As the Cyclones prepared to face Baylor last Saturday, a scheme for how to defend Robert Griffin III, the national leader in passing touchdowns and passing efficiency, was needed so that the ISU secondary would be prepared in passing situations.

The Cyclones (2-3, 0-2 in Big 12) limited Griffin to 212 yards and one touchdown through the air but it was the work of him-and seven other Baylor ballcarriers-that kept the Bears offense churning as the Cyclones retreated back to Ames following a 49-26 defeat.

“We’ve got to make sure defensively as always that we’ve got every gap covered from a responsibility standpoint, we gave up a number of yards because we weren’t located where we should be,” said ISU coach Paul Rhoads in a press conference on Monday.

The Bears (4-1, 1-1) carried the ball 67 times for 391 yards and five touchdowns. All three totals are the highest that any defense under Rhoads and defensive coordinator Wally Burnham has allowed since the two began at Iowa State in 2009.

The ISU run defense wasn’t porous by any means coming into last Saturday’s game. They had only allowed 619 rushing yards through four games, good enough for sixth in the Big 12. They had also limited big plays on the ground with their longest carry against on the season being a 22-yard run by Texas running back Malcolm Brown.

However, Baylor was able to not just gain small chunks of three to five yards, instead they made a living with double-digit yardage on their carries. 24 of their 37 first downs were gained on the ground and the Bears rushed for 10 or more yards on 16 of their 67 carries. That nearly matched the amount of 10+ yard runs allowed by the ISU defense in the first four games of the season (18).

“It was really simple, [there were] simple mistakes and [there are] simple fixes for what we were doing wrong,” said ISU junior linebacker Jake Knott. “It’s stuff that we haven’t done wrong all year and I think that was just Baylor taking advantage of one of our weaknesses, we saw that on film and we know what we did wrong.”

Iowa State’s next opponent is no slouch in the running game either. The Missouri Tigers (2-3, 0-2) average 225 yards on the ground, which ranks them second in the Big 12 behind Baylor and 14th nationally. The Tigers are led by sophomore tailback Henry Josey who has 588 yards on only 55 carries, a whopping 10.7 yards per carry average.

“They’re a fast-paced offense so they like to gash you whenever they can,” said ISU junior defensive tackle Jake McDonough.

With first-round NFL draft pick Blaine Gabbert, at quarterback for the Tigers in 2009 and 2010, the Tigers rushed for a combined 336 yards. Gabbert, who threw for 6,822 yards as a starter, was more of a pocket passer than his replacement, sophomore James Franklin. Through five game, Franklin has carried the ball 83 times for 306 yards and five touchdowns.

“They have very explosive players and they spread everybody out and just hit a seam up the middle or in between two linebackers,” Knott said. “They have such a great offensive coordinator that figures out the weaknesses in the defense and he exploits them very well with the speed and athleticism of their players.”

The Cyclones will face off against the Tigers in Columbia, Missouri this Saturday at 2 p.m.