'It's not always about how many points you score'

With four of the top ten teams in scoring coming from Big 12 country, you know your going to need a few games where your offense puts up 50 if you're going to escape with a win. That's just the nature of the beast.

But some offensive coordinators believe that more of an emphasis should be put on when you score, rather than how often you put points up.

When Iowa State's Courtney Messingham took over as offensive coordinator this season, he knew he was going to have to score in bunches, but looking back on the season has also come to appreciate the importance of when you score, rather than how much.

“There were games this year where our offense needed to be more productive, no doubt. There are others where we did our job, and Baylor is one that jumps out for me." he explained to the WCF Courier.

“We needed to keep the ball away from Baylor’s offense and we did that, did that for something like 39 minutes."

At that point in the season, Baylor went into Ames with the third best scoring offense in the nation averaging nearly 50 points per game. The Cyclones ate up some clock (they held a 39-21 minute advantage) and made the most of their opportunities when they presented themselves to eventually come away with a pivotal 35-21 win.

“So it’s not always about how many points you score. Yes, sometimes you need to go out and score 50, that is part of the deal in this conference. But from our standpoint, when you have a defense that played as well as ours did, we have to score when the opportunities present themselves, get to that fourth quarter with a chance to deliver our team a victory, and I feel we did that a lot this season.”

Messingham and the Cyclone offense will have to contend with another high octane offense capable of scoring in bunches on December 31st against Tulsa in the Liberty Bowl. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30pm ET on ESPN.