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    • Will Iowa State football score enough points to compete against Big 12 teams?
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    Will Iowa State football score enough points to compete against Big 12 teams?

    Madoc Meredith Posted on

    How can an Iowa State football team, undefeated in four games, still be lacking at the start of games?

    It wasn’t quite a slow start to the season in the record books, but the Cyclones certainly looked settled in the first quarters of three of their first four games. It was a similar story against Houston on Saturday.

    Iowa State defeated the Cougars 20-0 in their Big 12 opener, but it took some time for the Cyclones to pull away from their opponents.

    Kyle Konrardy put Iowa State first with a field goal nearly eight minutes into the first quarter. Then the scoring stalled and it took until the final three minutes of the third quarter for the Cyclones to find the end zone.

    More: Hines: Matt Campbell becomes the winningest coach in Iowa State football history with victory over Houston

    Even Iowa State’s second touchdown didn’t come until there were six minutes left in the fourth.

    “I feel like we weren’t far away in the first half,” Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said after the win over Houston. “We moved the ball with pretty good consistency. It just felt like you were an inch away from a first down or a hair’s breadth away from making the game.”

    In three of four games – excluding the big win over Arkansas State – Iowa State often struggled to put up points in the first quarters of its games.

    Des Moines Register columnist Travis Hines predicted Iowa State would beat North Dakota 49-7 in the season opener. As he put it, “The Cyclones have the talent and experience to make quick work of their visitors.”

    More: Iowa State football earns its first Big 12 win of 2024 with a victory over Houston

    That proved to be true, except the final score was much lower – 21-3. The Cyclones scored just 38 seconds into the game, but then grew sluggish and didn’t score another touchdown until the final minute of the second quarter.

    Iowa State faced Iowa the following week and got off to a slow start again. The Cyclones scored no points in the first two quarters before scoring 14 points in the third and six more points in the fourth.

    That’s not to say Iowa State didn’t play well or show signs of greatness during those periods. There were a lot of things I liked about the Cyclones’ performance against Houston.

    “We had the ability to put ourselves in really good third-down situations (9 of 17),” Campbell said. “Another great night with third-down conversions and we took care of the football.

    “When you talk about playing on the streets, how do you achieve success? These are the things we talk about and it was great to see our kids do it.”

    But games are unwinnable without points, and the Cyclones need to find the end zone sooner against the majority of their Big 12 opponents.

    More: Iowa State football: Jayden Higgins’ six straight games with touchdown catches sets Cyclones record

    Just watch the conference on Saturday.

    Kansas State scored 21 points in the first half against Oklahoma State, which scored 13 points in the first two quarters. TCU defeated Kansas after both teams scored 17 or more points in the first half. BYU scored 31 points between the first and second quarters and Baylor had 14 points at halftime. Colorado put up 27 points in the first two frames and UCF scored 14 in that time.

    Could Iowa State’s defense limit the production of these offenses? Yes.

    But opponents will score touchdowns, and Iowa State will — most likely — not do well if it’s always playing catch-up. With the talent level and experience on offense, Iowa State should be able to score early and consistently.

    Give fans all the Jayden Higgins touchdowns. Have Abu Sama and Jaylon Jackson run explosive 50- to 70-yard runs. Show off all of Jontez Williams and Jeremiah Cooper’s interceptions like it was Saturday.

    But Iowa State football could sit back and relax a little if these things progressed in the first half.

    Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at [email protected] or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.

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