AMES - For all the good Jaylen Raynor did in his Iowa State debut, the Cyclones’ quarterback still walked away seeing the missed chances.
That’s the mark of a veteran. After helping Iowa State beat Southeast Missouri 38-10 in the season opener, Raynor pointed first to what got away.
He threw two touchdown passes, ran for two more scores and helped generate several big plays, but his 8-for-16 passing line left him wanting more ahead of Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. Cy-Hawk matchup with No.
22 Iowa at Kinnick Stadium.
“Definitely a few plays I want back,” said Raynor, who made his 37th consecutive start as a collegiate quarterback in Saturday’s win. “We left a lot out there, but, obviously, it was the first game and you kind of get to see those things first game, Burt for my expectation, I didn’t play good enough. I feel like I left lot of completions out there and third down conversion that could have kept some drives going.”
That self-assessment fits the bigger picture with Raynor. He’s a quarterback who knows when he’s not sharp, but also has the kind of confidence that comes from a long run of starts and production. He said the next step is simple: cleaner ball placement and quicker feet to get the ball out on time.
“For me, it’s definitely just increasing my ball placement,” said Raynor, who won his 21st game as a starting quarterback, which ranks second among Big 12 quarterbacks. “I’m speeding up my feet to get the ball out on time and things like that.”
The numbers show why the bar is high. Saturday marked the first time in 715 days that Raynor finished below 50 percent passing, and the last time it happened was at Jack Trice Stadium in an Arkansas State uniform.
In that game, he completed just 31.3 percent of his throws in a 52-7 loss. Against Southeast Missouri, he was far better, but still not fully satisfied.
He did plenty to keep Iowa State moving. Raynor connected with Dom Overby on throws of 45 and 40 yards, and he found Omari Hayes on a 34-yard improvisational strike. He also avoided turnovers, which mattered in a game that still had rough edges all over.
Jimmy Rogers saw the same thing from the sideline. Iowa State’s first-year head coach called it a game managed by a quarterback who can make defenses account for every broken play.
“He managed the game,” Rogers said of Raynor’s week one performance. “I know he’s going to want a couple throws back, but you can see what he does with his legs when the player breaks down and people are covered.
That’s an element of the game where you’ve gotta account for him, because he’s not really fast, but somehow he’s really elusive - and that’s something Iowa State fans have seen in the past. Now you’re experiencing it with him on our side.”
That elusiveness showed up twice when the pocket collapsed and Raynor slipped away for first downs on third-and-long. He doesn’t panic, and that ability to turn dead plays into live ones gives Iowa State a real weapon every week.
Still, Rogers made it clear the opener is just the starting point. He said the Cyclones need to clean up the little things, because the score alone doesn’t tell the whole story.
“We have to be able to look at what we did and improve on the little things, because you can play an unbelievable game and lose,” Rogers said. “And you can play an awful game and win. So I don’t really judge our performance based off the actual score as much as I do the body of work, and there (are) things we need to learn from.”
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Iowa State Needs To Know These Hawkeyes Before Kinnick Turns Hostile
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For Iowa State, the intrigue goes beyond just the rivalry backdrop. Head coach Jimmy Rogers brings his own coaching history into a game that has stayed tight in recent seasons, and the Cyclones know the Hawkeyes are built to make every possession feel heavier than it should. The next wrinkle is the one Iowa has not fully sorted out yet, and it could matter a lot once the crowd settles in and the first real pressure hits. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa State May Have Found A New Threat In Its Receiver Battle
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Amid all that, Dominic Overby made himself impossible to ignore in the receiver mix. He was not listed as a starter on Iowa States first official depth chart, but he finished with two catches for 85 yards and both receptions came on explosive plays of 40-plus yards. For a depth chart battle that was supposed to sort itself out over time, Overby gave the Cyclones a new name to watch very early. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa State Has A Real Opening In The Cy-Hawk Fight For The Trophy
The Cy-Hawk game has a familiar feel to it again: plenty of noise, plenty of history, and not much separating Iowa and Iowa State as they head into a rivalry that rarely gives either side much breathing room. Iowas quarterback situation remains unsettled, which adds another layer to a matchup that already tends to turn on small edges, while the battle up front figures to be a major factor in whether the Cyclones can control the pace and keep the trophy chase on their terms.
Jaylen Raynors first outing in a Cyclone uniform gave Iowa State a glimpse of what the passing game can look like when he is comfortable, and that makes the stakes in this one even more interesting for a team looking to build on that start. Still, the setting matters too, because Kinnick Stadium has not exactly been a welcoming place for the Cyclones in this series, and the recent run of tight finishes suggests this one could come down to the same kind of late-game edge that has defined so many of these meetings. [Read more 🡒]