The Spring Game doesn’t provide much insight into the state of a team.

Quarterbacks play contact-free and players see time for both squads. Each offensive turnover doubles as a takeaway for the defense, and big plays are only big for half the team.

But, Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium, the ISU offense made some big plays, encouraging the coaches and playmakers involved.

“We threw the ball deep today,” said ISU coach Paul Rhoads. “That’s been a priority for us throughout the spring, and we got that accomplished today.”

The ISU passing game accounted for five touchdowns in Saturday’s scrimmage — a 35-22 win for the Cardinal squad — only one of which was for less than 19 yards.

All in all, there were 10 pass plays that went for 15 or more yards. The team also had six runs of 15 or more yards, but four of them came from quarterbacks escaping pressure situations and using no-contact rules to get downfield.

In the first half alone, receivers Aaron Horne and Darius Reynolds had touchdowns of 50 and 40 yards.

“Coach [Tom] Herman wants it to be more open, so he took more chances than he normally would to see if we have that deep threat, to see if we can make more explosive plays,” Reynolds said. “Today was about showing coach Herman that we can do things.” 

Horne and Reynolds drew quite a lot of buzz after the game for their play and connections with quarterbacks Jerome Tiller and Steele Jantz — who Horne played with at San Francisco City College.

Herman will rely on improved performance from his receivers in his third year as the Cyclones’ offensive coordinator.

But the play of the receiving corps could open things up for the rest of the offense as well.

“We’ve got a lot of weapons on the boundary with our receivers and everything,” said running back Shontrelle Johnson. “It opens up the run game, eventually, being able to keep teams honest with the pass and the run.”

Despite the solid performance, the offense didn’t go without its hiccups.

Rhoads pointed out the receivers still dropped passes, the team had five fumbles and combined for five turnovers throughout the day.

The running backs — led by Johnson’s 11 carries for 59 yards — struggled to get into a rhythm and make a big impact on the game.

But, with 250 yards coming from Reynolds and Horne alone, the bright spots from the scrimmage were enough for players to maintain hope.

“I wouldn’t say today was an indication of anything,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot of things unseen, a lot of plays we didn’t run, but we can be dangerous.

“The offense is going to be looking good this year when we get all the pieces put together.”