It’s not as easy as it looks.

When one glances at the gaudy numbers put up by Big 12 quarterbacks last season, though, it may seem like child’s play.

“No, no, absolutely not!” said ISU’s new offensive coordinator Tom Herman. “Offensive football is really, really hard.”

Last season, Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell and Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford set the standard for quarterbacks in the new run-and-gun Big 12. Harrell racked up over 5,000 yards through the air for the second straight season, while Bradford put up a staggering 50 touchdowns on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore.

Meanwhile, Iowa State’s Austen Arnaud managed only 2,792 yards and 15 touchdowns in a much more conservative version of the spread offense.

“We don’t set numbers goals,” Herman said. “We don’t want to rush for so many yards, or throw for so many yards, or score so many points. Our goal is to score at least one more point than the opponent.”

With that goal in mind, Herman — who doubles as both offensive coordinator and quarterbacks’ coach — will call upon the junior Arnaud, who is coming into his second season starting under center.

Redshirt freshman Jerome Tiller is likely to see some time on the field as well, as Arnaud’s backup.

For both Arnaud and Tiller, the spread attack that Herman runs presents a new challenge. Last season, it was common for the Cyclones to line up under center, something that will be rare in the new wide-open, shotgun attack.

“If you didn’t know that they hadn’t ever run [the offense] before, I don’t think you’d think twice about that,” head coach Paul Rhoads said. “They’re getting experienced to the point where they are able to run it effectively, like you’d hope they would at this point.”

Contrary to what his position coach has said, Arnaud has said that the spread has been relatively easy to grasp since he’s been immersed in it. Like any major transition, though, there has been a learning curve for both of the young quarterbacks.

Arnaud started all 12 games last season — although he shared time in the first four games with former Cyclone Phillip Bates — and saw time in six games as a freshman. This will be the first time, though, he will be in such a wide-open attack.

“Austen has that game experience, and his savvy, for lack of a better term, has shown a little bit more because he’s comfortable, he’s been there, he’s been in that fire,” Herman said.

Arnaud and Tiller have worked together throughout the fall on all things from command of the playbook to technique on throws, and even though the two quarterbacks are similar athletically, Arnaud has been presumed to be the starting quarterback since the beginning of fall camp.

Tiller and Arnaud still have a little bit of friendly competition in them at practice, however,

“Yeah, we’re competing, but we’re two competitive kids,” Arnaud said. “We’ll even go out on the basketball court and compete, but that’s just how we are. But, we also help each other as much as we can.”

The two bring different aspects of the position to the field, presenting a potential problem in trying to get each of them time on the field.

Arnaud has the obvious experience advantage — Tiller will be entering his first active season after redshirting last season — and has a quicker release after the snap. Tiller is a bit more elusive on the run, though, allowing for an array of opportunities in the offense.

“There are not plans for that,” Rhoads said. “Austen is just as capable of making plays with his legs as Jerome is, and they’re both capable of completing all the throws that they need to.”

For Arnaud, the offense is starting to flow much better as they come to the end fall camp. The team will begin preparation for their first game later this week.

“I’m feeling good,” Arnaud said. “We’re on the same page. It feels like the light has come on for a lot of guys.”

The light, however, hasn’t been on for Arnaud through the entirety of fall camp.

Arnaud added that early in camp, the offensive technique looked bad at times, even though several players knew the system.

“I don’t know if it’s the optimist in me or the idiot, but I do feel like somewhere between the horrible scrimmage we had two weeks ago and the half scrimmage we had Wednesday, the light clicked on for a lot of guys,” Herman said. “We had a rude awakening a couple of Saturdays ago, and those guys had a bit of ‘come to Jesus’ meeting, and for some reason, the light seemed to come on.

“[Austen] is one of the biggest ones I think it clicked for.”

Herman and Rhoads both hinted that Arnaud’s experience has allowed for most of his progression through the fall.

“The number one goal for a quarterback is to slow things down,” Arnaud said. “With the spread offense, and the guys we have, I feel it’s been easy for me to slow things down and see what I get every defensive snap.”