STORY: The five most impactful players & plays from Iowa State's win over Cincy

[Connor_Ferguson]

FERGUSON: The five most impactful players & plays from Iowa State's win over Cincy

Iowa State Cyclones place kicker Chase Contreraz completes a fake for a first down in the second quarter during a college football game between the Iowa State Cyclones and the Cincinnati Bearcats Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati. © Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NE

cyclonefanatic.com

 

[Clonz4ever]

Jaylin Noel?

 

[Aclone]

Jaylin Noel?

Yeah, for those returns.

But I’d agree with one of Connor’s points he didn’t really expand on. I think that Ike Ezeogu is really starting to blossom. That’s huge for the program.

 

[nrg4isu]

Low-key players of the game:

1) Myles Purchase - He gets under-shadowed by Tampa and for good reason, but Purchase had at least 2 fantastic passes defended. Both would have been big gainers/first downs. He to me is the key to our defense. If he can be solid on an island, that opens up all kinds of options for pass rush / spy / etc.

2) James Neal - He had the kickout block on the fake FG and just trucked his guy. His pass pro has always been pretty good and his run blocking is coming around strongly. He was also key on the 4th and 1 play that Norton should have housed (except Dean pushed him from behind enough to cause him to trip lol).

3) Jim Bonifis - How many bad snaps have we had this season? Wet ball this game at times, no problems at all. He's also a big key to diagnosing blitzes pre-snap and we all know how few sacks we've given up.

All 3 of these guys had less than perfect games, Purchase & Neal both had penalties on them, Bonifis was blown up at least once by Cincy's Corleone - but perfect is the enemy of good. They all 3 had good to great games.


Missing in action: Daniel Jackson - after his one good game, he's gone MIA. Bitter got the start over him today. Noel and Higgens have solidified themselves as 1 & 2. When we're not running 12 or 13 personnel, who is our #3?

 

[t-noah]

Missing in action: Daniel Jackson - after his one good game, he's gone MIA. Bitter got the start over him today. Noel and Higgens have solidified themselves as 1 & 2. When we're not running 12 or 13 personnel, who is our #3?

Can we be Bitter that Jackson didn't have more targets/catches? [pun intended]

It would be very nice to have Higgins, Jackson, and Noel as deep threats every game.