WHO: Iowa State Cyclones (1-0)
WHEN: 2:30 PM CT (Saturday, September 9, 2023)
WHERE: Jack Trice Stadium (Ames, IA)
TV: FOX (Jason Benetti, Brock Huard, Allison Williams)
RADIO: Hawkeye Radio Network (Gary Dolphin, Ed Podolak, Rob Brooks) | Sirius/XM 83
MOBILE: foxsports.com/mobile
ONLINE: foxsports.com/live
FOLLOW: @IowaAwesome | @HawkeyeFootball | @IowaonBTN
WEATHER: high in the low-to-mid 80s, mostly sunny
LINE: Iowa -3.5
SP+: Iowa -0.3

Iowa State turned the page on a... tumultuous... offseason and opened the year with a 30-9 win over UNI. The Cyclones debuted a lot of new faces in that game, but they had little trouble with a UNI program that's made them sweat in more than a few season openers over the years. ISU opened up a 14-0 lead after the first quarter and led 23-0 at the half, pushing the lead to 30-0 in the third quarter before easing off the throttle for the remainder of the game.

The Cyclones also enter the Cy-Hawk game as holders of the trophy for the first time since 2015. Iowa made sure their time with the trophy was limited then, as the Hawkeyes began a seven-year (six-game; thanks 2020) run of dominance in the series that season. Iowa State is also seeking its first win over Iowa in Ames since 2011; the Hawkeyes have (somewhat improbably) won the last five games in Jack Trice Stadium.

The Cyclones rolled over UNI last week, but that 30-9 final may have been a little deceptive. Iowa State was outgained by UNI (279 yards to 250) and was just 2/11 on third downs. The Cyclones' first touchdown came on a pick-six just over two minutes into the game, and their second touchdown came after a 7-play, 21-yard drive that started on the UNI 21-yard line after a good punt return.

Iowa State's best two drives of the game came sandwiched around halftime. The Cyclones engineered an 8-play, 71-yard drive in the final minutes before halftime, capped off by a 14-yard touchdown pass from Rocco Becht to Tyler Moore, then had a 4-play, 87-yard drive right after halftime that wrapped up with a 36-yard touchdown pass from Becht to Ben Brahmer. (Iowa State even managed to squeeze in a 56-yard field goal right before halftime thanks to a UNI interception at the end of the first half.)

But the Cyclones also punted eight times in the game, including their last four drives of the game, which totaled 34 yards on 15 plays. Suffice to say there are still some issues for the new-look Iowa State offense at this point in the season. Without the early defensive touchdown and short field touchdown that staked them to an early two-score lead, this game might have been a lot more nerve-wracking for the Cyclones.

The new signal-caller in Ames appears to be redshirt freshman Rocco Becht (6'1", 205) -- he got the lion's share of the snaps against UNI. He finished with a very efficient line of 10/13 for 113 yards (8.7 yards per attempt), 2 touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 200.7 passer rating. True freshman JJ Kohl (6'7", 250) saw action as well, but finished 4/5 for 3 yards. Kohl was also credited with three rushing attempts for 22 yards.

Tight ends were the favored targets in the passing game for ISU last week -- Brahmer (6'7", 240 lbs) had the long catch of the week with his 36-yard scoring grab, while senior Easton Dean (6'6", 265) had three catches for 21 yards. The wide receiver depth chart is topped by junior Jaylin Noel (5'10", 200), junior Jayden Higgins (6'4", 210), senior Dimitri Stanley (6'0", 200), and junior Aidan Bitter (6'2", 200). Noel led Iowa State with four catches against UNI -- but gained just six yards on those four grabs. Higgins and Bitter each contributed a 15-yard catch.

The Iowa State depth chart lists no less than five guys at running back -- and that running back-by-committee approach was borne out in the distribution of carries last week. Three backs had five or more carries, led by sophomore Cartevious Norton (5'11", 225) with 11 carries for 49 yards. Freshman Abu Sama III (5'11", 200) has some explosive pop (6 carries for 40 yards), while Eli Sanders (6'0", 205) finished with five carries for 13 yards.

The bigger question for the ISU running game -- and for the offense as a whole, essentially -- is how well a young offensive line holds up against the Iowa pass rush. The Cyclones have an experienced hand in interior lineman Jarrod Hufford (6'5" 325) with 21 returning starts -- but no other player has more than six starts and most got their first career starts against UNI. That young line protected the ISU quarterbacks well, but the Iowa pass rush ought to be a lot more formidable than the UNI pass rush.

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An Iowa State defense with a lot of new faces made its debut last Saturday, and it made a pretty strong showing against the Panthers. UNI gained 279 yards and just 3.9 yards per play, including 2.9 yards per carry on the ground. The Panthers also converted just 3/15 third downs. 209 of those 279 yards came in the second half -- after ISU had opened up a 30-0 lead in the game. The Panthers had eight drives in the first half: six ended in punts and the other two ended in interceptions.

Sophomore defensive end Tyler Onyedim (6'4", 295) turned heads with his performance, finishing with 7 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss. Much like their counterparts on offense, Iowa State's defensive front seven doesn't have much in the way of experience. WLB Gerry Vaughn (5'11", 235) is Iowa State's most experienced defender, with 19 career starts.

No other Cyclone in the front seven has more than eight career starts (junior defensive tackle J.R. Singleton). In fact, against UNI Iowa State had three players making their first career starts on the defensive line alongside Singleton. Despite that youth, Iowa State finished with five sacks and nine tackles for loss against UNI, led by sophomore linebacker Caleb Bacon (6'3", 240) with two sacks.

The strength of the Iowa State defense looks to be in the secondary, where the Cyclones have multiple returning starters, led by junior safety Beau Freyler (6'2", 220) and senior cornerback T.J. Tampa (6'2", 200), who both earned All-Big 12 recognition last season. Tampa had a team-high nine pass break-ups last season to go with one interception, with Freyler finished with two pass break-ups and an interception as well.

Those two weren't even the most impressive defensive back against UNI -- that would likely be sophomore safety Jeremiah Cooper (6'0", 185), who had a pair of interceptions, including a pick-six. Junior cornerback Myles Purchase (5'11", 205) also had a strong outing against the Panthers last week, with 7 tackles (6 solo), 2 tackles for loss (including a sack), and a pass break-up.

While the Iowa State defensive backs may not have the most gaudy stats (outside of Cooper's two-interception game a week ago), they're still a very strong unit -- they were a Top-10 unit a year ago and don't appear to have slipped very much this season. This is likely to be one of the best secondaries that Iowa faces all season.

Iowa State's 3-3-5 formation has done the job in limiting Iowa's offense in recent years as well. Iowa has only topped 300 yards of total offense against the Cyclones once in the last four games (313 in 2019) and the Hawkeyes have been held under 175 yards of total offense the last two seasons. They'll need to be more effective than that on offense to regain the Cy-Hawk Trophy this season.

Iowa ought to have an advantage on special teams in this game -- but maybe not as much as expected. The credentials of Tory Taylor (preseason All-American, 2022 Big Ten Punter of the Year) and Drew Stevens (16/18 FG in 2022) are well-established, and Kaleb Johnson (54-yard kickoff return in Week 1) and Cooper DeJean (16.5 yards per punt return in 2022) are dangerous in the return game.

The Cyclones have weapons on special teams as well, though. Senior kicker Chase Contreaz, a Nebraska transfer, is just 1/1 as a kicker at Iowa State -- but that one make was a 56-yard attempt last week. Jaylin Noel was a real weapon in the punt return game, too -- he had 60 yards on two returns lat week.

Sophomore punter Tyler Perkins was absolutely booming the ball against UNI -- 8 kicks that averaged 53.6 yards, including one that went 70 yards. If Iowa tries to play the field position game against Iowa State, it may be a stalemate.

Historically, Week 1 performances have often been poor predictors for the Cy-Hawk game -- for Iowa and Iowa State. Games against mid-major or FCS opponents typically don't tell us much about the Cyclones or the Hawkeyes, not to mention the issues involved in shaking off nine months of in-game rust. So there's a good chance that what Iowa did against Utah State (as well as what Iowa State did against UNI) last week may not mean much at all for this game.

This game seems likely to come down to the battles up front. If Iowa State's new-look defensive line can fluster Iowa's offensive line, get pressure on Cade McNamara, and prevent the Hawkeye running game from establishing a rhythm, it should be the Cyclones' game to lose -- it would take some heroic efforts from the Iowa defense (and special teams) to prevail.

Conversely, if Iowa's somewhat more experienced front-seven is able to bottle up the ISU running game, overwhelm a young ISU offensive line, and get pressure on Rocco Becht, the Cyclones are going to be in deep trouble.

In that scenario, I think Iowa has the advantage. I trust the Iowa defensive line to make things hard on an inexperienced ISU offensive line -- especially with Phil Parker's ability to turn up the pressure when he needs to do so. The Iowa offensive line had a pretty uneven outing in Week 1, but they are still the more experienced unit in this game and that will give them enough of an edge in this matchup.

Kaleb Johnson runs for a touchdown, Cade McNamara throws for another, Drew Stevens chips in a field goal, and the Iowa defense adds on a safety to give Iowa enough points to bring the Cy-Hawk Trophy back to Iowa City.

Iowa 19, Iowa State 10