Iowa
Hines: Answering your Iowa State football mailbag questions ahead of Texas Tech matchup
Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht on the Cyclones’ bye week
Hear from Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht about how the Cyclones used the bye week.
AMES – One of the things that the transfer portal and NIL money have scrambled is team and roster building.
There used to be a relatively standard way for coaches to try to create the best team possible. They recruited the best high school players they could, and then they tried to develop them into the best collegiate players possible.
Simpler times, I suppose.
Now, with rosters flipping constantly and immediate financial remuneration possible, the old way isn’t really the new way. Or at least what’s viewed as the cutting-edge way to build a roster.
But what it has done is make the process of roster building more variable. Programs are having to find different ways to build and compete.
Ohio State and Alabama can spend tens of millions of dollars on a roster if they want. LSU and Penn State can pony up extra dollars to keep their own players from becoming someone else’s.
That’s not really the case at Iowa State.
The Cyclones, though, are trying to make their shortcoming – or at least what looks like one at this point in time – a strength.
“We have a relationship and a bond that is bigger and stronger than ever,” quarterback Rocco Becht said. “It’s fun out there now. It’s not just we’re out there with a teammate going through the motions. We’re out there with our friends.
“Not just our teammates, but our friends and playing the game that we love and playing it as a team.”
Maybe sounds a little corny, sure, but there is something to be said for a college football team to be playing for the people they care about rather than with their co-workers.
“That emphasis on team is what we’ve always sold here,” Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said. “We haven’t wavered from that. It’s not like we’re out there able to sell much more than that, to be honest with you. The hope that we can develop you to be your best if you come be a part of our team.
“There’s a multitude of guys who certainly financially had the chance to enhance themselves, but maybe the lessons learned will set them up to be the best humans they possibly can be.
“We don’t take their loyalty to us for granted, for sure.”
Something to think about as we prepare for the College Football Playoff rankings to be released on Tuesday, where the best rosters money can buy and Iowa State will be on display.
When you talk to Cyclones players and coaches, do you detect any pressure building from being undefeated?
One of my biggest questions about this team coming into the year was its maturity and poise. I thought the talent would be enough to compete, but I wasn’t sure this group had enough of the other stuff to be consistent over the course of three-plus months.
They’ve obviously shown that they do – or at least enough for two months – and dealing with being 7-0 has been no exception.
“It’s something we worked for,” senior right tackle Tyler Miller said. “We wanted it. We expected it. It’s really big for us with the history of this university and it’s something that’s very cool.
“Our team does a great job of staying grounded, focusing on the next game and not worrying about what’s to come or anything like that.”
It’s an easy thing to say that, especially to a reporter, but I think Iowa State’s performances over these last seven games backs up the sentiment.
Nothing has seemed to really rattle these guys. Least of all success.
Why is it that Iowa State football can keep throwing linebackers in and don’t miss a beat? I know we finally have depth but the talent they have is unreal.
Certainly I think the credit here has to go to the players and the coaching staff for making it possible. The coaches had to identify players who don’t immediately project as Big 12 contributors who could step in. And those players had to prepare and make the most of the moment.
It is really a tribute to Campbell and Co.’s system, from start to finish.
But I also think it’s worth taking this time to engage in a little bit of bygone romanticism.
The guys who are stepping up and in, like Kooper Ebel, Rylan Barnes and Beau Goodwin are all small-town Iowa kids. Ebel and Goodwin had scholarship opportunities elsewhere while Barnes is a walk-on.
When the name on the front of the jersey means something to the name on the back, I do think there’s an added component there.
I don’t even know that I could totally put my finger on it, but defensive coordinator Jon Heacock has thought a lot about this over his four-decade career.
“I think anytime you have players on your team from your home state, it means more,” he said earlier in October. “When this is your home state and your name is on the university, I think it’s really a critical factor in guys wanting to do well.
“It’s all really, really important to them.”
If you’re Barnes, maybe it makes the everyday walk-on grind a little more palatable even though your chance is likely far off, if it ever comes at all. If you’re Ebel or Goodwin, maybe knowing you’re representing the place and people you’re from gives you a little extra.
I don’t know exactly, but I’m with Heacock. I think, whatever it is, it makes a difference, and it matters.
Iowa State columnist Travis Hines has covered the Cyclones for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune since 2012. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.
Iowa
UNI Tops No. 8 Iowa State in Women’s Basketball
Iowa
ESPN FPI for Week 13 Big 12 games including Iowa State at Utah
We have reached Week 13 in the college football season, which means the pressure intensifies and the need for wins is amplified.
This week there are several featured attractions around the Big 12 Conference. Those includes BYU looking to rebound at red-hot Arizona State while Kansas tries to knock off a third straight ranked opponent when they welcome Colorado to Kansas City.
Arizona and TCU kick things off early Saturday afternoon with BYU-Arizona State, Colorado-Kansas, Texas Tech-Oklahoma State and UCF-West Virginia starting 30 minutes later.
The night window includes Baylor at Houston, Iowa State at Utah and Cincinnati at Kansas State.
The mid-afternoon window of games will give those interested in how the conference turns out some key answers. BYU (9-1, 6-1) and Colorado (8-2, 6-1) have it pretty simple: win the next two games and you are in for the title game in December with a berth in the College Football Playoff on the line.
The Cougars, though, are coming off a disappointing loss at home to Kansas. Now, they have to play quite possibly the hottest team in the conference in Arizona State (8-2, 5-2), who has climbed all the way back to contention.
Led by Cam Skattebo and Sam Leavitt, the Sun Devils have won three in a row and five of is around a road loss to Cincinnati. They close with in-state rival Arizona next week.
Colorado will try to do what Iowa State and BYU couldn’t the last two weeks in solving Jayden Daniels and Kansas (4-5, 3-4), who are fighting for bowl eligibility themselves. Heisman Trophy frontrunner Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders have won four straight for head coach Deion Sanders.
* Matt Campbell talks up the Utah defense
* Cyclones right back into contention in wild, wild Big 12
*Three stars in Iowa State’s win over Cincinnati including Stevo Klotz
*Complete game recap of Iowa State’s win over Cincinnati
* Scouting the opponent: Get to know QB Brendan Sorsby
* Latest college football playoff rankings
* What Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield had to say about Cyclones
Iowa
Burns, 'grapefruit-size' wound and death trigger nursing home lawsuit • Iowa Capital Dispatch
One of Iowa’s s largest nursing home operators is facing the 10th wrongful death lawsuit filed against the company this year.
Recently, the family of the late Debbie Thomas sued Care Initiatives of West Des Moines and the Appanoose County nursing home the company operates, Centerville Specialty Care, in state court. The family is seeking unspecified damages for professional negligence, wrongful death and dependent adult abuse.
Care Initiatives, which doesn’t comment on pending litigation, has yet to file a response to the lawsuit. So far this year, at least 10 wrongful death lawsuits have been filed against company, which operates 43 Iowa nursing homes as well as several assisted living centers and hospice locations. In each of the lawsuits, Care Initiatives has denied any wrongdoing. Roughly 2,800 elderly or disabled Iowans receive care from one of the company’s facilities.
In August, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported Care Initiatives was facing at least 10 then-active lawsuits, some of which were filed in 2023, alleging negligence or wrongful death. Some of those cases have since been resolved, but additional cases have been filed in the past three months.
One of the new cases involves Thomas, an Appanoose County woman who had sustained brain damage at birth in 1958. As an adult, Thomas could read, write and socialize with others and lived an active adult life, according to court records.
State inspection reports indicate that on Dec. 19, 2022, at the age of 64, Thomas was admitted to Centerville Specialty Care for rehabilitation after a brief hospital stay. According to the recently filed lawsuit, Thomas was joined by family members for dinner at the care facility two days after her admission, at which point the relatives found second-degree burns covering Thomas’ legs.
The family alleges Thomas’ bed had been pushed against a wall near a heating element. According to the lawsuit, the staff at Centerville Specialty Care was unaware of the burns until the family discovered them.
The next day, relatives returned to the home and allegedly discovered Thomas had developed a bed sore that the home’s staff characterized as “minor” – although, the lawsuit claims, the staff refused to say whether the wound was infected.
By Jan. 7, Thomas was allegedly diagnosed as malnourished and dehydrated, and on Jan. 27, the staff allegedly found that her blood pressure had dropped to an extremely low level. On Jan. 29, staff at the home called Thomas’ family to inform them Thomas was in a state of decline and was dying, according to the lawsuit.
“Nobody at Centerville Specialty Care called a doctor or an ambulance for Debbie until (her sister) demanded they do so,” the lawsuit claims.
Thomas was rushed to the emergency room at MercyOne-Centerville, where the medical staff allegedly concluded she was severely dehydrated, had a urinary tract infection, her kidneys were failing, and she had potassium levels so low they could trigger a heart attack. According to the lawsuit, doctors then showed the family a bed sore Thomas had sustained and which measured roughly 4 inches across.
Thomas died on Feb. 1, 2023. State records indicate the cause of death was sepsis – an often-deadly infection – that resulted from a bed sore.
Five days later, the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing initiated an investigation at the Centerville home in response to seven complaints. Four of the complaints were substantiated, according to DIAL records.
The inspectors reported that the hospital’s emergency room physician said that when Thomas arrived there from Centerville Specialty Care, she was in serious pain and was admitted in critical condition with a deep, open, “grapefruit sized” bed sore that had become infected. The physician allegedly described Thomas’ hair as “matted, very dirty and unkempt” when she arrived in the ER.
State inspectors also reported that the physician questioned the accuracy of the nursing home’s claim that Thomas had been up and about and eating breakfast just hours before her admission to the ER.
The state proposed a $9,750 state fine that was then held in suspension while the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services considered a federal fine. CMS records indicate the agency eventually imposed a fine of $56,750 against the Centerville home.
A Marshalltown nursing home operated by Care Initiatives is accused of repeatedly failing to provide emergency treatment for a resident with “grossly decayed” teeth.
According to state inspectors, Southridge Specialty Care of Marshalltown failed over several months to thoroughly assess and follow through on physician-ordered interventions for a female resident’s “grossly decayed and non-restorable teeth.”
According to inspectors, the woman reported mouth pain to the Southridge staff from July through October, during which time she lost one tooth and other teeth broke, cutting her tongue.
In early September, a dentist allegedly gave the Southridge staff instructions to send the woman to the University of Iowa Hospitals emergency room to be evaluated by an oral surgeon for severe pain. According to inspectors, the dentist later complained that “nobody took her to the ER.”
On Oct. 23, the woman was seen again by the dentist who, according to inspectors, observed the woman’s teeth had worsened. “He referred her to go to the university hospital but no one set up the appointment,” inspectors later wrote in their report.
The inspectors’ report indicates University of Iowa Hospitals told the woman’s care providers the soonest they could schedule an appointment for the woman was Jan. 16, 2025, and the emergency room referrals were an attempt to provide immediate care.
On Oct. 29, the woman reportedly met with state inspectors and told them she was still experiencing severe pain and the decayed teeth had yet to be pulled. She allegedly stated that she didn’t know if she could wait a few months to have her teeth removed because “it hurt a lot” and she couldn’t eat or drink.
A proposed $5,500 state fine has been held in suspension for consideration of a federal fine.
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