2008 Iowa State Cyclones Football Preview

2008 Iowa State Cyclones season preview from Maddux Sports. Below you can find our official Iowa State Cyclones football preview as well as the 2008 Iowa State Cyclones Football Schedule. If you dont know how to beat the odds, give Maddux's winning NCAA picks a shot.

Coach: Gene Chizik (2nd year at Iowa State)
Team Name: Cyclones
2007 Overall Record: 3-9
Returning Starters: 14

In the Big 12 North, the Iowa State Cyclones (3-9 overall, 2-6) tied for fifth-place in 2007. They finished their season by winning two of their last three games. The club did not make a bowl appearance. With Gene Chizik now through his first season as a head coach, it’s time for this team to start to discover its potential.

Cyclone QBs tossed just nine touchdown passes last season, which tied them with Air Force, Navy and Maryland for last in that category. Two sophomores are competing for the starting quarterback spot. Right now Austen Arnaud looks to be favored. Neither QB has much experience. The good news is that the frontline does possess experience and should be solid. The receiving corps, which returns senior R.J. Sumrall and junior Marquis Hamilton, is overall untested.

There’s plenty of bad news on defense. Both starting middle linebackers and defensive tackles are gone. But there’s some good news too. Defensive end Curtis Taylor, a hardnosed player, returns having made 6.5 sacks last season. Another bit of good news is that linebacker Jesse Smith, a solid anchor, is also returning. He made 79 tackles in 2007. The best part of this defense may be the secondary, which has four starters coming back. Cornerbacks Chris Singleton, who had four picks, and Allen Bell started every game last season. They’ll bring lessoned learned into 2008. Free safety James Smith, who like Jesse Smith also notched 79 tackles, and strong safety Chris Brown are smart and experienced.

The Cyclones will have a difficult time getting a conference win. Their one chance looks to be when they visit the Baylor Bears on October 11. If they win that swing game plus three others against non-conference teams in which they’re favored, they’d post four wins. A minor improvement.

It’s simple. Iowa State needs to do two things—score more than 18.2 PPG and stop opponents from scoring 31.8 PPG. This is a young group and with both quarterbacks learning on the run and half of the D-line being new, there should be plenty of mistakes and growth.

Iowa State Cyclones Football Schedule

Date	Opponent	Home/Away
Aug 28	South Dakota State	Home
Sep 6	Kent State	Home
Sep 13	Iowa	Away
Sep 20	UNLV	Away
Oct 4	Kansas	Home
Oct 11	Baylor	Away
Oct 18	Nebraska	Home
Oct 25	Texas A&M	Home
Nov 1	Oklahoma State	Away
Nov 8	Colorado	Away
Nov 15	Missouri	Home
Nov 22	Kansas State	Away

 

For more info on the 2008 Iowa State Cyclones football program, view the Cyclones website or read up on the rest of the Big 12 ncaa football teams below.