Cedar Rapids, IA, USA  
Digital Edition Digital Edition
Log in Log In My Account My Account
Subscribe Today
The Gazette The Gazette
The Gazette The Gazette
  • COVID-19
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Food and Drink
  • Business
Digital Edition Digital Edition
Log in Log In My Account My Account
Subscribe
CLOSE
The Gazette
Subscribe
My Account
  • News
    • All News
    • Election 2020
    • Coronavirus
    • Business News
    • Community
    • Crime and Courts
    • Education
    • Government
    • Health
    • Nation and World
    • Time Machine
    • Search Archive

    Our Journalists

    • Rod Boshart
    • Lee Hermiston
    • Erin Jordan
    • James Q. Lynch
    • Trish Mehaffey
    • Vanessa Miller
    • Kat Russell
    • Grace King
    • John Steppe
    • Gage Miskimen
    • Marissa Payne
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Iowa Hawkeyes
    • Hawkeye Football
    • Hawkeye Basketball
    • Prep Sports
    • Prep Volleyball
    • Prep Football
    • Prep Basketball
    • Prep Wrestling
    • Iowa State Cyclones
    • UNI Panthers
    • Small College Sports
    • Minor League Sports
    • Outdoors

    Sports Desk

    • Mike Hlas
    • Jeff Johnson
    • Jeff Linder
    • J.R. Ogden
    • K.J. Pilcher
    • Leah Vann
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Fact Checker
    • Editorial Mission
    • Guest Columnists
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Political Cartoons
    • Staff Columnists
    • Staff Editorials
    • Submit a Letter or Column

    Our Columnists

    • Todd Dorman
    • Adam Sullivan
  • Food and Drink
    • All Food and Drink
    • Chew on This
    • Recipes
    • Restaurants
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Business Notes
    • Companies
    • Personal Finance
    • Economy
    • Employment
    • Energy
    • Manufacturing
    • Openings & Closures
    • Real Estate
    • Retail
    • Small Business
    • Transportation

    Our Journalists

    • Rod Boshart
    • Erin Jordan
    • John Steppe
  • Obituaries
    • All Obituaries
    • In Memory Of
    • Submit an Obituary
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • Daily News Podcast
    • Fact Checker
    • Hlastradamus Odds
    • Iowa Prep Sports
    • On Iowa
    • On Iowa Politics
    • On UNI
    • Pinning Combination
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Art
    • Books
    • Museums & Galleries
    • Music
    • Theater
    • Things To Do
  • Living
    • All Living
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Milestones
    • People & Places
    • Pets & Animals
    • Recreation
    • Religion & Belief
    • Travel

    Our Writers

    • Diana Nollen
    • Elijah Decious
  • Kids Gazette
    • See All
    • Kids Cooking Series
    • Kids Galleries
    • Printables
    • Activities
    • Articles
    • Submissions
    • Resources
  • Photos
    • All Photos and Videos
    • The Iowa Photo
    • Photo Store

    Our Photojournalists

    • Andy Abeyta
    • Liz Martin
    • Rebecca Miller
    • Jim Slosiarek
    • Gazette Visuals
  • Milestones
    • All Milestones
    • Anniversaries
    • Days To Remember
    • Engagements
    • Holidays
    • In Remembrance
    • New Arrivals
    • Thank Yous
    • Weddings
    • Submit a Milestone
  • Data
    • Arrests
    • Building Permits
    • Interactive Maps & Charts
    • Salaries
  • Gazette Sites
    • Classifieds
    • Corridor Careers
    • Garage Sales
    • Gazette Gives Back
    • Gazette Rewards
    • Gazette Store
    • Green Gazette
    • HER
    • Iowa Wedding Experience
    • Holiday Light Finder
    • Hoopla
    • Iowa Ideas
    • Photo Store
  • Special Events
  • Special Sections
  • Other
    • About The Gazette
    • Archives
    • Article Removal
    • Business Directory
    • CR Arrest Database
    • Mobile Apps
    • Customer Care
    • Order Back Issues
    • Privacy Policies
    • Puzzle Answers
    • Sponsorship Requests
    • Submit a Letter
    • Weather
  • Digital Edition
Daily News PodcastDaily News Podcast
Daily NewslettersDaily Newsletters
Log out

FOLLOW US

The Gazette
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Food and Drink
  • Business
  • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
  • Entertainment
  • Living
  • Kids Gazette
  • Photos
  • Milestones
  • Data
  • Gazette Sites
  • Special Events
  • Special Sections
  • Other
  • Digital Edition
  • All News
  • Election 2020
  • Coronavirus
  • Business News
  • Community
  • Crime and Courts
  • Education
  • Government
  • Health
  • Nation and World
  • Time Machine
  • Search Archive

Our Journalists

  • Rod Boshart
  • Lee Hermiston
  • Erin Jordan
  • James Q. Lynch
  • Trish Mehaffey
  • Vanessa Miller
  • Kat Russell
  • Grace King
  • John Steppe
  • Gage Miskimen
  • Marissa Payne
  • All Sports
  • Iowa Hawkeyes
  • Hawkeye Football
  • Hawkeye Basketball
  • Prep Sports
  • Prep Volleyball
  • Prep Football
  • Prep Basketball
  • Prep Wrestling
  • Iowa State Cyclones
  • UNI Panthers
  • Small College Sports
  • Minor League Sports
  • Outdoors

Sports Desk

  • Mike Hlas
  • Jeff Johnson
  • Jeff Linder
  • J.R. Ogden
  • K.J. Pilcher
  • Leah Vann
  • All Opinion
  • Fact Checker
  • Editorial Mission
  • Guest Columnists
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Political Cartoons
  • Staff Columnists
  • Staff Editorials
  • Submit a Letter or Column

Our Columnists

  • Todd Dorman
  • Adam Sullivan
  • All Food and Drink
  • Chew on This
  • Recipes
  • Restaurants
  • All Business
  • Agriculture
  • Business Notes
  • Companies
  • Personal Finance
  • Economy
  • Employment
  • Energy
  • Manufacturing
  • Openings & Closures
  • Real Estate
  • Retail
  • Small Business
  • Transportation

Our Journalists

  • Rod Boshart
  • Erin Jordan
  • John Steppe
  • All Obituaries
  • In Memory Of
  • Submit an Obituary
  • All Podcasts
  • Daily News Podcast
  • Fact Checker
  • Hlastradamus Odds
  • Iowa Prep Sports
  • On Iowa
  • On Iowa Politics
  • On UNI
  • Pinning Combination
  • All Entertainment
  • Art
  • Books
  • Museums & Galleries
  • Music
  • Theater
  • Things To Do
  • All Living
  • Health & Wellness
  • Home & Garden
  • Milestones
  • People & Places
  • Pets & Animals
  • Recreation
  • Religion & Belief
  • Travel

Our Writers

  • Diana Nollen
  • Elijah Decious
  • See All
  • Kids Cooking Series
  • Kids Galleries
  • Printables
  • Activities
  • Articles
  • Submissions
  • Resources
  • All Photos and Videos
  • The Iowa Photo
  • Photo Store

Our Photojournalists

  • Andy Abeyta
  • Liz Martin
  • Rebecca Miller
  • Jim Slosiarek
  • Gazette Visuals
  • All Milestones
  • Anniversaries
  • Days To Remember
  • Engagements
  • Holidays
  • In Remembrance
  • New Arrivals
  • Thank Yous
  • Weddings
  • Submit a Milestone
  • Arrests
  • Building Permits
  • Interactive Maps & Charts
  • Salaries
  • Classifieds
  • Corridor Careers
  • Garage Sales
  • Gazette Gives Back
  • Gazette Rewards
  • Gazette Store
  • Green Gazette
  • HER
  • Iowa Wedding Experience
  • Holiday Light Finder
  • Hoopla
  • Iowa Ideas
  • Photo Store
  • About The Gazette
  • Archives
  • Article Removal
  • Business Directory
  • CR Arrest Database
  • Mobile Apps
  • Customer Care
  • Order Back Issues
  • Privacy Policies
  • Puzzle Answers
  • Sponsorship Requests
  • Submit a Letter
  • Weather
Daily News PodcastDaily News Podcast Daily NewslettersDaily Newsletters
LOG OUT

FOLLOW US

More Stories

PHOTOS: Drake Relays - Thursday

Proven scorer Filip Rebraca transferring to Iowa from North Dakota

Lawsuit: Medicaid exemption for gender-affirming surgeries is unconstitutional

Iowa officials say 77 prisoners got coronavirus vaccine overdoses

UI recently gave Daniel Clay, presidential finalist, raise and things…

Thistle’s Summit B&B closes in Mount Vernon

Iowa high-schoolers set record for dual enrollment

’Do it,’ Iowa National Guard leader tells people reluctant to…

Home / Sports / Iowa State Cyclones

For Iowa State football, 2020 opener was surreal, not special

Mike HlasBy: Mike Hlas Sep. 12, 2020 5:55 pm
For Iowa State football, 2020 opener was surreal, not special

AMES — Well, at least the misery here was caused by something trivial like football for a change.

A derecho and COVID-19 have run roughshod over Ames this summer, so what's an embarrassing season-opening loss for Iowa State? Yet, the urge persists to use melodramatic sports license and call it a disaster.

The excitement of a new season bounced off 59,000 or so empty Jack Trice Stadium seats Saturday and didn't bounce back. The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns of the Sun Belt Conference outran and outplayed the 23rd-ranked Cyclones and won, 31-14.

You give up a 95-yard kickoff return and an 83-yard punt return, both for touchdowns, you need to ask yourself what the heck you're doing. You shouldn't allow two kick returns for scores in a season, let alone one game. Maybe Matt Campbell needs a special teams coordinator. He and his assistants collaborate on coaching them.

This day was a hollow experience for everyone present except the Ragin' Cajuns, who certainly looked like a team that won 11 games last season.

'We made the most of that three-month quarantine,' said Louisiana Coach Billy Napier.

This game felt like it was played in quarantine. Had the stadium's lights not been on Saturday morning, little would have suggested it was a game day. The vast parking lot between the stadium and Hilton Coliseum was nearly empty.

No students, no season ticket-holders, no buzz, no goose bumps. This was surreal studio football, the best that can be done here for now. It's better than nothing, but a long way from being ideal.

The atmosphere was unusual and unnatural. There were maybe 1,000 people in the stands, since the players of both teams got four tickets apiece for family members.

The Cyclone Marching Band didn't march, but it sounded sharp from the stands. The musicians and Iowa State's cheerleaders, dance team members and mascot stretched across a lower bowl, socially distanced and trying their darnedest to make it sound like a game day.

Their team, however, didn't match that effort. Touted junior quarterback Brock Purdy didn't have his usual sterling timing. He was sacked just once, but was hurried repeatedly. He's been hurried many times before in his college career, and has had many better days.

'I don't think I played good at all,' Purdy said. 'I never got in a rhythm.'

His receivers dropped passes. They were hawked by a defense that was credited for five pass breakups and made its presence felt on others.

Iowa State's defense played well enough to win, except it didn't. The aforementioned 78-yard pass from Levi Lewis to Peter LeBlanc was a beautiful throw and LeBlanc dashing past the defense.

Still, Iowa State would have won had it prevented those two kick returns for touchdowns. The Ragin' Cajuns, by the way, have a special teams coordinator, Robby Discher.

'We actually got him to dance in the locker room just now,' Napier said. 'But you know, both those game-changing plays were well thought out conceptually. We knew exactly what we were doing. Those things were crafted into our plan and the players went and executed them.'

Matt Campbell's last three ISU teams had winning records and went to bowls, but his September record since 2017 is 5-8, and one of those wins was last year in triple-overtime against Northern Iowa.

He is 10-1 over the last three Octobers, leading one to believe this season hasn't necessarily been obliterated by Louisiana lightning.

'We've been in this situation before,' ISU tight end Chase Allen said. 'We're no stranger to having our backs against the wall.

'We'll stay within our bubble physically and mentally. … People are going to want to call us dead after this game and call us the old Iowa State, but it's not true.'

Fair enough. But this was a showcase opportunity on ESPN with more fans stuck watching at home than any September Saturday before, and the name of the team on viewers' tongues after the game wasn't Iowa State.

What a non-life-threatening, non-property-destroying disaster.

Comments: (319) 368-8840; mike.hlas@thegazette.com

Iowa State kicks the ball off to start its game against Louisiana Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames. (Charlie Niebergall/Associated Press)
Iowa State University
Mike Hlas

Mike Hlas

Columnist, The Gazette

I am the sports columnist and Iowa men’s basketball beat writer for The Gazette.

Proven scorer Filip Rebraca transferring to Iowa from North Dakota

Capable shooting guards available for Iowa to replace CJ Fredrick

CJ Fredrick transferring stings Iowa, but college sports will survive…

Iowa basketball recruit Riley Mulvey is big guy from big…

Iowa men’s basketball adds 6-foot-11 Riley Mulvey for 2021-22 season

All articles by Mike

Give us feedback

We work hard to provide fair, accurate coverage because we value your trust. If you find an error or omission in our reporting, please tell us here.

Submit a story idea

Do you have a story idea that we should look into? Please tell us here.

Related Stories

Thousands vaccinated across Iowa universities

Thousands vaccinated across Iowa universities

Vanessa Miller Higher Ed Apr. 22, 2021 2:04 pm

IMU COVID vaccine clinic coming

IMU COVID vaccine clinic coming

Vanessa Miller Higher Ed Apr. 16, 2021 5:49 pm

Board of Regents won’t mandate vaccine

Board of Regents won’t mandate vaccine

Vanessa Miller Higher Ed Apr. 14, 2021 5:13 pm

Iowa State Cyclones

Kylie Feuerbach: Former Cyclone, future Hawkeye

Kylie Feuerbach: Former Cyclone, future Hawkeye

Jeff Linder

Hawkeye Basketball Apr. 17, 2021 3:55 pm

Taylor Mouser, Iowa State tight ends to attempt takeover of…

Taylor Mouser, Iowa State tight ends to attempt takeover of…

Ben Visser

Iowa State Football Apr. 17, 2021 2:48 pm

Iowa State football getting comfortable in the corner

Iowa State football getting comfortable in the corner

Ben Visser

Iowa State Football Apr. 14, 2021 3:49 pm

Enyi Uwazurike taking on bigger leadership role for Iowa State

Enyi Uwazurike taking on bigger leadership role for Iowa State

Ben Visser

Iowa State Football Apr. 13, 2021 10:01 am

Sports

On his own or with his teammates, Kennedy’s Drew Bartels…

On his own or with his teammates, Kennedy’s Drew Bartels…

Jeff Linder

High School Track and Field 53m ago

PHOTOS: Drake Relays - Thursday

PHOTOS: Drake Relays - Thursday

, Gazette Visuals

90m ago

Proven scorer Filip Rebraca transferring to Iowa from North Dakota

Proven scorer Filip Rebraca transferring to Iowa from North Dakota

Mike Hlas

Hawkeye Basketball 90m ago

Iowa pitcher Cam Baumann’s velocity down, but command and results…

Iowa pitcher Cam Baumann’s velocity down, but command and results…

Jeff Johnson

Iowa Hawkeyes 90m ago

News

Former pro boxer says he knew his long time friend…

Former pro boxer says he knew his long time friend…

Trish Mehaffey

Crime and Courts 22m ago

Cedar Rapids, Linn County look at how to better prepare…

Cedar Rapids, Linn County look at how to better prepare…

Gage Miskimen

News 42m ago

Policy, not dollars, may delay Iowa Republican agreement on human…

Policy, not dollars, may delay Iowa Republican agreement on human…

James Q. Lynch

Government & Politics 90m ago

Lawsuit: Medicaid exemption for gender-affirming surgeries is unconstitutional

Lawsuit: Medicaid exemption for gender-affirming surgeries is unconstitutional

Michaela Ramm

Health Care and Medicine 30m ago

Opinion

Iowa Libertarians challenge their ’white dudes who smoke weed’ reputation

Iowa Libertarians challenge their ’white dudes who smoke weed’ reputation

Adam Sullivan

Opinion 2h ago

Justice served, but hard work remains

Justice served, but hard work remains

Staff Editorial

Opinion 3h ago

Dirty water in Iowa? It’s just propaganda

Dirty water in Iowa? It’s just propaganda

Todd Dorman

Staff Columnists Apr. 22, 2021 7:00 am

Challenging Iowans to act on climate change

Challenging Iowans to act on climate change

Kennedy Warner

Opinion Apr. 22, 2021 9:59 am

FOLLOW US

The Gazette is Iowa’s independent, employee-owned source for local, state, and national news coverage.

© 2021 The Gazette

All Rights Reserved.

  • Advertise with us
  • Privacy
  • Web Accessibility

Contact Us

  • 116 3rd St SE
    Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
  • customercare@thegazette.com
  • (319) 398-8333
  • Live Chat

Links

  • Puzzle Answers
  • CR Arrest Database
  • Article Removal Request
  • Gazette Archives
  • Green Gazette
  • Corridor Careers Jobs
  • Work at The Gazette
  • Customer Care

© 2021 The Gazette

All Rights Reserved.

  • Advertise with us
  • Privacy
  • Web Accessibility
Folience A Folience Company