{"id":16863,"date":"2011-08-06T12:45:41","date_gmt":"2011-08-06T17:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=16863"},"modified":"2011-08-06T12:36:55","modified_gmt":"2011-08-06T17:36:55","slug":"2011-iowa-state-cyclones-college-football-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/2011-iowa-state-cyclones-college-football-preview-16863\/","title":{"rendered":"2011 Iowa State Cyclones College Football Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iowa State Cyclones<\/strong>
\n2010 record:\u00a0 5-7 overall, 3-5 conference<\/strong>
\n2010 Bowl Game:\u00a0 N\/A<\/strong>
\n2010 ATS:\u00a0 5-7<\/strong>
\n2010 O\/U:\u00a0 3-9<\/strong>
\nReturning starters:\u00a0 12 total (5 on offense, 7 on defense)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Iowa State offensive tackle Kelechi Osemele is expected to be a major force in the Big 12 Conference<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the month of August, our team of writers will be previewing the top teams heading into an exciting 2011 campaign.\u00a0 The college football handicappers at Maddux Sports are also preparing and have season-long packages readily available for clients.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take a look at the football program in Ames, Iowa heading into a third year under head coach Paul Rhoads.<\/p>\n

Offense<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The biggest question mark for a team that many are calling the deepest the program has had in years is quarterback.\u00a0 Junior Jerome Tiller has entered camp No. 1 on the depth chart, but is being asked to improve his accuracy.\u00a0 He has connected on 80-of-155 career passes.<\/p>\n

If he slips up, Steele Jantz is ready to assume the role, a transfer from City College of San Francisco.\u00a0 He needs to quickly grasp the playbook to overtake Tiller for the starting nod against Northern Iowa on Sept. 3, but he threw for 23 touchdowns and rushed for 14 more against junior college competition last year.<\/p>\n

Big things are expected out of sophomore Shontrelle Johnson in the backfield, as he broke out with 103 yards and a 61-yard touchdown against Texas Tech last year.\u00a0 Rhoads has commented that the running back position could be the team\u2019s biggest strength over the course of the 2011 campaign.<\/p>\n

The wide receiving group lacks big-play ability, but does have experience.\u00a0 The Cyclones averaged less than 10 yards a catch in 2010, while finishing the year with its longest catch being just 39 yards.<\/p>\n

Darius Darks is listed as a team captain and has gained over 1,100 receiving yards in his career.\u00a0 The main concern surrounding him is injuries, as 47 of his 106 career receptions came during his freshman year (2008).<\/p>\n

Depth on the offensive line is also considered a strength and all the attention will be focused on Kelechi Osemele.\u00a0 He\u2019s a preseason first-team All-Big 12 lineman and current featured on the Outland Trophy watch list.<\/p>\n

Defense<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

All the talk entering the season is focused around applying more pressure to opposing quarterbacks, as the unit managed to tally just 11 sacks in 2010.\u00a0 Despite the inability to get into opposing backfields, the defense finished seventh in the conference in total defense (408.2).<\/p>\n

Both defensive ends from a year ago return, but that\u2019s not likely to solve the problem of getting to the quarterback.\u00a0 Jacob Lattimer has the chance of showing the most improvement, as he ended up leading the team with four sacks.\u00a0 He moved to the position after starting the first half of the season at linebacker.<\/p>\n

Pass defense was a strength in 2010 and a talented tandem returns in senior Ter\u2019Ran Benton and Leonard Johnson.\u00a0 The secondary finished sixth in the conference in pass defense and that number is likely to improve.<\/p>\n

Special Teams<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Place-kicker Grant Mahoney finished 8-of-17 in his field goal attempts last year, but seven of the eight misfires came from 45 yards and beyond.\u00a0 He also possesses a big leg, hitting a 57-yard field goal that ended up being the second longest in the country.<\/p>\n

A major weapon returns to handle the punting duties, as Kirby Van Der Kamp earned first-team freshman All-American honors.<\/p>\n

Kick returns will be handled by a talented trio, featuring Johnson in key situations.<\/p>\n

Against the Spread<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Surprisingly enough, the Cyclones have managed to cash tickets as a home favorite, posting a 4-1 ATS mark under Rhoads\u2019 watch.<\/p>\n

Bet On<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Bettors have found great success in playing Iowa State against its in-state rival, covering 10 of the last 13 meetings with Iowa. \u00a0Don’t miss out on getting the best number by checking out the college football lines page.<\/p>\n

Fade Away<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Stay away from backing the Cyclones in their home matchup against Texas A&M, as they are 0-3 ATS when hosting in the series.\u00a0 The game is also sandwiched in between road games at Missouri and Texas Tech.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iowa State Cyclones 2010 record:\u00a0 5-7 overall, 3-5 conference 2010 Bowl Game:\u00a0 N\/A 2010 ATS:\u00a0 5-7 2010 O\/U:\u00a0 3-9 Returning starters:\u00a0 12 total (5 on offense, 7 on defense) Over the month of August, our team of writers will be previewing the top teams heading into an exciting 2011 campaign.\u00a0 The college football handicappers at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":16555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,1444],"tags":[738,5136,2666,5134,5137,5132,5133,5135],"class_list":["post-16863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-football","category-headlines","tag-big-12","tag-darius-darks","tag-iowa-state-cyclones","tag-jerome-tiller","tag-kelechi-osemele","tag-paul-rhoads","tag-shontrelle-johnson","tag-steele-jantz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16863"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16865,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16863\/revisions\/16865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}