Iowa State football postgame mailbag: Are concerns about special teams, run game valid?

AMES — There may be no grand lessons or brilliant insights to be learned or gleaned by beating an overmatched MAC opponent 43-10, but there is an obvious, yet still important, distinction to be made.

Teams don't accidentally beat the doors off an opponent. While Iowa State's thrashing of Ohio on Saturday may not speak to the Cyclones' ceiling, it does suggest something about their floor.

And the evidence is stacking up that it's considerably higher than one might imagine after losing so many of the stars from last year's preseason top-10 squad.

The Cyclones, sitting at 3-0 heading into their Big 12 opener against Baylor, have put themselves in position to turn some heads. That's a good place to be.

Let's get to your questions in this week's postgame mailbag.

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Is this the longest game we’ve had? Between injuries, penalties, and reviews we were on pace for a four-hour game.

Iowa State has had longer games, but certainly dragging a blowout near the four-hour mark just feels torturous for everyone involved.

Even Iowa State coach Matt Campbell noted the game length in his postgame comments.

Officially, it was a three-hour and 38-minute affair at Jack Trice Stadium.

Game lengths is something I've been beating the drum about for a long time. Routinely and regularly eclipsing the three-and-half-hour mark for games and more frequently getting past the four-hour mark is bad for the sport.

It's a poor in-person experience. It's a sluggish television experience.

Baseball has been in near-crisis mode about its game times for the last couple decades, but college football is right there with them with three-plus hours being devoted to games.

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My first wish would be to significantly curtail — if not outright eliminate — the review process. It's too broad, too inconsistent and too central to the game. Getting it under control would make a big difference in not just total game time, but flow as well.

The rest of the world, though, seems to only want to expand replay, so I'm guessing that's not currently a realistic option.

The easiest option, in this reporter's opinion, would be some simple yet powerful tweaks to the rules.

The most obvious would be to not stop the clock after every first down throughout the game. I think stopping the clock after first downs is a worthwhile rule to distinguish college from the NFL, but it could be relegated to just the final, say, four minutes of each half. It doesn't need to be a 60-minute rule.

Same goes for running out of bounds. College could match up with the NFL here and keep the clock moving after the ball leaves the field of play and not really lose much.

Make the games shorter. Make the games better.

Any concern for the run game after the performance today?

Here are just the raw numbers for Iowa State's running backs:

• Jirehl Brock: 7 carries, 76 yards, 10.9 YPC

• Deon Silas: 10 carries, 58 yards, 5.8 YPC

• Eli Sanders: 8 carries, 28 yards, 3.5 YPC

So why would anyone be concerned about the 163 yards and 5.1 YPC Iowa State posted?

Well, there's some noise there.

All but 15 of Brock's yards came on a single run (61 yards) while Silas (24 yards) and Sanders (10) picked up about a third of their total yardage on one tote.

So is there reason to be worried?

I wouldn't think so as the running game was solid throughout the first two games, Brock also had four catches out of the backfield and those long runs still count.

Additionally, Hunter Dekkers threw for 268 yards in an abbreviated start. The Cyclones also threw the ball on the first four plays of the game — signaling that the passing game may be the foundational element to this offense rather than the defense.

It's something worth keeping an eye on, but I'm not sure the performance against the Bobcats warrants getting too worried.

Also worth noting that Matt Campbell said freshman Cartevious Norton, who electrified in his opener but has been sidelined with an injury since, is close to returning to action.

More: Recap: Iowa State football sprints past Ohio 43-10 to close out its non-conference schedule

Why, after hiring a special teams coach, is our special teams still not very good?

Fair question!

After a relatively innocuous start against Southeast Missouri, Iowa State got a pair of punts blocked against Iowa and then had a PAT blocked against the Bobcats. The Cyclones also gave up a big return on a kickoff.

And this is on top of the last few years being a total adventure on special teams.

There seems to be something fundamentally problematic with Iowa State's special teams. Campbell isn't shy about putting some of his starters and best players on the field in those situations, so it's not a lack of talent.

Whether it's scheme or execution, something seems to go wrong in that department far too often for far too long.

Campbell did make a special teams hire this offseason, but technically not a coach. Seth Bonamego is a special teams analyst, which means he's on staff and can work with his colleagues but is not allowed to work directly with players, per NCAA rules.

Is it worth elevating that position to a full-time coach, who can be on the field and in the film room with players? Whether or not that's the solution, it feels like it's one that is going to have to be attempted at some point if the problems keep piling up.

It hasn't cost the Cyclones yet this season, but it has previously. And if things aren't cleaned up, it's easy to see it happening in the future.

Travis Hines covers Iowa State University sports for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or  (515) 284-8000. Follow him at @TravisHines21.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Are Iowa Sate fan concerns about special teams, run game valid?