No. 14 Iowa State football sees ‘challenges’ and ‘opportunities’ coming out of bye week

AMES — Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht’s focused on making the right play, not necessarily big plays.

The strong-armed junior still has produced plenty of the latter, but he’s primarily showcased his efficiency early this season while helping the No. 14 Cyclones start 4-0 for the second straight college football season.

“That’s what I want to continue to do throughout the rest of the season no matter what my stats are,” Becht said after ISU’s 16-13 win at home over Iowa two weeks ago. “I think the ball’s the main thing.”

Becht attempted 141 consecutive passes without an interception — a string of clean throws that ranked fifth all-time among Cyclones quarterbacks — until Arkansas State corralled one off a dropped pass and ricochet on Sept. 13. That’s not on Becht, though, and he’s thrown seven touchdown passes already as ISU (4-0, 1-0 Big 12), fresh off a bye week, seeks to resume its winning ways at 6 p.m. Saturday against fellow unbeaten Arizona (3-0, 0-0) at Jack Trice Stadium.

The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN. The Cyclones dropped two spots in the Associated Press top 25 poll despite being idle last week. And several recent developments will help determine if ISU can contend for a Big 12 crown for the second consecutive season. Here are a handful of them:

1. Injuries

The Big 12 now requires teams to submit an initial injury report on Wednesday night each game week, so it’s unclear for now who will populate the Cyclones’ list.

But star tight end Gabe Burkle sat out the Arkansas State game and special teams standout Aiden Flora and valuable linebacker Carson Willich have been missed for a couple of weeks. Add in kicker Kyle Konrardy — who did not kick after being looked at in the medical tent in the 24-16 win at Arkansas State — and ISU may need to make several adjustments, particularly on offense, in terms of game plans for at least the immediate future.

2. Emerging transfers

Notably, the Cyclones added talented transfer receivers Xavier Townsend and Chase Sowell after seeing former stars Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel become high NFL Draft picks for the Houston Texans. And, notably, Townsend and Sowell were banged up in fall camp and didn’t record a catch in ISU’s season-opening, 24-21, win over Kansas State in Dublin, Ireland.

The dynamic duo is fully operational now, though — and Townsend exploded for a career-best 92 receiving yards in the win at Arkansas State. The 6-foot-4 Sowell also has four catches over the past two games and looks to be a trusted red-zone threat moving forward, as well. Combine their traits with young holdovers at receiver such as Brett Eskildsen (one touchdown, averaging 23.6 yard per catch) and Dominic Overby (two touchdowns, 16.3 yards per catch) and ISU’s receivers can start to flex their muscles alongside a deep and skilled set of tight ends in the passing game.

3. It’s “prove it” time

The Cyclones emerged from a uniquely challenging first four weeks unscathed but have yet to play anything approaching an “A” game in all three phases. Now they can focus solely on the Big 12 title chase beginning with Saturday night’s meeting with the resurgent Wildcats.

ISU won’t play unbeaten and now No. 12 Texas Tech, so the schedule’s setting up nicely to make a run toward a conference championship game for the second straight season. But the Cyclones must start playing their best football now — and sustain it as difficult games at solid Cincinnati (in two weeks) and No. 24 TCU (on Nov. 8) loom amid other tough tests this fall.

So, to sum up, ISU must fully adopt Becht’s approach to the game. Keep it clean. Make the right play safely, then connect on big plays as they emerge from a foundation of consistency good play on both sides of the ball.

It’s not a complicated recipe for success but procuring the proper ingredients can be a dicey proposition — and the 2025 Cyclones will find out if they’re built for big moments this weekend and beyond.

“There (are) obviously great challenges in front of (us), but I think we’ve got great leadership and young men (who) understand what those challenges look like,” ISU head coach Matt Campbell said recently.

Comments: robgray18@icloud.com