Iowa State football needs to win on first down
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AMES – Much of the Iowa State football defense is predicated on being aggressive, swarming the ball and dictating the level of physicality.
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Offensively, the Cyclones are trying to match that and find ways to throw a better collective first punch. Not every play has to be explosive, but there is a want and a need to improve on third-down plays, which will help them sustain drives.
Through its first four games, Iowa State is 15-of-47 on third downs. The Cyclones' 31.9% conversion rate ranks 123rd of 138 FBS teams in the country. Within the Big 12, Iowa State is second-to-last, ahead of only Arizona State's 30.8%.
There are many ways to diagnose the low-conversion rate, but more success on first down can go a long way for the Cyclones.
"It unlocks everything, because you get to second-and-medium to short, your entire playbook is wide open," said offensive coordinator Tyler Roehl. "That's where you can even be a little bit more aggressive, but if you're in second and 10-plus, you're looking to get half. You're trying to sustain the drive. You don't want to put yourself in third-and-long. At times, you're going to be a little bit more aggressive and try to get the first down, you know? If you're able to have success on first down, that is paramount to success within the drive and success within the game."
The Cyclones are averaging 5.9 yards per play in first down situations this year. It's a solid number, but elevated in victories over Southeast Missouri State and Bowling Green. In those games, the Cyclones also converted on third downs at a 40% rate, which isn't stellar but season-high marks.
Iowa State averaged 10.5 yards per play on first down in a rout of Bowling Green, and 4.9 yards on first downs in a comfortable win over SEMO. In those games, the Cyclones only faced third-and-7 or longer three times each.
"Going into a drive, we're always confident," wide receiver Dominic Overby said. "When those (good) plays happen, you feel like your feet are more set, you know what's going on and you feel we can do it."
In the 16-13 loss to Iowa, the Cyclones were 4-for-13 converting on third-down. They averaged 3.5 yards per play on first down and faced situations of third-and-7 or longer six times.
In Iowa State's 31-17 loss to Utah in Week 4, the struggles were more noticeable. Iowa State went 3-for-14 on third down and didn't convert any third downs during the first half. The Cyclones went 2-for-5 on fourth-down attempts, one of which helped fuel a scoring drive with an Overby effort play to help trim a three-touchdown deficit to as low as one in the fourth quarter.
"Putting yourself in those situations is tough, we've got to be able to win first down to have manageable third downs," head coach Jimmy Rogers said after the Utah loss. "We just struggled. That's one of the top defenses in the country, they've got great players, they're well coached, as much moving parts as we do on offense. ... Right before the ball was snapped, they were set in place and able to win certain one-on-ones, which makes it hard. We've got to continue to grow and be better and work on the fundamentals, and there's so many errors inside of this game that we'll look back at and learn from."
Iowa State averaged 3.3 yards on first downs against Utah, and it faced situations where it had to overcome third-and-7+ eight times.
"First down efficiency because then you look at third down, and third down wasn't good enough, but if you're in third-and-7-plus, that's not going to win you a lot of ball games if you're in third-and-7, third-and-8," Roehl said. "So, that's a big part of it, having our sense of urgency from the time that ball's kicked off that we're ready to roll, and I think that'll be paramount for our success."
Part of the difficulties in those losses stemmed from Iowa and Utah having two of the more reputable defenses in college football. However, the Cyclones can use the instances they were able to move the ball and sustain scoring drives against the Hawkeyes and Utes as building blocks toward success.
It continues to be a work in progress for Iowa State's offense, but it'll look to ramp up ways of setting the tone on first down and making for more manageable third-down situations on a Big 12 schedule that will only heat up from here.
Next up for Iowa State is West Virginia on Oct. 3. The Mountaineers fell to 3-1 after a loss to Oklahoma State last week. Keep an eye on the Cyclones' first downs and how they handle third down conversions.
"From an offensive standpoint, they want to be opportunistic, correct?" Roehl said of the Mountaineers' swift-moving defense. "So, we're strategically looking at how we can attack them in ways that maybe they haven't been attacked through the course of this year and even all of 2025."
Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State football needs to win on first down