Entering his final season as a Cyclone, quarterback Sam Richardson has had no shortage of goals and expectations heaped onto his shoulders by both the team and the media.

ISU head coach Paul Rhoads named him as potentially one of the best quarterbacks in the Big 12 before the 2015 season. Richardson was also called the team’s “most indispensable player” by ESPN.com this summer.

Now, with one game under his belt — albeit a 31-7 rout against Football Championship Subdivision opponent Northern Iowa — Richardson has embarked on the journey to prove those statements correct.

He looked good in Saturday night’s season opener, at least on paper. He completed 21-of-29 passes, a 72.4 percentage, while throwing for 233 yards and two touchdowns. His stat line was aided by a third quarter in which he went 6 for 6 and threw both touchdown passes.

Looking away from the stat line, coaches and Richardson have identified some aspects they’d like him to improve.

“There were some simple throws that he missed that we’d like to see him hit,” Rhoads said. “He had what we thought were two touchdowns to [Allen Lazard] that he missed; a couple balls off to the side that we’d like to see him complete consistently.”

Richardson was also part of a stalled running game that was one of the few negatives from the season opener. His three rushes — a small number of attempts considering Richardson was Iowa State’s leading rusher last season — went for only eight yards, not including sacks.

“We think he needs to do a better job with his run fakes,” Rhoads said. “[Richardson] is a guy who is going to run the football, he’s a good runner … He’s gotta make [the defense] aware that he’s a potential ball carrier every time he comes out of [the fake].”

Another aspect of the game not shown on paper is the mental component. Richardson’s preparation was on point, and he was able to understand what the UNI defense was doing, so he could keep it on its toes.

“From the mental aspect of the game, he was really good and sharp,” said ISU offensive coordinator Mark Magino. “He knew what they were doing. He got us in the right place.”

The Cyclones will take on a Hawkeye defense led in the secondary by safety Jordan Lomax and cornerback Desmond King. Most of Iowa’s defensive backfield played in last season’s Cy-Hawk matchup, giving Richardson and the rest of the offense an idea of what they’ll see Saturday.

“I think we knew the guys pretty well,” Richardson said. “We played most of them last year. We’ll see some new faces at linebacker, but I think it’ll be the same defense we’ve seen the last five years.”