On any given week, Iowa State's defense faces a conference opponent capable of lighting up the scoreboard. Missouri became the latest offense to move ball at will against the Cyclones, routing ISU 52-20 Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium.
"(Missouri has) a great offense, it's a precise offense," ISU coach Gene Chizik said. "We gave up too many big plays."
Missouri became the third team in four games to score 45 or more points against the Cyclones. The Tigers led 7-0 just 5 minutes, 12 seconds into the game.
They found a groove through the air in the first half, mixing an intermediate passing attack with an occasional big play in the running game to jump out to a 31-7 halftime lead.
Even when the Cyclones stopped Missouri short of a first down, Tiger ballcarriers shook off initial contact to turn minimal gains into big plays.
Missouri tailback Derrick Washington rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns on just 11 carries, highlighted by his second touchdown, a 52-yard run, with 4 minutes, 11 seconds left in the second quarter that made it 28-7.
The Tigers converted 80 percent (8-for-10) of their third-down situations, and didn't punt once.
"I think the difference in the game was that we couldn't get off the field on third down," Chizik said.
Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel completed 32-of-40 passes for 328 yards and two touchdowns. He became the fifth conference opponent to throw for more than 300 yards against ISU this season.
"Chase is a great quarterback," Chizik said. "We really didn't do a nice job of stopping him all night tonight. He made throws tonight that you can only put in one spot, and he did. We just didn't play well on defense."
The Cyclone defensive front had trouble penetrating the Missouri offensive line, sacking Daniel once and forcing just one hurry. As a team, the Tigers racked up 479 yards of total offense.
Daniel's 43-yard touchdown pass to flanker Jeremy Maclin late in the third quarter made it 38-13, giving the Tigers a commanding four-score lead.
"(ISU) played a lot of cover-2 and some cover-3, and we got some different pass routes and some different plays that are cover-2 and cover-3 breakers," Maclin said.
ISU quarterback Austen Arnaud said Missouri had too many opportunities to score, a byproduct of the offense not sustaining drives in the early going.
"I put that one on the offense, we can't hold the ball long enough and we gave them more opportunities to score," he said.
ISU linebacker Allen Bell made the biggest play of the night for the Cyclone defense. After cornerback Leonard Johnson's interception was negated by a roughing-the-passer penalty, Bell hauled in a tipped pass inside the ISU 20-yard line.
The Cyclones put up 444 yards of offense, ran more plays than Missouri did and punted just one time, but they couldn't match the big-play explosiveness of the Tiger offense.
"We kept the ball enough offensively to give ourselves a chance, but defensively we just couldn't slow them down," Chizik said.
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