Grading Iowa State’s Offensive and Defensive Coordinators This Season

The Iowa State Cyclones are now seven games into the 2026 college football season. Unfortunately, things aren’t going their way.

The year started great. Iowa State took down the SEMO Redhawks, 38-10, followed by a close road loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes, and a 55-7 win against the Bowling Green Falcons. Week 4 was tough, as the Cyclones lost at home to the Utah Utes.

But they bounced back the following week, taking down the West Virginia Mountaineers in a near-100-point thriller. The last two weeks have been poor for Iowa State. They lost on the road to the BYU Cougars, 24-10, followed by a 39-3 road loss to the Arizona Wildcats.

We are at a fair point in the season where we can give grades to both the offensive and defensive coordinators. So let’s take a look at how they should be rated.

Tyler Roehl - C+

Iowa State offensive coordinator Tyler Roehl talks to media during a media opportunity at Stark Performance center on Feb. 11, 2026, in Ames, Iowa. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Roehl has had a solid year as an offensive coordinator. He has definitely gotten the best out of Aiden Flora, Cameron Pettaway, Arnold Barnes III, and the entire run game overall. Flora looks like one of the better running backs in the entire nation. With that being said, though, the pass game has been a big issue.

It isn’t completely Roehl’s fault. He is put in a tough quarterback situation where it feels like neither Jaylen Raynor nor Connor Moberly can throw the ball consistently. But regardless, he’s called some questionable plays that go against the momentum of how the offense has been moving.

Early in the season, they gave Raynor tons of deep shots when he wasn’t hitting them. They have also forced him on quarterback-designated runs, which hasn’t worked out well.

Roehl hasn’t been awful given the circumstances, but there certainly are question marks when it comes to playcalling.

Jesse Bobbit - C

Iowa State defensive coordinator Jesse Bobbit talks to media. — Iowa State defensive coordinator Jesse Bobbit talks to media during the football defensive coaches media opportunity at the university’s Stark Athletic center on Feb. 13, 2026, in Ames, Iowa. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Jesse Bobbit had a great first few games of the season. The defense had six sacks in the first game of the year against SEMO. They also held Iowa to just 16 points and Bowling Green to seven. But once Utah came around, the team started to struggle.

They haven’t been able to understand defenses early in the game, and it’s caused the team a lot of trouble. The team just never feels ready to take on the unique offenses in the Big 12. And while part of that is due to injury, it’s still unacceptable how their first-quarter defense has looked.

With that being said, he has gotten the absolute best out of linebacker Sullivan Schlimgen, which is definitely a plus.

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