AMES - Like many of his teammates, James White spent his free time watching college football and hanging out with the guys. Jake Knott traveled to St. Louis, where he watched younger brother, Luke, throw for 314 yards while leading Lee Summit West (Mo.) to a victory over Webster Grove (Mo.) Friday.
That, in a nutshell, describes what the Iowa State Cyclones did with their off week following a 3-0 start to the 2011 season.
With 17th-ranked Texas coming to Jack Trice Stadium Saturday for a nationally televised game, ISU also used its extra week to do a little self-scouting. "We were able to take advantage of the open week, getting exactly what we wanted out of it and that was to rest, rehab and recruit," Cyclone head coach Paul Rhoads said. "We got all of those things accomplished.
"We were also able to sit back, take a deep breath and learn from what has been accomplished thus far and see with a clear picture what we need to do better moving forward," added Rhoads. While watching extra film on the Longhorns was an obvious off-week activity for the Cyclones, it was also a great time to get some of their key players healthy for what is being hyped as ISU's biggest Big 12 season-opener in school history.
Quarterback Steele Jantz, who sprained his left foot late in the first half of ISU's win over Connecticut on Sept. 16, didn't miss any practice time but is still on the mend. "The foot is getting better," Jantz said. "Every day it feels better, so I'm optimistic about it. "No it's not 100 (percent), but come Saturday whatever it is I'm going to go, so I'm not really worried about it."
Offensive tackle Kelechi Osemele, left guard Ethan Tuftee and nose guard Stephen Ruempolhamer all returned to practice Sunday after being held out last week. "We're as healthy as we could be at this point other than the three ACLs that are out," Rhoads said. The significance of Saturday's game hasn't been lost on the Cyclones. More than 20 percent of ISU's roster is from the state of Texas (24 players) and more importantly, the Cyclones see the game as another opportunity to make a name for themselves. "We have in the neighborhood of 20 kids on our roster from the state of Texas and none of them were offered a scholarship by the University of Texas," Rhoads said. "Does that mean anything from a motivational standpoint, and they will play off their feet?
"No. All that goes out the door when that first ball is kicked off. But when you are playing a team from your home state it definitely means a good bit. I hope we are at a point in our program that it doesn't mean any more than any other game."The Cyclones are also aware that Texas has probably circled this game and is looking for a measure of revenge following last year's 28-21 loss to ISU in Austin.
"First of all it will challenge us to see where we actually are, but the best thing about it is we are playing at home, it's a night game, the environment is going to be good and I'm from Texas so it's a very exciting game," said defensive back Jeremy Reeves, a native of Allen, Texas. RHOADS ON BIG 12 PLAY - As the Big 12 enters its conference schedule, Rhoads reflected on the league's stellar 27-2 non-conference record. That mark includes a signature win by Kansas State over Miami of Florida, which was coming off a win over Big Ten champion Ohio State.
"No surprise whatsoever," Rhoads said. "As we looked at the schedule and knew how challenging it was going to be, it was because nine Big 12 teams were going to be very strong with five, six, seven being ranked in the top 25. Last week we had three of them ranked in the Top 10. "So our amount of success is no surprise to anybody in this league and knows how good this football conference is.