Iowa State Needs to Answer the ‘Cliche Questions’ Against TCU
This week the Cyclones head down to TCU to line up against the Horned Frogs. This game has plenty of interest from both fan bases as this will be TCU’s first football game of the 2020 season, and Iowa State fans will be watching to see if two weeks ago was an anomaly or if 2020 truly is the worst year in modern history.
Both TCU and Iowa State will have plenty of questions to answer. Is Max Duggan really back and starting for the Horned Frogs? Did ISU fix the atrocious special teams we witnessed against Louisiana Lafayette?
No matter, once the football is kicked high into the air, we will get our answers soon enough.
This game however will test some of the oldest and most cited cliches in all of college football.
1. “The most improvement in a team comes between week one and week two…”
With Iowa State having played a game, will that game, albeit a loss, give Iowa State the upper hand?
Do corrections after Week One pay dividends in Week Two, or does it take a few games to make the transition?
I am curious if this old adage is true. Will the Cyclones come out with a completely different feel to them after Week One?
2. “Players need to shake off the rust and adjust to game speed…”
If TCU has yet to play a game, will their weeks of practice be an advantage or a disadvantage come Saturday?
Is game speed easily adjusted to, or does it take a half, or maybe three quarters of a game to make the adjustment?
This is legitimate and yet I’ve seen teams, regardless of their conference, come out for first games looking sharp and quick, while other teams look awkward and out of rhythm with one another.
So that begs the question, is it game speed that cannot be duplicated in practice or is it how practices are organized and executed by certain teams that make the difference?
And lastly my favorite cliche of all:
3. “This team is better than their record indicates…”
Confidence is a cruel mistress and no individual or team is immune to it. Bottom line, is Iowa State better than their now 0-1 record would indicate?
I am letting the past game be water under the bridge and looking ahead to TCU. Will confidence be a problem for the Cyclones?
Is ISU better than what we all saw with our own eyes two weeks ago?
These cliches are exactly that…cliches. But I bet we will see this Saturday which ones are founded in some roots of truth, and which ones are simply excuses either fan base will use on Sunday morning.
Let’s add one more cliche. “Only time will tell…”
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