5 LEGITIMATE WORRIES ABOUT IOWA STATE

1. As good as the Jake Christensen-Tony Moeaki connection was last week, it’s too easy for the Clones to key on shutting down one guy, and who else is going to catch the ball? Besides, if there’s one area where ISU’s defense is not weak, it’s at linebacker. No way does Moeaki go for more than 100 yards against ISU.
2. Todd Blythe has been way too quiet. It’s highly unlikely that Bret Meyer has forgotten Blythe is on the team. Maybe he’s been coached to follow his progressions differently, but honestly, Blythe has just been creepily quiet.
3. While the performance of the defensive front has been nothing short of astonishing, look who it’s come against. And along those same lines, Southern Illinois got 34 points on NIU . . . Iowa got less than half that. Not that ISU has been burning up the field on offense, but again, look at who Iowa’s success has come against.
4. If I have a complaint against Ferentz’s teams (and I do), it’s the undisciplined way they play at times, drawing oodles and gobs of drive-extending (or drive-killing) penalties. Through two weeks, how are the Hawkeyes doing in avoiding penalties? They’ve drawn the third-most penalty yards in Division I-A.
5. And guess who is third from the BOTTOM of the penalty yard list? Iowa State. Say what you will about Chizik’s first two games, his players are avoiding penalties. They’re not avoiding mistakes (obviously), but they’re not making the sort of mental errors that lead to penalties. It would be very dangerous to assume that Iowa State will beat themselves tomorrow.