QUICK HITS: Iowa State takes down North Dakota

Iowa State 21 North Dakota 3 bit of a bit of a weird ball game as you can see here Jack TR stadium in the back it was sunny when we got done now the lights are on but offensively I think there was a lot to be excited about Rocko Beck Begins the game with two great throws Jaylen null Jaden Higgins getting open making two great plays to start the game off with a quick touchdown drive and I think that aggressiveness offensively new play caller Taylor Mouser it seemed like Iowa State wanted to get downfield and they didn't have many drives to do it I think they had less drives than they would have liked but you had three scoring drives and for the most part Iowa state was pretty efficient in getting Balls to the wide receivers getting downfield Rocko Beck had a couple of Mis cues early but was mostly consistent hitting as wide receivers that seemed to be the clear direction of attack not as much focus in the running back room AB Abu Sama had a couple of nice carries Carson Hansen a few great runs especially on third down he he he ran the ball very physical but the passing game was the focus and I think there was a lot to take away from that in Iowa State's first game but defensively I think there were a few questions that Iowa state would have liked to see answered the linebacker core is limited they were limited going into the game and then Caleb bacon who had emerged into the starting position ahead of the year was one of the top tacklers on Iowa State's defense last season goes down and at that point the group was kind of scrambling I think Cooper eel came in and played a great game obviously a sophomore and I thought Jacob Ellis had a really nice day as well but there was more that I think Iowa state would have liked to see from its linebacker group The the secondary had a great game um Iowa State safeties were incredibly consistent jont TZ Williams on the corner looked really solid that quarterback battle was a major discussion point in the off season but John Williams came in and played probably his best game in his career some nice coverage almost had a pick six a few miscues but I think there was a lot to be excited about for the secondary the question really becomes whether Iowa State's linebacker Corp can sort of sustain going into this next week and what Iowa state does to mitigate some of those losses whether it's more focused on the defensive line who I thought settled in a little bit better after a relatively poor first half but pressure stud to get there will that be the focus going into next week we'll see speaking of which I think the discussion around iio State's defensive effort gets a bit twisted and it's really because North Dakota did a great job at converting on third down they got to Third and medium situations plenty of times and often converted right at the the yard marker a yard short and iio state might have gotten a couple of more offensive drives but the most important part is that the defense kept North Dakota out of the end zone the red zone defense was excellent um Bo Freer came in got a nice pick almost had two but one hit the ground but the defense bent didn't break and I think that at least at least leaves something to be excited about as the Cyclones head to Iowa City next week so a bit of a a strange game Flow North Dakota's just two Long offensive drives kind of kind of swayed the flow of Iowa State's attack but it really didn't make a difference as Cycles were consistent on offense scored the ball when they needed to and the defense got stops conard Snyder had a great play on uh on a third down to keep North Dakota from potentially converting cutting the score close but 21 to3 I think the score betrays how close the game was a little bit Iowa state was fully in command of this one especially after they after they put their second touchdown on the board there really wasn't any chance that North Dakota was going to come and put double digits on Iowa State but still the Cyclones come out with week one with a win headed to Iowa City next week and we'll see what happens