Hlas: Much to like about new-look Cyclones

AMES - There will be Bumpy Rhoads this season. Perhaps even Rocky Rhoads.

But Iowa State's football team - forgive the awful puns - got to take a trip to Victory Rhoads with its new head coach last night at Jack Trice Stadium.

That's never a bad thing, especially when you had a 10-game losing streak to put to rest and 10 or 11 games remaining this year that figure to be challenging at the least.

Paul Rhoads hopes he has a lot of Saturdays over the years (and the occasional Thursday night) when his teams look like fully functional, formidable football outfits. But for now, 1-0 is 1-0 is 1-0.

It was Iowa State 34, North Dakota State 17. Weather-wise, the crowd of 48,831 enjoyed a late-summer night's dream. The performance of the Cyclones, however, was less Shakespearean. We'll call it “All's Well That Ends Well.”

The FCS Bison barreled for 233 first-half yards and would have been in a 17-17 tie at halftime were it not for their quarterback's fumbling the ball away in the ISU end zone late in the first quarter.

NDSU averaged over 8 yards per rush in the half. That's more than ominous for an ISU defense that was one of America's worst in 2008.

Yet, that unit showed plenty of pop. When tackles were made, they were fierce. Bison receivers seldom made catches without paying for them.

But a veteran quarterback, running back and offensive line on a darn good Missouri Valley Conference team imposed its will more often than it failed to for much of the first three quarters. The fourth quarter, however, belonged to the Cyclones.

Offensively, Iowa State was fun to watch if inconsistent. When it did put drives together, they were rat-a-tat doozies. The formations and play calls were wide open and aggressive, just as offensive coordinator Tom Herman used at Rice in spinning scoring and yardage odometers there last year.

We saw one Cyclone receiver throw a long pass to another in the first half. It didn't connect, but it should have after everything was perfect about the execution but the throw itself.

We saw junior quarterback Austen Arnaud read a safety blitz with clarity before he hit unguarded Marquis Hamilton for a 39-yard score. Later, Hamilton got cornerback Richard Bowman to bite on a fake, then reeled in a pinpoint 42-yard TD pass from Arnaud.

We saw junior back Alexander Robinson gain 119 total yards. When running lanes were opened, Robinson saw the holes and scooted.

We also saw several ISU drives that either stalled or never really started.

Oh, and we saw sophomore Grant Mahoney of Linn-Mar blast a career-long 50-yard field goal to turn a disappointing set of downs in Bison territory into something worthy of roars from the big crowd.

Special teams were just that for Iowa State. It had good wedge-busting on kickoff coverage. Senior punter Mike Brandtner's four boots averaged 49.3 yards, and they didn't get returned. Safety David Sims had a 60-yard kickoff return.

Sims, a junior college transfer, was a revelation. He also had a fumble recovery, and a walloping tackle of excellent running back Pat Paschall (21 carries, 146 yards) late in the third quarter that gouged a big chunk of spirit out of the Bison and may have changed the game.

Sims played with fury. That wasn't a term associated with anything involving the ISU secondary last year.

Glory Rhoads almost surely aren't on the horizon for the Cyclones this season, especially if they keep allowing 210 rushing yards in games. But there was a light in their eyes and fire in their furnaces in Game 1 of Paul Rhoads' era.

It's 1-0. It's a start.