’s play. “I think he made a number of throws he didn’t make a year ago — meaning accurate. He made some good decisions. Then he made some blunders that were really bad tosses.”
After both teams missed field goal attempts, Iowa State took its second drive 11 plays and Arnaud used a quarterback keeper to find the end zone. Grant Mahoney’s extra point gave the Cyclones a 7-0 lead with 2:27 left in the first quarter.
The Cyclones then used defense to create offense. Safety Zac Sandvig intercepted Huskies quarterback Demarcus Grady and on the very next play, running back Alexander Robinson took it to the house — 63 yards — as Iowa State went up 14-0.
Mahoney added a 40-yard field goal later in the half as Iowa State lead 17-0 at halftime.
Northern Illinois got a field goal from Mathew Sims and a touchdown run from Grady to bring the score to 17-10 in the fourth quarter.
Rhoads thought his team let up.
“I thought we got too relaxed and lost focus at the end of the first half and going into halftime,” he said. “It took us until the fourth quarter to recapture that and it showed.”
Later in the fourth quarter, the Cyclones made it a two possession game when Robinson scampered to the end zone from five yards out to make it 24-10 after the extra point.
“The kids’ focus was great, the resolve was equal to that and it was a huge drive to end up in the end zone and score those points,” Rhoads said.
An interception by Jake Knott set up a 23-yard field by Mahoney to seal the win.
Robinson ended the game with 97 yards rushing on the ground, while Collin Franklin at tight end led the Cyclones with five catches for 75 yards. Eight different players had a pass reception in the win.
Iowa State’s defense was solid in the win, forcing four punts, three turnovers and two missed field goals against Northern Illinois, a team picked to win their division in the Mid-American Conference.
“If you would have told me we were going to do that, I would have called you a liar,” Rhoads said of allowing 10 points. “The last couple days of preparation I was very nervous. They do a lot of things with movement and motion to create numbers advantages.”
