Over the past two years, the engine that’s driven Iowa State has been the success of its defense.

Iowa State is still having success in the win column, but its normally stout defense has started to show cracks during the home stretch of the season. Including Saturday’s game against Drake, the Cyclones have given up an average of nearly 29 points per game over the last three games, compared to only about 20 per game through the first nine games.

That’s concerning as is, but it’s taken up a notch when considering the competition. In the past two weeks, the Cyclones’ defense has given up a combined 62 points to a team ranked dead-last in the Big 12 in total offense and a non-scholarship FCS team.

To be fair, 10 of Drake’s points came due to a short field, but there were also multiple times throughout the game that Drake extended drives by making plays on third-and-long, which made for a frustrating afternoon for the defense.

“They were out there making plays,” said redshirt sophomore safety Braxton Lewis of the Bulldogs’ offense. “As the season goes on, teams are able to scheme against you. It really just comes down to our detail and discipline. We’ve got to stay focused and locked in.”

Perhaps the biggest concern for the unit has been its performance against the run. If you go back even further to the Kansas game, when the defense gave up 187 combined yards to Khalil Herbert and Pooka Williams, teams have found consistent success running the ball as of late against the Cyclones.

Things were a little better against Drake, as the unit only gave up 58 net yards on 30 attempts, but that kind of performance should be expected against a team that, again, doesn’t have anyone on an athletic scholarship.

In the four games prior to Saturday, the Cyclones had given up an average of about 185 yards per game on the ground. With the exception of Texas, all teams averaged 4.3 yards per carry or more against Iowa State. Needless to say, the team knows it needs to improve.

“We need to improve our rushing defense, and that’s a team effort,” said redshirt freshman linebacker Jake Hummel. “Alignment, assignment, it’s just everyone’s job to get that ball stopped. It’s something we need to work on before the bowl game, and I think we’ll get there.”

Lewis agreed with Hummel’s assessment, and said that the time leading up to Iowa State’s bowl game will be helpful.

“I think that this time in-between now and the bowl game is a good opportunity to figure out what we’ve got to work on and lock-in on those details,” Lewis said.

As for the game today, things did look a little better on the stat sheet, as Iowa State only gave up a total of 279 yards. However, Saturday’s game saw the Bulldogs have a surprising amount of success through the air, in addition to those aforementioned third-and-longs.

On a day where throwing the ball looked like it would be impossible, quarterback Grant Kraemer outperformed Iowa State’s Brock Purdy by completing 20-of-29 passes for 221 yards and three touchdowns. The final of those three touchdowns saw Kraemer thread the needle on a first-and-goal from the 19-yard line.

While you can maybe chalk that up to factors out of the Cyclones’ control, like Drake playing motivated or Iowa State missing starters in the secondary, it’s still concerning no matter how you put it. This also comes just one week after Iowa State gave up three touchdowns to Kansas State quarterback Skylar Thompson, albeit on only 187 yards passing. 

Ultimately, however, winning covers up a lot of mistakes, and the Cyclones have certainly done a lot of that lately. Perhaps that’s why players and coaches don’t seem too concerned, at least publicly, about the team’s issues. 

After all, an ugly win like today’s is still a win, and 8-4 is the best regular season the team has had since 2000.