Sixteen seconds was all it took for Iowa State to get punched in the mouth Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium.
No. 15 Utah jumped ahead 7-0 almost immediately and never really let the Cyclones breathe, turning a Big 12 opener into a 31-17 home loss that left head coach Jimmy Rogers pointing squarely at one thing: the defense’s inability to finish plays in space.
“The linebackers didn’t tackle well enough,” Rogers said after Iowa State dropped to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in conference play. ”I would say (linebacker Sullivan Schlimgen) has been a highlight so far and I think Sully had a rough day today.
Carson (Willich) had a rough day. Wil
le (Breland III) had a rough day. I mean, just the amount of missed tackles in space showed up everywhere.”
That problem was on full display in a first half that got away from the Cyclones fast. Utah built a 21-point cushion by halftime, racking up 24 points and 272 yards before the break as missed tackles, poor angles and blown assignments kept Iowa State on its heels. The Utes finished with 31 points, while the Cyclones managed to steady things some after halftime, holding Utah to seven points and 139 yards in the second half.
Still, the damage had already been done.
“I think everyone still had a belief in each other,” said Schlimgen, who led the Cyclones with 12 total tackles. “At halftime, we were all still (saying), ‘There’s plenty of time to go win this game,’ and at the end of the day, the offense, they did enough. They did enough to win, so as a defense we feel like we can definitely improve and we will.”
For Iowa State, the tackling issues weren’t just a one-play problem. Schlimgen called them mostly “self-imposed,” even with Utah’s talent in the open field.
“Not wrapping up and taking bad angles,” Schlimgen said. “At the end of the day, that’s not gonna be very successful.”
Rogers echoed that bluntly when he summed up the game’s turning points.
“We can’t give up 200 yards on the ground and in the air and expect to win the football game,” he said. “I thought at times our offense had some plays and I felt like they battled, but when it was crunch time, the defense - we didn’t stand up. We didn’t get off the field.”
The defense has been one of Iowa State’s strengths through the first quarter of the season, entering Saturday ranked 11th in the FBS in total defense at 226.3 yards per game and tied for 13th in scoring defense at 11.0 points per game. Against Utah, though, those numbers took a hit as the Utes repeatedly turned space into production.
On the other side, Jaylen Raynor kept moving the ball and hit several personal bests. He finished with career highs in completions with 21, attempts with 40 and passing yards with 205, while spreading the ball to a season-high eight different receivers. Cody Jackson caught four passes for 31 yards and Tyler Fortenberry had one catch for four yards, both recording their first receptions in cardinal and gold.
Even with those small gains, the offense never quite found enough rhythm against a ranked opponent. Iowa State has averaged just 15 points per game in its two games against ranked teams, Iowa and Utah.
Raynor said the group is trying to avoid getting stuck on the missed chances.
“We mentioned after the game trying not to play the ‘if’ game,” said Raynor, who’s thrown and rushed for eight combined touchdowns this season, but has now been intercepted three times. “(We) try to stay away for that because that’s kind of when your team starts to separate. It’s just (about) owning up to our own mistakes and really diving into the film.”
There were still a few bright spots tucked inside the loss. Schlimgen’s 12 tackles were a career high, and Willich recorded Iowa State’s only sack, giving him a tackle for loss in each game this season. The Cyclones have also been sturdy in the fourth quarter, allowing just 16 points there through four games.
Tailback Aiden Flora led Iowa State with 54 rushing yards Saturday, and his 382 yards on the ground through four games are the most by a Cyclone since Breece Hall had 428 in that same span in 2021.
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For an Iowa State fan reading the conference board, that matters because the Big 12 rarely gives anyone an easy path, and UCF just showed it can survive one of those grind-it-out afternoons. The rest of the week featured plenty of standout individual performances, from multiple-touchdown efforts to strong rushing and passing days, but UCFs result was the one that underscored a simple truth about this league - sometimes the most revealing wins are the ones that ask a team to adapt on the fly. [Read more 🡒]