Paul Rhoads took his swing. Fake punt. Onside kick. Going for it on fourth down. This was vintage Rhoads. From the 2009 collection.
It connected. No. 3 TCU wobbled, but never went down. ISU lost 45-21 on Saturday, but the day wasn’t a total loss. The Cyclones that needed to show up, that didn’t appear last week, arrived. It needs to be around going forward.
This wasn’t a moral victory. It was a 24-point loss. Moral victories don’t exist for a coach in his seventh year and a team fighting an uphill battle to get back into the bowl picture.