Matt Campbell Reveals What Iowa State Cyclones Emphasized Offensively During Bye Week

Matt Campbell was not shy when revealing one point of emphasis during the bye week for the Iowa State Cyclones offense.

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The Iowa State Cyclones went into their Week 8 bye on a low note. They were defeated by the Colorado Buffaloes in Week 7, 24-17, dropping their second game in a row.

With a record of 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the Big 12, they were watching their chances of playing for the conference title and earning a spot in the College Football Playoff slip away. But they have a chance to get their season back on track in Week 9.

Iowa State will be hosting the BYU Cougars, who are 7-0 and ranked No. 11 in the country, for homecoming weekend. If the Cyclones want any chance of turning this into a championship season, they have to win that matchup.

How will they overcome such a tall task? Improving on early downs offensively would be a good place to start.

Iowa State needs to get back to succeeding on third down

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Head coach Matt Campbell revealed that it was one of the points of emphasis during the team’s bye. They know they have to be better on first and second downs to keep the offense on schedule and avoid third and long.

"That's the thing that we went into the last bye week, we wanted to be a little bit better on first and second down," Campbell said, via Alec Busse of Cyclone Alert, part of the 247Sports Network (subcsription required). "And we were."

Iowa State has converted only six of its 28 third-down attempts over the last two weeks. On average, they had 7.5 yards to gain. That is certainly far from an acceptable success rate, but to make matters worse, their kicking game has been a mess as well.

Knowing that they would be going for it on fourth down more often than not certainly impacted the play calling on third down. However, it wasn’t first and second down that was putting the Cyclones' offense behind the sticks.

Third down execution is crucial for Iowa State

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As Busse noted, they gained at least five yards on more than half of their 1st-and-10 plays against the Cincinnati Bearcats and Buffaloes. Untimely penalties have certainly hurt, but the team’s execution on third down has not been as crisp.

"We weren't as good [on third down] compared to the first five games," Campbell said. "And I think it's something we gotta do a better job of. Some of those are penalties that have kind of hindered us."

Self-inflicted damage, such as penalties, is a killer for any offense. Especially one that is more methodical in nature, such as what Iowa State has under Campbell.

It will be interesting to see what adjustments have been made. The Cyclones weren’t 5-0 to begin the season by accident. If they can get back to that kind of disciplined, high-efficiency football, they can turn this season around.