Was Iowa State football's fourth-quarter offense a breakthrough or mirage?
AMES – Matt Campbell watched the film of the fourth quarter of his team’s 31-14 victory over West Virginia, looking for the reason the Iowa State offense, much maligned for its lack of production during a five-game losing streak, was suddenly marching into the end zone.
Three times the Cyclones scored touchdowns in those final 15 minutes, matching the most touchdowns they’d scored in an entire game during Big 12 play.
As the Iowa State coach evaluated what he was seeing, he came to a simple conclusion of why the Cyclones finally succeeded.
“The execution was elite in the fourth quarter of the football game,” Campbell said Tuesday ahead of Saturday’s contest at Oklahoma State (2:30; ESPNU). “From the blocking to the running to obviously the quarterback play – I thought we really executed as well as we had all year.
“That whole second half of that football game, that’s as well as we’ve played from an execution standpoint and a precision standpoint on the offensive side.”
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The fourth quarter offered something of an explosion for the Iowa State offense, which entered the game ranked last in scoring and total offense in the Big 12.
In that final frame, the Cyclones posted 90 yards rushing and 47 passing for an average of 9 yards per carry and 6.7 yards per passing attempt, significantly better than the 3.1 yards per carry and 5.7 yards per attempt it averaged through the game’s first three quarters.
“I think we found out a lot about ourselves as an offense,” tight end DeShawn Hanika said. “We found out that when we do take care of our assignments and do our job, we can move the ball and we can put points on the board."
Iowa State’s production came in no small part to a pair of long runs by back Deon Silas, who ripped off rushes of 38 and 33 yards on separate drives.
Those runs, though, do offer another lens to view that Cyclones’ fourth quarter. Because the most important question for the Cyclones is whether that fourth-quarter production is sustainable or a mirage.
Without Silas’ two big runs, the Iowa State offense averaged just 2.3 yards per carry on eight rushes.
Looking further into the context of the Cyclones’ scoring, it’s worth noting that West Virginia was flagged four times for 38 yards, which resulted in a pair of Iowa State first downs, including one on fourth down when the Mountaineers roughed Iowa State punter Tyler Perkins. Additionally, one of Iowa State’s touchdowns came on a 34-yard drive after a 30-yard West Virginia punt.
So what gives Iowa State confidence this was a breakthrough rather than an isolated quarter fueled by help from West Virginia and a pair of long runs that have otherwise been in short supply?
It’s the execution they’ve seen on film.
“At the end of the day, our schemes, the plays and everything that (offensive coordinator Tom) Manning has drawn up for us throughout the week – they spend hours and hours game planning – the stuff does work,” Hanika said. “Just for us to be able to execute it and show people we are game-planning right, we do know what we’re doing, for us to execute it and show if we do our assignments correctly that it will work.
“It’s as simple as that."
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And even if Iowa State did get help from the Mountaineers, capitalizing on it was no guarantee. Taking advantage of situations and moments has largely escaped the Iowa State offense this year, making Saturday a noteworthy change.
“Big plays – that's part of momentum, and we’ve been looking for the consistency of not only creating momentum plays but sustaining those plays and finishing those plays off,” Campbell said. “You talk about putting it all together with consistency.
“You have to have a spark to do it, but then you’ve got to go finish it.”
Additionally, the value of a breakthrough on the confidence for a team mired in struggles shouldn’t be discounted. Success often can breed further success.
“I thought in the second half of that football game against a really talented defense, you saw a breakthrough,” Campbell said. “There was high-end execution across the board. Those are great things to have happened. It’s telling that that group is still pounding away at it in the month of November. You’re well into the football season, and I’ve always felt like our teams continually get better as the season goes.
“There is some validation of this is what we can do, this is what it can look like when it’s done with precision and detail. Those are the things we’ve been pounding away at. Inconsistency has hurt us at times. To get that consistency and to see the end result of it, those are huge things for us.”
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: Iowa State football's offense looks to build momentum
