Hlas: Iowa vs. Iowa State Week has brighter feel this year

Let's say you have a serious plumbing issue in your home, or the battery in your car goes dead.

That becomes the center of your existence, something that dwarfs everything else until the issue is resolved. Yet, your neighbors are blissfully unaware of it.

Such is the Iowa-Iowa State football game. In the week of the game, it's all that matters football-wise to everyone with a strong allegiance to either of the two teams.

Yet, the general feeling about the game in the other 49 states, as well as American Samoa, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, is that it's just another score in the sports networks' scrawls at the bottom of the television screen.

This year is different. No, this week's Iowa-ISU game still matters no more than usual in Pyongyang. But this week in Iowa, it's not a dead car battery as much as, say, finding out a class action settlement against some corporate giant has brought you a check in the mail for $123.45.

With both teams coming off satisfying wins in their season-openers Saturday, there needn't be a feeling of dread or drudgery hanging over anyone this week. The anticipation should be pleasant, as if you were going to spend your $123.45 on something enjoyable rather than drearily necessary. Like a new car battery.

There will be plenty of time for the losing team and its supporters to wallow in misery. But for now, Iowa just beat Wyoming by 21 points, Iowa State beat Northern Iowa by 18, and neither of the losing teams are among the dregs of the sport.

The Hawkeyes and Cyclones got off to slow starts offensively Saturday, and so what? Ohio State, Wisconsin, Washington and Louisville did the same thing in their openers.

Iowa State and Iowa assumed command of their games by halftime, and neither surrendered their grips. Who among the sane segments of their fan bases wouldn't have happily taken that going into the weekend?

So now we got to Week 2 and the Cy-Hawk thingy, and neither side enters it as if it's headed to a 3-hour wait at the DMV.

This isn't last year, when the Cyclones got outplayed and beaten by UNI the week before they went to Kinnick Stadium and offered no resistance to the Hawkeyes in a 42-3 walloping.

Watching that, I saw little hope for Matt Campbell's first ISU team winning as many games as the three Paul Rhoads' last ISU club won in 2015. The Cyclones did go a modest 3-9 again, but they began competing in a way that was totally different from their display in Iowa City.

Besides the scores, the contrasts between last year's UNI-ISU game and this year's were considerable. The Cyclones couldn't run the ball against the Panthers a year ago. They did Saturday night. Sophomore David Montgomery looked terrific.

The Cyclones' were minus-3 in turnovers against UNI in 2016, plus-2 this time. Two first-quarter pick-6s is something we will seldom see again from anyone, but Iowa State did it Saturday, giving its offense time to find its footing.

Cyclone quarterback Jacob Park has what Wyoming's Josh Allen seemed to lack in Iowa's 24-3 win over the Cowboys Saturday. Namely, plenty of capable receivers. Park hit on 27 of his 35 passes. There's a lot to like about him.

Just as there was about Iowa's Nate Stanley Saturday. Though he passed just 15 times and completed eight, some of Stanley's throws would have gotten nods of appreciation from Allen.

Defensively, Iowa State is no Michigan … or Iowa. In the trenches on both sides of the ball, Iowa State is no Alabama … or Iowa.

But with Stanley making his first road start Saturday and a gametime atmosphere that will have the polar opposite feel of impending doom in Jack Trice Stadium, who knows what will happen? No one, that's who.

As Iowa-ISU weeks go, this year's is a modest rebate check, not a failed sump pump.