‘At times they don’t even have a quarterback under center’: Iowa State coach scouts No. 15 Utes

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Iowa State was projected to be the worst team in the Big 12 during the preseason.

After longtime Cyclone coach Matt Campbell, who took the program to new heights, left to coach Penn State, new coach Jimmy Rogers had a total rebuild on his hands.

The former Washington State coach didn’t inherit much. Just 22 scholarship players, per 247Sports’ Alec Busse, remained. Iowa State had no returning starters.

Conventional wisdom suggested that getting the program back to winning seasons would be a multi-year effort, but with the transfer portal, teams can be remade much faster.

While there’s still a lot of season left to play, look at Oklahoma State, which hired North Texas head coach Eric Morris and brought in 92 new players — a number of which, including quarterback Drew Mestemaker, were from North Texas.

The Cowboys beat then-No. 6 Oregon two weeks ago, snapping a 21-game losing streak against FBS opponents, and look to be ahead of schedule in their rebuild.

Is Iowa State the next Big 12 team that will expedite its rebuild timeline?

Through three games, the Cyclones have looked better than expected. They blew out Southeast Missouri State and Bowling Green and in a road matchup against rival Iowa, then-No. 21, the heavily-favored Hawkeyes needed a last-second field goal to escape with a 16-13 victory.

Iowa State has been led by a stout defense that ranks in the top 21 nationally in passing yards allowed and rushing yards allowed. Though quarterback Jaylen Raynor hasn’t turned heads with his passing performance — Iowa State ranks No. 124 in passing yards per game — he hasn’t needed to yet with a strong rushing attack led by running back Aiden Flora (328 yards, 3 TD) and Raynor (110 yards, 2 TD).

Throw in projected rainy conditions in Ames on Saturday and a team playing with a lot of confidence and it starts to make sense why the spread has narrowed to Utah by just 7.5 points.

Iowa State could end up being a tougher test for the Utes than Arkansas, especially with the game on the road.

Rogers knows that the Utes will be another early measuring stick for his team.

“Utah’s a really, really good football team. They’re going to find ways to get their guys to the football and they have many of them, so it’s not like you can just take away one of them or you hone in on one of them,” Rogers said. “They got two running backs that probably started most places in the country. They have two quarterbacks that would start at most places in the country and they both step on the field at the same time and then they have elite speed on the perimeter with good length. Then their O-line is big and strong.”

Just like the coaches before them, Rogers and his staff are effectively preparing for a sort of “option attack,” though quarterbacks Devon Dampier and Byrd Ficklin also make teams respect the Utes’ throwing abilities. In the first half of last week’s win over Utah State, Dampier had one of his best passing performances as a a Ute with 218 yards and two touchdowns.

“We got to do a good job of not losing our eyes and playing sound, option-type football because at any moment, how they are playing right now is one guy gets it, it doesn’t mean that he’s ending with it, so it makes you have to be sound,” Rogers said.

“… Even when they’re in tight, the one person that touches it may be pitching it to somebody else or the quarterback may be throwing it deep. So it’s a really, really good football team.”

One interesting wrinkle that the Utes have put on film early in the season is a “no quarterback” look with a completely empty backfield. Eventually, either a quarterback or a running back motions over to take the snap, but it’s just another in a long line of looks opponents have to prepare for in Kevin McGiven’s offense.

“At times they don’t even have a quarterback under center. They line up in six open formation and then they motion a guy back in. You’re not really sure who’s going to be at quarterback at times,” Rogers said.

“And then the triple-option stuff with tight end wrap and you have to be, for one, count it out right, you have to have the right coverage and you got to be able to win one-on-one on the perimeter at times and you got to be able to mix it up and play zone defense and you got to be in the right spot. These guys are good. They’re really good and they don’t put up these numbers if they weren’t.”

While Utah’s creative offense gets a lot of the attention, its defense has been equally as good. Though the competition hasn’t been tough, the Utes have taken care of business, ranking in the top 14 nationally in points allowed and total yards allowed.

“Real physical, extremely fast, well coached, gap sound. They know what they’re doing. They know what the checks are. They know where their eyes should be,” Rogers said of Utah’s defense. “It’s a lot of man, so it’s a body on a body. It’s not like you’re going to fool them. You got to win your one-on-one. There’s one-on-one blocks everywhere. There’s one-on-one coverages everywhere.”

Utah’s tackling, an issue a year ago, has been sound to start the year.

“They do a really good job from the top down tackling in space. Their D line does a phenomenal job of winning one-on-one pass rush. They’re big, they’re strong, and they got a great unit,” Rogers said. “They’re well coached. Coach Scalley does a great job. You can see that over the years of what they’ve been able to do just on that side of the ball, and they look very similar to every year that I’ve ever watched Utah play.”

Saturday’s game against the No. 15 Utes presents an opportunity for Iowa State to get a huge win early in the Rogers regime, but knocking off Utah will require a lot.

“There’s a chess match and we’re not going to be perfect in this game, but we got to be able to respond when they make plays. We also have to keep our focus when we make plays. It will be a 60-minute game. Our guys know that. It will be extremely physical and we’re excited for Big 12 play,” Rogers said.

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