2011 Iowa St Cyclones Football Predictions, Odds, Picks and Schedule – 2011 Iowa St NCAA Football Preview

2011 Iowa St Cyclones College Football Expert Predictions, Picks, Vegas Odds and Schedule – Iowa St NCAA Football Preview: Mediocrity has been a theme for Iowa State the last two seasons as the Cyclones have gone 12-13 during the stretch, making a bowl game in 2009 and missing out last year. As with any program hovering around .500 year after year, the Cyclones are plagued by inconsistency on both sides of the ball. One week, Iowa State will pull off an upset. The next week, the Cyclones will fall to a weaker opponent. It is a pattern that will likely continue in 2011-12, and Iowa State will once again be stuck in the middle of the Big 12 race.

The Cyclones were average at best on offense one year ago, averaging just over 21 points per game. Adding insult to injury, Iowa State loses its starting quarterback and running back, putting an already questionable offense even further behind. The good news is that head coach Paul Rhoads has multiple options to turn to at QB, but the bad news is that none of these options have separated themselves from pack. As the old saying goes, when you have two quarterbacks, you don’t have any.

While the QB situation may be up in the air, the rushing attack will fall on the shoulders of Shontrelle Johnson. He looked explosiveness in limited action last season, picking up more than six yards per carry. Granted, stepping into the role of feature back requires him to adapt a different approach, but at the very least, the early returns are promising. Not to mention the fact that he will be running behind an offensive line that returns three starters. For better or worse, the strength of this offense will be the ground game.

Armed with an offense that isn’t going to scare many opponents, the Cyclones’ defense will be leaned upon heavily at times. Despite seven returning starters from last year’s unit, the task may be too much for the Iowa State defense. Last year’s bunch was burned on five occasions for at least 35 points, and there just isn’t much star power on the defensive side of the ball. Linebacker Jake Knott is the best player, but he isn’t the type of player that can single handedly transform a unit from mediocre to dominant.

The schedule doesn’t do the Cyclones any favors either. Home games against Iowa, Texas and Texas A&M are going to be tough to win, and the Cyclones will have to travel to face seemingly beatable opponents like Baylor, Missouri and Texas Tech. There just aren’t any breaks in the schedule, and season ends with a gauntlet stretch against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Kansas State.

Iowa State has currently amassed a group of good players, but the program simply doesn’t have enough great players to make much noise in a conference like the Big 12. The Cyclones are going to get torched on defense by the top teams in the conference and will struggle to score on a regular basis. A bowl game is going to be tough to come by this year.

2011 Iowa St Cyclones College Football Predictions: 5-7 Record

Preseason 2011 Iowa St Cyclones NCAA Football Odds:
Odds to Win 2012 BCS Championship: NA/Off the Board
Odds to Win 2011 Big 12 Champonship: +8000
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2011 Iowa St Cyclones College Football Schedule
Sat, Sep 3 Northern Iowa 7:00 pm —
Sat, Sep 10 Iowa 12:00 pm —
Fri, Sep 16 at Connecticut 8:00 pm —
Sat, Oct 1 Texas TBA —
Sat, Oct 8 at Baylor TBA —
Sat, Oct 15 at Missouri TBA —
Sat, Oct 22 Texas A&M TBA —
Sat, Oct 29 at Texas Tech TBA —
Sat, Nov 5 Kansas TBA —
Fri, Nov 18 Oklahoma State 9:00 pm —
Sat, Nov 26 at Oklahoma 8:00 pm —
Sat, Dec 3 at Kansas State 12:30 pm —

Check out NSAwins.com’s official 2011 Big 12 Football Predictions and Preview article.

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