(Ames, IA) — Arkansas St. has never faced a team from the Big 12 and if that’s what they want, be careful what you wished for. A hot Iowa St. team will be in Jonesboro, Arkansas on Saturday for the Cyclones last non conference tilt.
ISU is coming off a 16-13 win over Iowa, the first win over the Hawkeyes at Jack Trice Stadium in 14 years. On the final drive to set up Kyle Konrady’s game winning 54 yard field goal, Tight End Gabe Burkle made two incredible catches to move the sticks — one was on a tipped ball and the other on a jump pass from Rocco Becht. Iowa St. Head Coach Matt Campbell said the 2nd one was a superb adjustment by Burkle
Iowa St. has also seen some development in their receiving corps besides Burkle — Freshman Brett Eskildsen (Es-kuhl-sen) from Frisco, Texas had 2 catches for 39 yards against Iowa but has 7 receptions for 162 yards and a TD so far and is leading the Cyclones in receiving yards. Campbell says he came out of spring ball really impressing the coaching staff
The Cyclones do not have an enormous amount of transfers but they have found guys from the Ivy League — Jalen Travis was an offensive lineman from Princeton who was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the 4th round this year and now they have DL Tamatoa McDonough who Matt Campbell got from Yale
The forecast for Saturday’s game in Jonesboro, Arkansas is hot — a high of 96 degrees. In terms of playing in the heat, Campbell says bring it on
The game will feature two quarterbacks who have been with their teams for a while — in this age of the transfer portal and quarterbacks transferring like crazy — Rocco Becht is 4th among active FBS quarterbacks playing with the same school while Jaylen Raynor of the Red Wolves is 7th. Campbell says that Raynor can make plays
One focus for the defense is trying to get a stop right after the offense puts points on the board. Defensive Coordinator Jon Heacock says that is something that has not happened
#14 Iowa St is 3-0, Arkansas St. is 1-1, game time is 3 pm on Saturday afternoon, Cyclones Pre Game at 1 pm on KSOM.
