Baylor-Iowa State Preview

Baylor heads to Ames to take on Iowa State Saturday at 11 A.M. The game will air on Fox Sports 1.

The Bears will meet Iowa State for the first time under new coach Matt Campbell. Campbell did well at Toldeo, including winning nine games each of the last two seasons. But Dave Bartoo’s rankings of coach effect believe he’s been a poor in game coach.

The Cyclones have had some rough moments this season. Perhaps the worst was losing to Northern Iowa, thought they also got slaughtered by Iowa.

But Iowa State has some talent. They drilled San Jose State last week, and did all right against TCU. The Cyclones best offensive player is probably Allen Lazard. The 6’5 wide receiver makes this nice touchdown catch against Northern Iowa:

TCU did well containing Lazard. He had just 1 reception for 8 yards in that game. The Bears may focus on him, much like they did last week against James Washington of Oklahoma State.

Iowa State has started splitting the quarterback duties between Joel Lanning and Jacob Park. Lanning still figures to get many of the snaps, and he has a strong arm, as evidenced here:

Iowa State’s defense has had a tough time stopping the run. TCU ran for 229 yards on 37 carries, including a 64 yard touchdown run. Iowa gained 198 yards on the ground, and Northern Iowa had 232.

Ames has been a place where dreams have died. Iowa State beat Oklahoma State in 2011, ending their national championship shot because we had to have a rematch of the 6-3 Alabama-LSU game and because the voters hate freedom. The Cyclones also beat Baylor in 2012 in Ames, but that was when the Bears went on a skid before ending KSU’s dream of a national championship.

Baylor should win this game. The Bears have a bye next week, then play Kansas, then have another bye. There’s no need to look ahead, and the offense seemed to get going last week. Seth Russell also probably wants revenge after getting injured against the Cyclones last season. Anything can happen in college football, and I’ll be in Ames for this game and have no desire to jinx the team, but I’ll be surprised if I drive back after a Baylor loss.