AMES - Iowa State has reached the halfway point of Jimmy Rogers’ first season, and the picture is pretty clear after Friday night’s 24-10 loss at No. 8 BYU: the Cyclones are still searching for the right formula, but they’re not buried.
At 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the Big 12, Iowa State has already been tested by a brutal opening stretch. All three losses have come against teams sitting in the AP Top 25 right now: No.
8 BYU, No. 11 Utah and No.
17 Iowa. That kind of slate will humble anybody, and Rogers made it clear his group has work to do before the second half begins.
"Like I told the team, 3-3 is where we're at," Rogers said after losing to the Cougars. "It doesn't mean that's where we need to be. And so we need to grow and get better."
The bye week comes at a useful time. Iowa State gets a chance to “heal from a physical standpoint” before heading back out for another tough one, a Oct. 24 trip to Tucson to face Arizona.
The Wildcats are 5-1 and 2-1 in the Big 12, and they received 82 votes in the Week 7 AP Top 25 rankings. It will be the first time the Cyclones meet Arizona as Big 12 opponents at Casino Del Sol Stadium.
"Like I said, 3-3 is not where we want to be," Roger said. "But it's also not where we have to be. We've got to change the tide here."
There’s still a path to bowl eligibility if Iowa State can stack enough wins over the back half of the schedule, and Rogers said the open date gives his team a chance to reset.
"We've got another half of the season left to go," he said. "And we've got a bye week to be able to respond."
Through six games, the Cyclones are basically right where a preseason read might have placed them record-wise. The more surprising part is how they arrived there. The West Virginia game - a wild 45-42 homecoming win that featured Aiden Flora accounting for five touchdowns - was the kind of swing result that can shape an early season, and it gave Iowa State a critical conference win.
But the first six weeks also exposed some issues, especially on defense. Iowa State sits No. 11 in the Big 12 in scoring defense and No. 12 in total defense, and its 5.8 yards per play allowed is tied with Cincinnati for No. 14/15 in the league. That’s not the kind of profile that usually pairs well with a demanding schedule.
The offense, meanwhile, has been uneven. Going into the season, the expectation was that Iowa State might have trouble putting points on the board consistently, and that has held up for much of the first month and a half. The West Virginia outburst was real, but it also came against a defense that has been giving up 46 points and 556 yards per game in Big 12 play, so that performance came with an obvious caveat.
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Iowa State Is Getting Big 12 Respect With One Bigger Question
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Jamarion Batemon Suddenly Has A Real Chance To Break Out At Iowa State
Jamarion Batemon already gave Iowa State reason to believe last season, when the freshman carved out a useful role with his defense and a steady 6.6 points per game. Now the path in front of him looks wider. With Killyan Toure sidelined for an extended stretch, Batemon is positioned to see more minutes and a bigger responsibility in the Cyclones backcourt as the season approaches.
For a program that leans on toughness and depth, that kind of opportunity can change a players trajectory fast. Batemon does not need to become a different player to matter more, but the chance is there for him to turn a promising first year into something more substantial if the added playing time turns into production. [Read more 🡒]