Iowa State football underwhelms in embarrassing loss to Louisiana: 3 takeaways

Iowa State football epitomized disappointed on Saturday afternoon.

Iowa State football shrank when it had an opportunity to make a big statement on Saturday.

Matt Campbell’s Iowa State Cyclones laid an egg at home vs. Louisiana football of the Sun Belt, dropping a head-scratcher to the tune of 31-14 at Jack Trice Stadium. Iowa State became the first ranked team to lose this season, as Billy Napier’s Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns got their first win over a ranked team since Jake Delhomme was their star quarterback back in 1996. What all happened?

Here are three big takeaways from Iowa State’s upset loss to Louisiana.

1. Brock Purdy may need to stay in school for another season.

All offseason we’ve heard nothing but praise out of the Iowa State quarterback. Brock Purdy was projected to be a top-five quarterback taken in the 2021 NFL Draft, should he declare early. Though he still has a chance to be the best quarterback in school history over Dave Archer, Sage Rosenfels and Seneca Wallace, surely, he’d like a mulligan for his dreadful Week 1 performance.

Purdy completed 16 of 35 passes for 145 yards and an interception. He averaged a pitiful 4.1 yards per passing attempt and only had seven rushing attempts for 35 yards. Purdy averaged more yards per carry on the ground than he did throwing the ball through the air. Louisiana may be a great team out of the Group of 5 this season, but Purdy had to be better for Iowa State to win.

2. Iowa State did a deplorable job with special teams defense.

Though the score may indicate otherwise, the game was closer than a 17-point victory by the Ragin’ Cajuns. Yardage was about the same across the board, but the two things that tipped the scales in Louisiana’s favor were winning the turnover over battle 2-0 and scoring on a pair of Iowa State kicks. The Cyclones’ special teams were a disaster and Louisiana took complete advantage of it.

After getting on the board first in the second quarter, Iowa State’s Eddie Ogamba kicked it right to Louisiana’s Chris Smith who took it 95 yards the other way to tie it up at seven. Down 17-14, Joe Rivera’s 42-yard punt went 83 yards the other way for a sweet, delicious Eric Garror trip to pay dirt. Louisiana wasn’t perfect, but the Ragin’ Cajuns return game was otherworldly on Saturday.

3. Maybe it’s Billy Napier who gets that bigger job over Matt Campbell in 2021?

For a few years now, Campbell has been tagged as a head coach on the rise. While he has done wonderful things in his time in Ames and with the Toledo Rockets before that, maybe he’s not going to end up with a more lucrative Power 5 gig in 2021 or take his talents to the NFL? What are the chances Napier is the one who climbs the coaching ladder during this upcoming offseason?

Napier is a Nick Saban disciple and has done a remarkable job in his short time at Louisiana. To give the program its second-ever win over a top-25 team on the road at a place like Ames, Iowa is nothing to take lightly. Iowa State was projected to be a top-four team in Big 12 play this year. Though the Cyclones may have a bad year, maybe it’ll be Louisiana getting a New Year’s Six nod?

There will be more upsets in college football this season, but we’re still blown away by this one.

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