At halftime of the Cy-Hawk game, Iowa State leads Iowa, 17-10.

…

AMES — That was one ugly half of football. All told, we had seven penalties for 90 yards. Here are some very stream-of-consciousness thoughts from the first half.

• Drew Ott is hurt. Via Iowa radio, he has a wrist injury and was grimacing in pain every time someone touched it. His arm got caught in a pile on a loose ball around his own 20-yard line in the first quarter. His left arm is in a sling on the Hawkeye sideline.
• Without Ott in the game, Iowa is getting absolutely zero push. Jaleel Johnson has two false-start penalties, and an combination on the defensive line of Nate Meier, Kyle Terlouw, Parker Hesse, Johnson, Faith Ekakitie, and Nathan Bazata is less than ideal, to put it lightly.
• It took quarterback C.J. Beathard until the first Iowa touchdown drive to look comfortable in the pocket. He’s 5-of-12 for 56 yards and a touchdown, and he’s not getting much help from any of his pass-catchers. Riley McCarron dropped a sure-fire first down on the drive following ISU’s first touchdown to go three and out, and no one is able to get any separation.
• Beathard, however, has done things with his legs (84 yards, Iowa’s leading rusher). Using some sort of break-dance move, he shuffled out of the end zone to evade a safety, and then scrambled for 44 yards. A shovel pass to Jordan Canzeri for a big gain picked up another nice chunk of yards, and led to a Tevaun Smith touchdown. Beathard also had a rush of 57 yards before the end of the half. Guy looks like an Ohio State quarterback running around out there.
• Hell of a play from Smith on the score, made the catch over the ISU defensive back with no separation. Beathard let his receiver make a play there.
• And then Iowa State came back with a 53-yard gain on a wheel route to set up the second Cyclone touchdown.
• On that score, Miles Taylor was in the box, showing blitz through the A gap and then dropped back into coverage, but Richardson put a ball where only his receiver could catch it, which Jauan Wesley did, in spectacular fashion. Good job all around from ISU.
• Although LeShun Daniels Jr. looked solid the first half (8 carries, 56 yards), it’s tough for the Hawkeyes to keep anything going consistently with the lack of a passing game.
• Josey Jewell and Cole Fisher came to play today, but Ben Niemann looks like he still needs some development. Although he missed a pick-6 by a few inches early in the first quarter, he’s been out of position a few times this afternoon and has missed at least one should-be tackle.
• Well, that was before Niemann got off a block and tripped up Richardson for a sack. Nice play. It’s a roller-coaster ride, man.
• Iowa State’s touchdown was about as easy as it gets. Wide receiver Quenton Bundrage got inside position on Greg Mabin, and because Richardson could construct a home with the time he’s getting, led his target for 6. An easy pitch-and-catch.
• On a drive in the first quarter, Beahard was sacked on consecutive plays. In the first, Demond Tucker waltzed through A gap untouched and took Beathard down before he could even hand the ball off to Daniels (this wasn’t officially a sack, but it was a sack). In the second, a delayed blitz from linebacker Jarnor Jones, good scheme from ISU.
• The fake field goal. Why? I understand it if you have some time left on the clock, and then try it. But why run down to one second and put all your eggs in one basket.
• For what it’s worth, Marshall Koehn now has 25 rushing yards this year.

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