ISU fan coming in peace

[BryceC]

As I get older football season sneaks up on me more and more. We're basically here guys!

Looking forward to seeing both teams play again. I wouldn't say I'm confident, because I've obviously learned that's foolishness in this series but I think ISU has the upperhand here for several reasons, like the new coordinators for UNI for example, although I don't know much about the roster.

Which units are strengths for UNI this year? What players will stand out? Looking forward to a good game and good experience for both squads on the season.

[BCPanther]

UNIs biggest strength, as always, will be the front 7 on defense and the offensive line has a shot to be pretty good as well. Skill positions on offense are solid. Biggest question mark is the secondary, lots of new faces and may play as many as 9 different guys back there.

This is a game Campbell knows he HAS to have. Can't lose another FCS game. Farley, for all his flaws, will have UNI ready to go and will definitely be competitive.

I think Iowa State wins a close game that is completive all the way through.

Iowa State 27
UNI 21

[BryceC]

Agreed. Campbell cannot lose this one. ISU lost recruits last year after losing to UNI, if they do it again this year it's going to be extremely difficult to keep any momentum going there. Glad to hear the front 7 should be good. It will give us some indication on how ISU's offensive line will be then, because that's obviously one of the question marks.

[clenz]

The fact ISU even has reason to be cautious - this year of all years - tells you the state of Iowa State's program.

Iowa State gets more money from the B12 every year than UNI has for an entire athletic budget.
ISU just completed a 60 million dollar renovation to JTC. We got new turf for the second time since 1990 and it was a big deal. 60 million is over 3 full years of UNI spending
Iowa State staff members made over 4.23 million dollars in 2016-2017 - that's more than the entire football budget at UNI.
Our head coach wouldn't be your highest paid assistant
There will be as many people at this game as UNI will have at all of our home games combined.
ISU has 22 more scholarships to give and the ability to tell a recruit that they get a B12 logo on their chest.

UNI's strength is not having this expectation of "Oh crap, are we going to lose to this inferior in-state school again?".

UNI's defense will be strong, just like always. The secondary returns pretty much every one. The LB corps is strong. The DL corps is strong.

The only question, granted it's a big one, I can think of is what system is UNI running on offense and will the OL be able to do it. If it's the system we saw Eli running the last few games last year UNI wins. If it's anything but that ISU wins.

Sorry for being slightly less than "in peace". I'm still in peace, it's just game week and I'm done with 90% of my negativity from this past year and off season. I'm already done with UNI being poo pooed by media members. UNI has dominated ISU for the last half decade to decade. The series might be tied but UNI has outgained ISU in pretty much every single game by at least 100 yards. UNI has had the best players on the field. UNI has had the better coaching staff. UNI has played harder.

UNI 27
ISU 20

['70 Grad]

I'm worried that we were able to keep the lead last year because of many ISU turnovers. They have settled on a QB now, and have a more settled O line too.

[clenz]

I'm worried that we were able to keep the lead last year because of many ISU turnovers. They have settled on a QB now, and have a more settled O line too.

We are also going to be much more balanced. We had a QB who couldn't throw playing last year. Our QB was our only rusher over 4 YPC. We had zero balance as an offense at that point last year. One of their TDs was a completely blown coverage on the UNI sideline headed towards the scoreboard due to 4 100% new DBs playing together. That isn't the case this year anymore, and Malcolm Washington missed that game with an ankle injury.

The turnovers were forced by the UNI defense, not just given away. They earned those two picks late in the game by baiting Lanning. They earned that fumble by ripping it out of the the carries hand

[BryceC]

Tough to say on turnovers. There is definitely an element of luck there, and you can't always count on them.

clenz, you are right ISU has every financial advantage over UNI. As we've seen lately it doesn't always matter, and that's a real testament to the program, staff, and players. Yeah I'm just curious to see what UNI does from a scheme standpoint, and what kind of impact a new coordinator might have if any. Those are the questions in regard to UNI from my perspective.

[Trapped in California]

I think your questions are our questions regarding coordinators.

That said, I suspect that Farley has hired coordinators that will generally continue what you have seen in the past (much to my frustration on offense). He hired a coordinator that previously ran 100 plays a game. That coordinator ended up calling a ton of read option during the one season he was here, for some reason.

[Blue42]

Bryce...just FYI, UNI does have new offensive coordinators. That's plural...at least by title. But John Bond will be in the box on Sat. Guessing he's calling plays.

The defensive coordinator...Jeremiah Johnson...a very good one, has been there for many years.

Now...as for ISU...any way you guys could start Joe Lanning at QB again this year?

[Blue42]

And speaking of coordinators...as long as Jon Heacock is ISU's D-coordinator, I feel like we've got a shot.

Farley owned that guy like a beeeaaaahhhtch when he was HC at Youngstown. Sorry Jon.

[UNIdad]

Agreed. Campbell cannot lose this one. ISU lost recruits last year after losing to UNI.

Which recruits did Campbell lose because of the loss to UNI? He certainly lost some momentum, but there was plenty else last season that made it more difficult to recruit. Interestingly, I think they lost some of their recruits because they recruited over them (Sterling Galban) or they just didn't want to do the work (Dave Dawson). I don't think the UNI game has much effect in itself, but only when lumped with the other things that make it tough to recruit to Iowa State.

[7YrsOfCollegeDownTheDrain]

I'm interested to see how this years game plays out - I think ISU is a lot better but i also think UNI is a better team than they were a year ago. What I'm hoping is that UNI has a defined identity on offense and it has some balance to it. Dunne fits the mold of the QB's that have been the most successful at UNI and the O Line looks more like the type of line designed to move people off the ball. Here's to hoping that if we see read option it's a run/pass read option.

[BryceC]

Which recruits did Campbell lose because of the loss to UNI?

Octavious Morgan. He was the #1 JUCO CB last year when he commited, was #5 in the final rankings. Had his official visit for the UNI game last year and decommited a few days later.

[sivert]

Octavious Morgan. He was the #1 JUCO CB last year when he commited, was #5 in the final rankings. Had his official visit for the UNI game last year and decommited a few days later.

Too bad. Would have been fun to beat kids like that.

[95UNIGRAD]

Octavious Morgan. He was the #1 JUCO CB last year when he commited, was #5 in the final rankings. Had his official visit for the UNI game last year and decommited a few days later.

Anybody that would disregard every other reason for coming to a university based upon viewing one football game is probably not someone you want on your team.