Penalties cost Iowa State in 2OT loss at Toledo

Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads didn't think his team was an underdog as it traveled for its first road game at Toledo, despite what the line said.

He stood by that sentiment fresh off a 30-23 double overtime loss after the Rockets entered the game as a 6.5-point favorite. As the seventh-year ISU coach stepped outside of the quiet locker room, Toledo did its part in showing why it was favored against the Cyclones.

'Had we done some things that Iowa State football usually doesn't do, then we're outside a loud locker room right now,” Rhoads said.

Penalties - 14 for 113 yards - and a missed 32-yard field goal as time expired in regulation by kicker Cole Netten are the easiest places to look for Cyclones (1-2) miscues.

Jumping offsides was the culprit for most of the eight offensive penalties. Lining up in the neutral zone on a Rockets (2-0) 4th and 2 gave way to an eventual touchdown and was one of numerous examples on how Iowa State couldn't stay out of its own way.

'So some of those are a result of having to adjust and change and a guy just slips out of there,” Rhoads said. 'The holding, the hands to the face, the late hit on the sideline over there, I've got to see them more on film to say a guy didn't move his feet enough or whatever it was.”

Statistics, more often than not, can paint an accurate picture of how the game unfolds. Iowa State quarterback Sam Richardson outplayed his Toledo counterpart, Phillip Ely, in numbers, throwing 25-for-42 for 269 yards and a score while Ely put up roughly half of those numbers.

Iowa State outgained Toledo 481 to 309 in total yards, but the Rockets accumulated six less penalties with 56 less yards. An oversimplified explanation is Toledo was able to capitalize on plays while Iowa State consistently squandered opportunities.

'We were just hurting ourselves,” Richardson said. 'Some dumb penalties here and there, but I don't remember much of the first half. We did much better in the second half with executing much better. But we missed some shots at the end.”

The Cyclones have a bye week before hosting 0-2 Kansas. While finding positives in an overtime loss to a MAC team isn't necessarily easy, the ISU running game took a step forward against the Rockets.

Red-shirt freshman running back Mike Warren got his first career start and had 21 carries for 126 yards and six yards per carry.

'I knew I had to step up a little bit,” Warren said. 'It was my first career start in college. I feel like I was prepared and some things went wrong, but those are things we can fix.”

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