Patrick Neal was asked to fill some pretty big shoes Saturday night in Iowa State’s 20-19 season-opening victory against Northern Iowa.

The redshirt senior, who weighs in at 250 pounds at right defensive end, started at defensive tackle to shift Jake McDonough to nose guard in the absence of Stephen Ruempolhamer, who was recovering from surgery on his meniscus eight days before kickoff.

“I obviously wasn’t used to D-tackle,” Neal said. “It was my first time playing it since playing it my senior year of high school ball.”

Ruempolhamer, a senior co-captain and starter at nose, saw limited action as a substitute for McDonough on Saturday in his attempt to return from surgery.

Ruempolhamer’s struggles were coupled with the absence of second-string lineman Cleyon Laing, who did not suit up due to violation of team rules, ISU coach Paul Rhoads said Saturday after the game.

For Neal, lining up in a different gap in a different position was an adjustment in and of itself.

“Everything happens a lot faster,” Neal said. “You’re dealing with bigger guys in there since you’re not dealing with a tight end, you’re dealing with a tackle and a guard. So it’s just a lot more weight, it’s just a lot more physically draining.”

Even through his adjustment was on the fly, Neal was still essential to the defensive line’s performance.

“Without him, we would have struggled as a defensive line,” Rhoads said of Neal. “We had to have him in there from a depth standpoint, from an experience standpoint.”

Overall, Neal played 61 snaps at the defensive line spot, which was roughly equivalent to the amount of snaps McDonough and left end Jacob Lattimer played at their respective positions Saturday.

“He got pushed around a little bit for the most part,” Rhoads said of Neal. “He held his gap, he allowed us to play with a veteran group, which was much needed in this opener.”

On the new depth chart released Monday, Neal is listed as the starter at right end in place of Roosevelt Maggitt, who sustained a significant knee injury in the second quarter of Saturday’s win. The extent of the injury still isn’t known, and an MRI is pending.

Ruempolhamer, though, is slated to start at nose for Saturday’s game against Iowa.

“He’s fine now, he’s doing a lot better,” Neal said of Ruempolhamer. “We expect him to be fully healthy this week.”

Woes at running back

The ISU running back corps was outshined by Steele Jantz’s scrambling on Saturday, as the quarterback in his first start out-rushed the three running backs — Shontrelle Johnson, Jeff Woody and James White — combined, 80-62.

While a majority of Jantz’s runs resulted from getting flushed out of the pocket by the UNI defense, the juco transfer had two more carries than the three backs combined.

“You’ve got to give credit to [Northern Iowa],” said running backs coach Kenith Pope. “I think they did a good job up front making it tough for our guys to find creases in the defense.”

Northern Iowa’s domination in time of possession, which eclipsed Iowa State’s by almost 12 minutes, was partly to blame for the running backs’ lack of carries.

“We got a good diversity of who was on the field at certain times,” Woody said. “If there wasn’t a 12-minute drive that went in the third quarter and we were forced to throw in the fourth, I think we probably would have had a few more carries.”

Even though Johnson got the majority of the carries with nine for 27 yards, White had the best performance of the three.

“I was pleased with James White,” Pope said. “That was basically his first time playing when it counted in a game early on. He got some early-on reps, he had one explosive run that he did extremely well.”

The Dallas native rushed for 32 yards on five carries for a team-high rushing average of 6.4 yards per carry.

“It’s just me doing me,” White said. “I practice hard, play hard and you know when the game gets here, I try my best to execute. So I feel like practice had prepared me to do what I do now.”

Scott impresses in debut

Willie Scott made the most of his debut in the ISU defensive line rotation, notching the third-most tackles on the team with nine, including five solo tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss, on Saturday night.

“Willie Scott, he’s a tremendous athlete,” said junior linebacker Jake Knott. “He’s got tons of speed, great explosion. He’s been a playmaker all offseason. He makes plays and having a guy like that on the defensive line, it’s nice to have.”

Scott, who is listed at 223 pounds at second string at left end on the depth chart, also recovered a fumble in the closing seconds of the game after a failed hook-and-ladder by the Panthers in a last-chance effort to win the game.

“He’s a bit undersized,” Knott said, “but he still goes out and makes up for it with his play-making ability.”