Explosive ground gains and a suffocating secondary fueled the Cyclones' dominant 55-7 blowout. Discover how Aiden Flora and a relentless offensive line dismantled the Falcons’ defense.
The Iowa State Cyclone beat the Bowling Green Falcon 55-7 today in a dominant home performance. The Cyclone came into this game heavily favored, and this performance showed why. They controlled the game for all four quarters. They dominated in all three aspects of the game, with a very explosive running game on offense, a shutdown performance in the secondary on defense, and two touchdowns coming from both of the special teams units.
After a dominant performance where everyone played well, it is hard to narrow it down to just three things. But after some time, here are my three standouts.
Aiden Flora (#21, HB)
After coming off a 19-carry, 89-yard game against Iowa in the Cy-Hawk rivalry game, the former walk-on exploded against Bowling Green. In only 12 carries, Flora went for 194 yards and two touchdowns. In this game, Flora really showed off his speed and agility as he broke off a 61-yard run for a touchdown. He also showed his value on special teams with an impressive 66-yard punt return for a touchdown. Look for him to possibly be the engine of this Iowa State offense.
Secondary
After a shaky start to the game, when they allowed a 59-yard touchdown to Bowling Green freshman Winn Sharp, this Cyclone secondary stepped up and shut down the Falcons' passing game. They allowed only 96 total passing yards in the game, and 59 of those came on one play. They also forced Falcons quarterback Jay Kastantin to turn the ball over once and complete only 47% of his passes. This secondary also showed its physicality by coming up and tackling in the run game on multiple occasions. If this secondary can carry this performance through the rest of the season, we can see this defense become one of the better ones in the nation.
Offensive Line
This group deserves a spot on this list after a near-perfect performance as they allowed only one sack throughout the entire game. This group really showed its dominance in the run game, climbing to the second level and shielding off these Falcons' linebackers and secondary players, allowing Aiden Flora and this Cyclone running back room to break off explosive plays and put together an amazing game on the ground. This group looks consistently good, and I will look for this to continue and for Iowa State to be considered a very dangerous team on the ground.
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