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Iowa State University Athletics
Cardinal Defeats White 27-24 in Annual Spring Football Game
04.16.2005 | Football
AMES, Iowa - Iowa State starting quarterback Bret Meyer completed 22-of-34 passes for 318 yards and one touchdown Saturday to lead the Cardinal (first- and fourth-teamers) to victory over the White team (second- and third- teamers) in ISU's annual spring football game. The White team was spotted 21 points before the opening kickoff and it made for a great game as the Cardinal stopped the White team at the goal line on the game's final play to secure a 27-24 victory.
The White team led 24-0 early in the second quarter after a 29-yard field goal by Tony Yelk.Meyer countered, hitting Jon Davis on a 70-yard scoring play to cut the lead to 24-7.Meyer then scored from three yards out to make it 24-13 at halftime.
The Cardinal added two touchdown runs by Jason Scales to take a 27-24 lead midway through the fourth quarter.The White team, led by backup quarterback Terrance Highsmith, then drove inside the Cardinal 1-yard line, but was denied paydirt on the game's final play.
Scales, I-back Stevie Hicks and Meyer combined to rush for 184 yards as the Cardinal squad outgained the White team, 523-255.Nik Moser and Broc Bebout each had interceptions for the Cardinal team. Highsmith completed 7-of-13 passes for 130 yards for the White team, and added 54 yards on the ground.White quarterback Kyle Van Winkle completed 4-of-14 passes for 27 yards before breaking his collarbone in the second half.
Jon Davis caught eight passes for 184 yards for the Cardinal, while the White's Ryan Baum totalled 100 yards on four catches. Caleb Berg led all defenders with 11 tackles.
Iowa State opens the 2005 season at home Sept. 3 against Illinois State. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
What Coach McCarney Had to Say:
Opening Comments
"Real good work day, I thought there were obviously some inconsistencies but overall we got into a lot of game day situations and that is why I do it the way I do -- with ones and fours against twos and threes, giving those twos and threes a three touchdown lead. You get into a lot more meaningful game day situations when you are down by three touchdowns, like use of the clock and red zone situations. They did a real good job of showing the chemistry and togetherness of this team. Very pleased with it overall.
"The only substantial injury was QB Kyle Van Winkle. He definitely broke his collarbone. It is just one of those things that happen in a sport where there is a lot of contact and collisions. He won't need any surgery.He will be in a figure eight brace. We have him in a sling right now and he should be probably be throwing the ball by early July, and we feel that he will be ready for fall camp after talking to the doctors and the trainers. We are not going to bring him out in two-a-days and see how many times we can hit him and see if he can hold up.
"All in all it was a good spring. I think we made some strides. The best thing was that we didn't have to kick the ball or kick a PAT in the second half. It was embarrassing sitting up in the press box watching. None of those kickers have been that bad this spring until today. So who is your number one kicker, I don't know, roll a dice. Who is it going to be? I don't know. None of them looked like a starting kicker today. That is the only thing I can honestly say I was disappointed about. After watching today that was extremely disappointing. I am not bringing seven kickers to fall camp so I will have to go through them to see who can kick. We will watch this tape and go through it and watch the composite and I will make the final decision as the head coach on who even comes in and competes for the job when we get started.
"We got a lot done today. You saw today with Austin Flynn what we see every day. He makes plays, runs good routes and we think he is really going to be an outstanding receiver.M ilan Moses did some good things along with Jon Davis. Bret Meyer had a good day, no turnovers, no picks, no fumbles and I thought he did a real nice job today leading our offense."
On PK Tony Yelk:
"Forty-six yard average on punts, no rush of course. But he has got a good strong leg and it is good to see him out there. He made one kick and it was good to see him back out there."
On quarterbacks:
"We will have to go back and watch the tape and look at the execution, the techniques and the plays. You saw good plays and you can see (Terrance Highsmith) has potential as a thrower. He is a good football player and you can see there is a lot of drop-off from the number one and two.Nobody has it locked in as the number two quarterback. That competition will be really strong come two-a-days. Bret (Meyer) is the only one that has proved himself so we aren't going to hold those other guys out of the plays. They need to take hits like in a real game. Those guys have been playing live because they have never played in college football, and they need to show us that they can play."
On running backs:
"(Jason) Scales had a good spring and you saw more of him today. It is still Hicks, Scales and then Coleman coming out of the spring. I like the improvement of Jason and he has done a lot of good things. Hicks has had a little bit of a sore toe, nothing serious at all."
On Austin Flynn:
"I was real surprised the first few days when he went out and jumped in right away. He learned the routes, learned the techniques, ran good routes, caught the ball. I don't know if he has dropped the ball all spring in a competitive situation. He is consistent, he is tough, he will make the tough catches, make the easy catches and he will go after you blocking. He doesn't back away, he goes and does everything."
On defense:
"I think we have a good chance of being pretty good again. We are in the top of every defensive category, and we were the best defense in decades here last year.W e still left a lot of room to improve. We are going to get some real good tests with the good offensies that we will see in our schedule this season."
On WR Ryan Baum:
"He is tough, he is consistent. We want to see what we saw out of him on special teams on offense in the wide receiver position."
Overall expectations:
"Our team has higher expectations this year and they want those expectations to be higher. We are not as good of a football team as we were when we won the bowl championship but we are way ahead of where we were last spring and that is a good sign. When you look at spring, you want to come out healthy, which we are, and with a great grasp of who your best players are."
Players Mentioned
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