Iowa State vs Baylor Preview

After a rather sloppy loss to Texas at home last week, the Iowa State Cyclones are back on the road this week to take on Baylor.

The loss last week was largely because of the three turnovers to Texas's zero, and once again the poor performance of Steele Jantz in the first quarter. But let's not dwell on the past. Everybody knows that Iowa State has one of the worst turnover margins in the FBS right now at -8.

The Cyclones need to take the rest of the season game-by-game and quarter-by-quarter.

Baylor

Robert Griffin III is one of the top QBs in the Nation 

Baylor has been an emerging program in the past couple years. Last year they finished the season 7-6 and made it to the Texas Bowl. This year they are 3-1 and were just defeated by Kansas State last week. That means both Baylor and Iowa State are coming off a conference loss.

Baylor is 19th in the nation in passing yards and 24th overall in rushing; pretty impressive offensive number. The Bears are led by their stud QB Robert Griffin III. RG3 is first in QB rating, TDs, first in completion percentage, second in yards/attempt, ok you get the picture. He is a beast. Not to mention his favorite target, Kendall Wright, who has 621 rec yards and 7 TDs this season. The Cyclones will have to double up Wright, but that is dangerous because Griffin can run too.

However, on the other side of the ball, the Baylor defense allows about 31 points per game. The Bears' offense has been bailing the defense out it seems like. A defense that has allowed 48, 31, and 35 point against its opponents (they also shut out Stephen F. Austin...exactly).

I like this Baylor team, but I see some vulnerability as well. If the Cyclones can avoid making unnecessary mistakes like penalties, fumbles, interceptions, I think this could be a close game. I can also see Baylor easily running away with this game.

Iowa State

RB James White plows over a defender

If Iowa State even wants a chance at winning this game the defense needs to do one thing. Pressure Robert Griffin! Make him force passes. Get into his head. He is too good to left alone in the pocket with time. Iowa State's last interception goes all the way back to last season vs Texas if I'm not mistaken. That needs to change on Saturday.

The offense has been anything less than impressive. But for a 3-1 team you can't really complain too much. If you look at the offensive numbers from last week you will see that ISU had 380 total yards of offense against Texas. That is only 20 fewer yards than the Longhorns had in the game. So what's the problem? Consistency.

The Cyclones were shut out in the first half. All the offense came in the second half. Not to mention two or three huge plays that would have been touchdowns that got called back for penalties. If Iowa State can play a clean, fundamental game of football on Saturday I can see them pulling off a win.

I don't have enough faith in the Cyclones though after what I saw last week.

I give this game to Baylor.

Iowa State  20
Baylor       34


Hopefully Leonard Johnson (neck) will be back this week after he was taken off the field on a stretcher in last weeks game. He says he is fine and that he hopes to play.

-MVW