Iowa State football mailbag: Where do the Cyclones go from here after a loss to Ohio?

ATHENS, Ohio – Iowa State fired the bulk of its offensive coaching staff this past offseason, and all the Cyclones had to show for it Saturday was seven points in a loss to Ohio.

Things are not well at the moment for the Cyclones.

Once again, Iowa State’s defense played plenty well enough to win, but the Cyclones’ offense showed no punch and not a lot of potential in a 10-7 loss to the Bobcats of the Mid-American Conference on Saturday.

Iowa State is now 1-2 on the season, and things feel dire for a Cyclones program that went 4-8 last year, underwent a major assistant coaching shakeup, spent the summer dealing with a gambling scandal that cost it five starters and now looks worse for wear.

“Their kids wanted it more,” Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said. “They were the more physical team.

“A lack of consistency, a lack of urgency and especially in some areas continue to show up. We’ve got to get it fixed. It’s my responsibility.”

There’s still a lot of season left for Iowa State, but the focus has shifted from returning to a bowl game to fielding a competent offense that can allow the Cyclones to compete in the Big 12.

There’s lot to discuss, so let’s get to your questions and the postgame mailbag.

What was the situation with the offensive line against Ohio?

The situation is an emergency.

Iowa State’s offensive line took a major step backward against the Bobcats, who seemingly had an open invitation into the Cyclones’ backfield throughout the day. If it was an invite, they certainly crashed the party.

The Cyclones averaged 1.7 yards per carry, and the burden for that lies not with the running backs but with an offensive line that was consistently and soundly beaten by its MAC counterparts.

“A lack of physicality,” Campbell said. “It’s embarrassing. We continue to struggle there right now. That is an area for us if we’re going to take a step forward, that group has got to be a group that steps forward for us.

“Their d-line physically got after us all day.”

Those words from Campbell raise a lot of red flags.

First off, Campbell is rarely that blunt with a negative assessment of a position group. That’s a pretty good indication of how poorly they performed and how dire the situation is.

Additionally, it should be a major concern that Iowa State lost the physicality battle when first-year offensive line coach Ryan Clanton’s entire philosophy is centered on playing with “violence.” When you can’t accomplish your No. 1 priority against a MAC defensive line, that’s a serious problem.

It’s especially concerning given it’s a problem that predates Clanton, as Iowa State has arguably never had an above-average offensive line under Campbell. It’s been a struggle in more than one season to just get to average.

“I hate to do this, but you look at the last two years, I think that’s an area where the inconsistencies in our football program – we've not taken another step forward,” Campbell said. “That group is challenged right now and we’ve got to be better on the offensive line, for sure.”

There are plenty of issues for this Iowa State team, but none is bigger and more immediate than getting that offensive line playing better football.

What’s the reason for such a lack of offense in Year 8 under Campbell?

As previously discussed, it starts with the offensive line.

But I think looking at an 8-year trajectory of the offense probably isn’t the best frame.

Things should not be this bad, of course, but the fact of the matter is that ebbs and flows are an inevitability for all but the absolute top-tier programs.

Iowa State ramped up to its best-ever season in 2020 and to its best-ever roster in 2021. The trajectory of a team and program doesn’t go up and to the right indefinitely. A step back is just going to happen, especially after a "best season in program history." They ain’t all going to be like that.

Now, having said that, things are bad at the moment, and worse than they should be.

Certainly, the losses of Hunter Dekkers, Jirehl Brock, DeShawn Hanika and Jake Remsburg to the gambling probe play into that. You can’t lose four starters on one side of the ball and expect it to look wonderful immediately.

But there’s a lack of execution, dynamism and creativity that can’t be explained away.

That’s on the offensive staff to get righted.

Why didn’t Iowa State have any fight in them?

One of the more surprising things we heard from Iowa State after the game was a universal admission that Ohio was the team playing with urgency.

“We’ve got to want it,” wide receiver Daniel Jackson said. “There were times in the game where we didn’t really feel like we wanted it.

“You sacrifice all offseason to come out here and play.”

A sense of urgency and a sense of pride is something that is fully in the Cyclones’ control. That’s why it has to be so maddening that they failed to play with much, if any, early.

“It’s disappointing because we know we’re better than this as an offense,” quarterback Rocco Becht said. “We’ve seen that throughout the whole offseason and throughout fall camp.

“We’ve got to get better from this."

Becht also acknowledged that the offense’s struggles are wasting great defensive efforts.

“Come with a sense of urgency from the first play,” Becht said, “and not let our defense do their thing and us come in and not.”

Given Iowa State’s self-assessed lack of urgency against Ohio, how the team comes out next week against Oklahoma State could be quite revealing.

Anything short of playing with desperation is going to be a problem.

Because after a game like this, with a concerningly ineffective offense and a 1-2 start, the situation is already desperate for Iowa State’s 2023 season.

Travis Hines covers Iowa State University sports for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or  (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State football mailbag: Where was ISU's urgency in Ohio defeat?