Northern Iowa @ Iowa State preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 31, 2013 ) Northern Iowa 28, Iowa State 20

Iowa State has lost its last two season openers to FCS teams and the Cyclones will try to buck that trend when they host Northern Iowa on Saturday night at Jack Trice Stadium. Preparing for the Panthers won’t be easy as Northern Iowa coach Mark Farley has said he may wait until late in the week to determine his starting quarterback among four candidates.

Iowa State will be trying to improve on its 2-10 mark from last season and the Cyclones will count on returning starting quarterback Sam B. Richardson to direct the offense. Richardson passed for 2,669 yards and 18 TDs last season and he’ll have his top two receivers from last season, Allen Lazard and D’Vario Montgomery, returning as well. While the Panthers remain uncommitted on their starting quarterback, Darrian Miller figures to get the bulk of the carries at running back in his second season with Northern Iowa after transferring from Kansas, where he played from 2011-13. He’ll have big shoes to fill after David Johnson rushed for 1,553 yards last season to finish with a school record 4,687 yards for his four-year career.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, Cyclones.tv. LINE: Iowa State -8.5

ABOUT NORTHERN IOWA (2014: 9-5): The four quarterbacks vying for the starting role are Sawyer Kollmorgen, Aaron Bailey, Dalton Demos and Eli Dunne. Kollmorgen has the most experience, appearing in nine games last year and completing 52.1 percent of his throws for 1,635 yards and 12 touchdowns, but Dunne, a redshirt freshman, looked terrific during the spring game and carried that momentum into the summer. Bailey also is a strong candidate but has been sidelined with a hamstring injury, which could be why Farley has delayed making a decision. Whoever ends up behind center, they’ll have a pair of dependable receivers in Charles Brown and Braden Lehman.

ABOUT IOWA STATE (2014: 2-10): Richardson is also the team’s top returning rusher after totaling 589 yards last season. The Cyclones will count on the running back trio of Tyler Brown, Mike Warren and Joshua Thomas to also move the chains on the ground. Brown, a sophomore, is the most experienced of the three, totaling 109 yards on 24 carries last season but remains a long shot to become the first 1,000-yard rusher for Iowa State since 2009. Anchoring the defense for the Cyclones will be linebacker Levi Peters, the team’s co-captain along with Richardson who is coming off a torn Achilles' tendon suffered in the second game last season.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Iowa State DE Mitchell Meyers, one of four players to start all 12 games for the Cyclones last season, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Februarybut is expected to rejoin the team this season.

2. Richardson is one of seven returning FBS players who have totaled at least 4,000 yards passing and 1,000 rushing in their careers.

3. Iowa State S Kamari Cotton-Moya was the Big 12 defensive freshman of the year last season after leading the team with 77 tackles.

PREDICTION: Iowa State 28, Northern Iowa 17