Iowa State hasn\u2019t had a ton of success over the past decade, but Paul Rhoads is doing his best to change that. The Cyclones shocked the entire college football world when they beat then-unbeaten Oklahoma State last November. <\/p>\n
Big 12 2012-2013 College Football Previews: Iowa State Cyclones It ended up costing Oklahoma State a chance to play for a BCS title. Iowa State lost in the Pinstripe Bowl to finish 6-7.<\/p>\n The Cyclones won a ton of very close games last year. Iowa State proved they know how to win the close games, but they were also blown out by quite a few teams. The Cyclones are going to have to be more consistent moving forward. The Big 12 is mighty tough this year. Can the Cyclones contend?<\/p>\n The single biggest strength of the team is clearly the linebackers. A.J. Klein and Jake Knott are both seniors who can make plays from their linebacker spots. Klein had 116 tackles and Knott had 115 in 2011, so these guys can absolutely get the job done. Knott had injury trouble in 2011, and the team expects even more from him this year. The majority of the time this defense plays with just two linebackers, and it would be hard to find two better than Klein and Knott.<\/p>\n Running back is a position where Iowa State is loaded with depth. The Cyclones legitimately have five guys who could see extensive playing time this year. James White is the best of the bunch, and I expect a nice season from him. White has game-breaking speed that can really test the opponent\u2019s defense. [soliloquy id=”82219″]<\/p>\n Iowa State is severely short on play makers on the outside. Josh Lenz is the only returning starter from last year\u2019s group of receivers. Lenz is a good one, but no one else behind him has much experience at all. It has to be a concern for this team to have so much youth at this key position.<\/p>\n The offensive line lost a couple stars from last year\u2019s team, and they will be very tough to replace. Most importantly, Kelechi Osemele was the team\u2019s blind side protector and he is now a member of the Ravens. Now, Iowa State must plug in a bunch of guys who are unproven.<\/p>\n Iowa State\u2019s defense doesn\u2019t have a great pass rusher, and that has hurt the team quite a bit in the past. I don\u2019t see that changing in 2012. The Cyclones have a couple good interior defensive linemen, but no one that serves as a great edge pass rusher.<\/p>\n Paul Rhoads is one of the best at getting the most out of his team, but I don\u2019t think this team can compete with the majority of the Big 12. The Big 12 is loaded from top to bottom this year, and Iowa State simply has too many question marks. This should be a team that will pull another upset or two this year, but I don\u2019t think they\u2019ll be able to finish with a winning record. The recruiting has improved, so in the long run I do expect this team to improve. For now, the Cyclones will be the near the bottom of the Big 12.<\/p>\n 9\/1\/12\t 3:30 PM ET\tTULSA 2012-13 Football Previews \u2013 (Big 12) \u2013 Iowa St. Cyclones Iowa State hasn\u2019t had a ton of success over the past decade, but Paul Rhoads is doing his best to change that. The Cyclones shocked the entire college football world when they beat then-unbeaten Oklahoma State last November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":24341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[39626,39773,327,56203,14304,18309,56201,56202,50159],"class_list":["post-54330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaa-football","tag-39626","tag-big-12-conference-picks","tag-college-football-predictions","tag-cyclones-futures","tag-football-season-preview","tag-iowa-st-cyclones","tag-iowa-st-cyclones-picks","tag-iowa-st-predictions","tag-iowa-st-schedule"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54330"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54402,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54330\/revisions\/54402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHead Coach: Paul Rhoads
\n2011 Record: 6-7
\nIowa State Gambling Odds from JustBet to win BCS Championship: (Part of Field) +1,800
\nIowa State Gambling Odds from 5Dimes to win Big 12: +8,500<\/strong><\/p>\nTeam Strengths:<\/h3>\n
Team Weaknesses:<\/h3>\n
2012-2013 Iowa State Cyclones Football Prediction: 5-7<\/h3>\n
2012 Iowa St. Schedule<\/h3>\n
\n9\/8\/12\t 3:30 PM ET\t @IOWA
\n9\/15\/12\t TBD\tWILL
\n9\/29\/12\t TBD\tTXTCH
\n10\/6\/12\t TBD\t @TCU
\n10\/13\/12\t TBD\tKANST
\n10\/20\/12\t TBD\t @OKLST
\n10\/27\/12\t TBD\tBAY
\n11\/3\/12\t TBD\tOKLA
\n11\/10\/12\t TBD\t @TEXAS
\n11\/17\/12\t TBD\t @KANS
\n11\/24\/12\t TBD\tWVIRG<\/p>\nGRAB OUR BEST Expert CFB Picks for 2012 NCAA FOOTBALL Betting! \u2014\u2013><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"