Three Takeaways From Disheartening Iowa State Cyclones Loss to Colorado Buffaloes

Here are three takeaways from a horrible loss for the Iowa State Cyclones in Week 7

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The Iowa State Cyclones were unable to bounce back from their first loss of the season, suffering their second straight defeat in Week 7. Despite being a favorite in the game against the Colorado Buffaloes, it was pretty clear early on that this was going to be a challenging game for the program. 

Despite it being a see-saw battle for a while, the Buffaloes were able to make the plays down the stretch to get the win. While there was undoubtedly a horrific pass interference penalty call on a play that the Cyclones threw an interception on, they weren’t at their best in this one. 

With the loss, Iowa State now falls to 2-2 in the conference and 5-2 overall. Two conference losses at this stage of the campaign are far from ideal, and the team is going to seemingly need help and to run the table at this point if they are going to play for a Big 12 title. As the team heads into their second bye week of the year, here are three takeaways from a disheartening defeat. 

Pass Defense Gets Exposed

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Coming into the game the defense was a major concern for the team. Even though they performed much better against the run, they struggled to stop the passing attack of the Buffaloes. Big plays were a common theme in this one, as injuries might have become too much for this team to handle. 

While the bye week should help, Iowa State having their two best corners out for the rest of the year is something that feels impossible to overcome at this point. It was good to see the run defense perform better, but the pass defense is going to be an issue for the rest of the campaign.

Becht Struggles 

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Coming off arguably his best game of the season, Week 7 was arguably the worst for Rocco Becht. In the loss, he went just 18-for-33 passing with 205 passing yards and one interception. It was an uncharacteristically poor game for the signal caller, who simply didn’t have it in this one. 

With the injuries piling up for the program, they need Becht to be at his best if they are going to compete in the Big 12. If he plays like he did against the Buffaloes, this year could spiral out of control quickly. 

Sama Shines

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Even though there was a lot of bad for the program in Week 7, a clear bright spot was running back Abu Sama. With Carson Hansen being ruled out, it was going to be a busy day for the junior running back, and he delivered. 

In the loss, Sama rushed for 177 yards and two scores. With an impressive stat line like that, it would have figured to be enough to get Iowa State a victory. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much else that was positive for the team.