Iowa State ran through Akron last year to the tune of a 41-14 road win, setting the foundation for a strong rest of the season.

This time around, Akron (2-0, 0-0 MAC) is no easy task for the Cyclones (0-2, 0-1 Big 12).

Akron’s defense has been a tough unit to score on, giving an unproven Cyclone offense a big test after two rocky weeks to start the year.

“They’re very experienced,” said redshirt sophomore quarterback Zeb Noland, who will make his third career start on Saturday. “If you look at their starting depth chart, they’re all juniors and seniors.”

Just like Iowa State, Akron’s first game of the season (against Nebraska) was canceled. After that, Akron rolled over Morgan State in a 41-7 win.

Last week, Akron won at Northwestern, a Big 10 team that finished 10-3 last season and had won nine of its last 10 games entering the Akron matchup.

Not only that, but Akron was down 21-3 at halftime. The Zips scored three defensive touchdowns to rally back and win, 39-34.

“We just gotta play fast and focus on us,” Noland said. “[We can’t] worry about what they’re doing.”

Iowa State’s passing game could be the biggest difference-maker.

Akron intercepted two passes against Northwestern, taking both back for touchdowns.

Even though Northwestern had a huge advantage in first downs (29 to 15), Akron’s ability to make plays on defense kept the Zips in the game.

Noland stood up to the task against Oklahoma last week, but the Cyclones couldn’t finish. That will be the challenge in week three.

“Zeb is an incredible quarterback,” said redshirt senior receiver Matthew Eaton. “I believe he’s shown that this year as well as last year… He just puts the ball in the right place.”

Redshirt junior wide receiver Hakeem Butler has been Noland’s main target.

Last year, in a 23-13 win at Baylor in Noland’s first career start, the duo hooked up for a 67-yard touchdown.

Against the Sooners last week, Noland found Butler five times for 174 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

“[Noland] gave himself a good foundation to build off of,” said quarterbacks coach Joel Gordon.

Akron has given up over 340 yards of offense per game through the first two games of the season. Even though the defense has forced turnovers, it still has holes.

Junior running back David Montgomery hasn’t quite broken out for a big game yet this year. Over two games, Montgomery has 126 yards on 38 carries for 3.3 yards per rush.

“It’s a product of an offense that’s got a lot of parts,” Gordon said. “We want the run game to be that thing that keeps you in a rhythm and makes everything else easier.”

For Montgomery, one of the keys could be Noland and the passing game. If Iowa State stretches the field deep with Eaton and Butler, the running game could face a lighter front seven from Akron as the Zips key against the passing attack.

“We’ve got some guys who are playing together for the first time, with our center [freshman Colin Newell] and our quarterback [Noland],” Gordon said. “I thought they did a nice job and I thought they were close. There’s three or four runs in there that are an arm tackle away — instead of being seven yards, that can go 30 yards.

“We gotta keep working at it… everything on the offense is, at this point.”