Debit One
01-01-2010, 09:33 AM
I agree with what he wrote, but they aren't going to like some of it.
Well, no one said it would be pretty, and it wasn't. No one said it would be easy. And it wasn't.
But seven wins? The third bowl championship in school history? You grab it. You grab it with two hands.
"Our football team showed a lot of grit," Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads told reporters Thursday after Iowa State held off Minnesota for a 14-13 win in the Insight Bowl, "to overcome four turnovers and still be in a position to win a football game."
Happy New Year, Cyclone fans. Happy New Era. Competitively, the main event at Sun Devil Stadium was all you could ask for. Aesthetically - at least from a hotel room 2,335 miles away in South Florida - um, not so much.
Six turnovers. Ten punts. In hindsight, that's generally what happens when two 6-6 teams lock horns in the desert. Momentum bounces like a hot potato from one sideline to the next. Long, steady drives suddenly blow a tire because of giveaways or brain cramps. The team that shot itself in the foot the least number of times would limp away victorious.
Ultimately, Minnesota quarterback MarQueis Gray's fumble with 4 minutes left in the game proved to be the fateful bullet. If the Cyclones and Gophers played 10 times - well, it would be nine times too many.
Then again, who cares? Football programs aren't built on style points. They're built on victories. Victories and verities. Thursday was another brick in the foundation, nestled right next to the Nebraska game, Iowa State's first win in Lincoln since 1977.
And make no mistake - Gene "War Eagle" Chizik might've hauled some of the raw materials to the site, but Rhoads proved to be the mortar. The glue. This moment, this stamp, this program, this glory, is his.
It's beyond pride. It's a restored trust. There's a confidence again, a passion that teeters on swagger. More than anything, Rhoads has restored the Iowa State "it" factor, the steadfast belief that it's great to be a Cyclone, even in the face of rivals with deeper pockets and grander traditions.
Johnny Orr had it. Bill Fennelly has it. Dan McCarney had it. Rhoads can come off as painfully hokey at times, and he doesn't care. The man's enthusiasm is genuine to the core, as infectious as a baby's smile. It rubs off.
It's why good - but not yet great - players such as quarterback Austen Arnaud never seem to doubt themselves, even when an evening runs the gamut from roses (19-of-26 passing, 76 rushing yards) to thorns (four turnovers). It stokes the fire of players such as linebacker Jesse Smith, a try-hard guy who hustled himself all the way to a berth on the first-team all-Big 12 Conference defense. It sells tickets. It builds luxury suites. It builds dreams.
"I'm pretty sure somebody stripped the ball," cornerback Ter'ran Benton, who recovered Gray's fumble, told the Register's Randy Peterson. "I was in the right place at the right time."
So was Rhoads. The window of opportunity may close in the short term - Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech are back on the schedule in 2010 and '11. The Cyclones are going to have to get better, but this season, at the least, gives you a launching pad. And, in Rhoads' case, an extended honeymoon. He's more than earned it.
"By finishing with a winning record, you go into the offseason with a program that certainly is on its way," Rhoads told the Associated Press. "The program has credibility based on what we've done thus far."
And you'll take that any way you can find it. Because an ugly 7-6 beats a pretty 4-8 any darned day of the week.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100101/SPORTS05/1010361/1003/SPORTS/Rhoads-has-restored-the-Iowa-State-it-factor
Well, no one said it would be pretty, and it wasn't. No one said it would be easy. And it wasn't.
But seven wins? The third bowl championship in school history? You grab it. You grab it with two hands.
"Our football team showed a lot of grit," Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads told reporters Thursday after Iowa State held off Minnesota for a 14-13 win in the Insight Bowl, "to overcome four turnovers and still be in a position to win a football game."
Happy New Year, Cyclone fans. Happy New Era. Competitively, the main event at Sun Devil Stadium was all you could ask for. Aesthetically - at least from a hotel room 2,335 miles away in South Florida - um, not so much.
Six turnovers. Ten punts. In hindsight, that's generally what happens when two 6-6 teams lock horns in the desert. Momentum bounces like a hot potato from one sideline to the next. Long, steady drives suddenly blow a tire because of giveaways or brain cramps. The team that shot itself in the foot the least number of times would limp away victorious.
Ultimately, Minnesota quarterback MarQueis Gray's fumble with 4 minutes left in the game proved to be the fateful bullet. If the Cyclones and Gophers played 10 times - well, it would be nine times too many.
Then again, who cares? Football programs aren't built on style points. They're built on victories. Victories and verities. Thursday was another brick in the foundation, nestled right next to the Nebraska game, Iowa State's first win in Lincoln since 1977.
And make no mistake - Gene "War Eagle" Chizik might've hauled some of the raw materials to the site, but Rhoads proved to be the mortar. The glue. This moment, this stamp, this program, this glory, is his.
It's beyond pride. It's a restored trust. There's a confidence again, a passion that teeters on swagger. More than anything, Rhoads has restored the Iowa State "it" factor, the steadfast belief that it's great to be a Cyclone, even in the face of rivals with deeper pockets and grander traditions.
Johnny Orr had it. Bill Fennelly has it. Dan McCarney had it. Rhoads can come off as painfully hokey at times, and he doesn't care. The man's enthusiasm is genuine to the core, as infectious as a baby's smile. It rubs off.
It's why good - but not yet great - players such as quarterback Austen Arnaud never seem to doubt themselves, even when an evening runs the gamut from roses (19-of-26 passing, 76 rushing yards) to thorns (four turnovers). It stokes the fire of players such as linebacker Jesse Smith, a try-hard guy who hustled himself all the way to a berth on the first-team all-Big 12 Conference defense. It sells tickets. It builds luxury suites. It builds dreams.
"I'm pretty sure somebody stripped the ball," cornerback Ter'ran Benton, who recovered Gray's fumble, told the Register's Randy Peterson. "I was in the right place at the right time."
So was Rhoads. The window of opportunity may close in the short term - Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech are back on the schedule in 2010 and '11. The Cyclones are going to have to get better, but this season, at the least, gives you a launching pad. And, in Rhoads' case, an extended honeymoon. He's more than earned it.
"By finishing with a winning record, you go into the offseason with a program that certainly is on its way," Rhoads told the Associated Press. "The program has credibility based on what we've done thus far."
And you'll take that any way you can find it. Because an ugly 7-6 beats a pretty 4-8 any darned day of the week.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100101/SPORTS05/1010361/1003/SPORTS/Rhoads-has-restored-the-Iowa-State-it-factor