Iowa can’t take the Cyclones for granted

Kirk Ferentz didn’t stay home last Thursday night to watch the Northern Illinois-Iowa State game on television.

Instead, Ferentz was at Kingston Stadium in Cedar Rapids with a trio of his Iowa assistant coaches, watching the Linn-Mar/Cedar Rapids Kennedy football game. Kennedy has a prized recruit in Christian French.

But the Hawkeyes’ DVRs were in use that evening. There may be a minority of you of the Iowa bent who think Saturday’s game against Iowa State is a lock. You don’t reflect the views of the Hawkeyes’ coaching staff.

“They looked good,” Ferentz said Saturday about the Cyclones in their 27-10 season-opening conquest of NIU. “Everybody I talked to said they looked excellent.”

I leaned more toward good than excellent Thursday. But on further review, it was a win over a Huskies team with speed and talent that won at Purdue last year and lost by just 28-20 at Wisconsin, a win over a team projected to contend for the Mid-American Conference title, a win over a team that averaged 28.6 points last season.

There may be a dismissive attitude about the Cyclones in some eastern Iowa circles, and I suspect three primary reasons.

One, some of those circles always have that attitude.

Two, Iowa whomped ISU 35-3 last year in Ames.

Three, the Cyclones were picked by many to finish last in the Big 12 North despite going 7-6 a year ago, mainly because they play a brutal schedule that includes three road games against teams currently ranked in the Top 10.

Leaving the first reason alone, let’s get to the 35-3. Iowa State threw five interceptions and had six turnovers.

Iowa outgained the Cyclones by 123 yards.

The better team won, and clearly. It was Game 2 of the Paul Rhoads Era.

“Last year, I thought they really looked like they improved as the season went on,” Ferentz said. “They were comfortable with their coaching staff. And now when you’re in Year 2, I think that makes a huge difference in any program. So we expect them to be a very good football team.”

The 2009 meeting became a blowout in the second half. “If I remember, it was just a couple of plays here and there,” Ferentz said.

“I don’t mean to be disrespectful of fans, but sometimes fans don’t always have a great sense of reality. The scores, you can throw them right out the window, as we all know. ”

Entering last season, Ferentz said his own team could be better than it was in 2008, but it wouldn’t necessarily show up in the won-lost department.

But show up it did, as Iowa went from 9-4 to 11-2.

Before this season’s start, Rhoads said, “It could be a breakout year and we could not win as many games. How do you say that? We play the toughest schedule in America this year, so we can have a breakout year — I mean everything about it jumps forward — but we can’t show it on paper and show what it means.”

But maybe they can.

Here’s what Northern Illinois saw: A senior quarterback in Austen Arnaud who is mobile and savvy, lots of Cyclones who can catch the ball, including a horse of a tight end in Collin Franklin, a first-rate running back in Alexander Robinson, a veteran and large offensive line, and a defense that played above its billing.

The linebacker corps was the biggest question mark for this team.

But against Northern Illinois, Cyclones linebackers A.J. Klein, Matt Tau’fo’ou and Jake Knott had strong games. Klein had a game-high 15 tackles, and Knott picked off two passes and forced a fumble.

It was Northern Illinois, not Texas. But it still appeared Iowa State didn’t flip its competency switch from on to off just because some outsiders thought it would.

“I just know this,” Ferentz said. “I can’t remember a game being easy with Iowa State, and I don’t expect anything different. It’ll be a tough game.”

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