3 takeaways from Jimmy Rogers before Iowa State football vs Baylor

AMES — Coming off Iowa State football’s first win over a ranked opponent this season against Oklahoma State, it will need to face another team that sits firmly in the top half of the Big 12.

The Cyclones (4-4, 2-3 Big 12) will travel to Texas to take on Baylor (5-3, 3-2 Big 12) in Week 10 of the college football season. Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT on Saturday, Nov. 7.

Here are three takeaways from Jimmy Rogers’ media availability ahead of the Cyclones matchup against Baylor.

DJ Lagway will present another challenge at quarterback

The Bears junior quarterback enters this week’s matchup as one of the top passers in the conference. He ranks eighth in total passing yards (1,671) but sixth in passing touchdowns (13) and tied for the third fewest interceptions (4). His average of 278.5 passing yards per game is the third-best in the conference.

“He’s experienced; he was recruited out of high school to go to Florida for a reason,” Rogers said. “I think he’s coming into his own. …Really strong arm, big athletic player. He probably doesn’t look to run as much as he possibly can. He does a good job of keeping his eyes down the field.

“Can press the ball down the field accurately, and he’s got great wide receivers around him to go up in high point balls. So, surely it’ll be a challenge this weekend, just like many of the quarterbacks we’ve faced thus far.”

Rogers sees positives in defense, despite giving up nearly 50 points to Oklahoma State

The Cyclones took down the Cowboys on Oct. 31, but it took a 51-point performance from Iowa State and both teams combining for over 1,100 total yards of offense. And Rogers, once again, stressed that his team needs to get better at tackling.

“It’s hard to say the defense played well,” Rogers said. “We gave up 49 points, but I would say this: We played as good against that kid (Oklahoma State QB Drew Mestemaker) as any team in the country. We missed our opportunities many times over…we had many opportunities, we just didn’t capitalize on them.”

Iowa State injury update on Connor Moberly, Sullivan Schlimgen

After taking over in the second half of Iowa State’s loss to Arizona on Oct. 24, backup quarterback Connor Moberly was listed as out against Oklahoma State. Linebacker Sullivan Schlimgen left the game against the Cowboys midway through the fourth quarter before limping to the locker room.

Rogers gave an update on both players Tuesday.

“Moberly is going to be out,” Rogers said. “He’ll be out for, I think four weeks or so, got hurt in one of the first two plays against (Arizona). And then Sully is going to give it a go, for sure.”

Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 3 takeaways from Jimmy Rogers before Iowa State football vs Baylor