With ISU football’s running game struggling the way it has this season, quarterback Sam Richardson has been throwing the ball more than anticipated.

Richardson finished the game Sept. 27 against Baylor completing over 43 percent of his passes and throwing for over 200 yards. But head coach Paul Rhoads said there were a few missed opportunities.

“We knew we had to win against press coverage,” Rhoads said. “That will be the case in the foreseeable future in this league. We think we did, and we’ve got to continue to do that. But we did miss on what potentially could have been 14 or 21 more points.”

After missing the end of last season due to a knee injury, wide receiver Jarvis West is now one of the top targets for the Cyclones. West caught the ball five times against Baylor for 37 yards and now leads the team in receptions this season with 20 receptions. 

Not only is West one of the team’s best wide receivers, he is also one of the nation’s top punt returners. West averages more than 29 yards per punt return and returned one punt over 80 yards for a touchdown earlier in the season.

West’s returns aren’t something that the team takes for granted. In fact, Rhoads said it’s one of the biggest momentum boosters this team has.

“It has a huge impact obviously,” Rhoads said. “Sometimes, because of Jarvis’ ability, you got to talk him into maybe not making the smart decision and getting the ball in his hands, making one guy miss at the last second and seeing what he can do with the ball. It’s something we’ve discussed because it can change the game, and it’s very huge from a momentum standpoint.”

Another target in the Cyclone’s arsenal is senior tight end E.J. Bibbs. Prior to the season, the Chicago native made the John Mackey Award Watch List, an award given to the nation’s top tight end.

So far this season, Bibbs has 11 receptions for 88 yards and one touchdown, but the coaches are looking to get a little more production out of Bibbs.

“Teams are aware of him and have done a nice job defending him. With better opportunities we will get him the ball more,” Rhoads said. “He is very much a part of this package with the stuff were doing.”

Both players and coaches alike say that one of the reasons the pass game has been successful this season comes from the offensive line. For the run game to improve, however, they say they still have some work to do.

“I think we can definitely have better offensive line play,” said offensive lineman Daniel Burton. “We’ve talked a lot about getting more vertical push and handling movement better. There are things we’ve got to continue working on in practice, get our fundamentals squared away and just keep working on what we have.”