Kansas State 32, Iowa State 28 - Recap

Author's Note: I am far too drunk and depressed to write this recap, but here goes.

Iowa State jumped out to a 28-13 lead in the second half before the machinations of the Universe and that grey wrinkled prick of a wizard they call Bill Snyder slowly willed his team back into the game and pulled out the win, 32-28. The ending was as predictable and obvious to any Cyclone fan as a half hour network sitcom, yet we all hoped anyway. Hope sucks. Football sucks. Everything is shit.

(I know, I Shouldn't say things like that. Bill Snyder is an amazing human being. Stand-up guy, worthy of all his amassed honors. Best CFB coach ever. Still, fuck that guy.)

Kansas State jumped out to an early 13-0 lead in the first quarter before the Mark Mangino's offense took over (this time, our OC was on the sidelines rather than in the booth) and for the second quarter Iowa State looked almost unstoppable, scoring 28 straight points, including a Jarvis West punt return for a TD, while coming up with several huge stops on defense. The apex of this ascent was unquestionably Jarvis West's reverse-pass to freshman 4-star Allan Lazard near the end of the second quarter, putting the Cyclones up 28-13. (This is also coincidentally is the point my wife, a lifelong KSU fan, dumped a glass of water on my head.) It was also the beginning of the end.

Kansas State managed to pull back within a score by halftime, aided largely by a 15-yard pass to the Cyclone 1 yard line in which Tyler Lockett appeared to be leaning on the end zone pylon prior to the catch (and therefore would have been out of bounds). KSU was able to get a quick play off before the replay booth could call for a review, and scored an easy touchdown, pulling the Wildcats within eight.

The second half was a mostly defensive battle, with Iowa State shutting down a 15-play drive but giving up no points. All that bending finally broke us, though, as KSU finally scored a touchdown on their next drive, with about 9 minutes left in the game. The Cyclone defense made a huge stop on the 2-point conversion to maintain the lead, but as Cyclone fans, we all knew what was coming next. Inevitably, Iowa State was forced to punt on the next drive, and KSU drove down the field for the winning touchdown with just over 1:30 left to go. Try as they might, Iowa State was unable to answer, and fell by the final score of 32-28.

This Cyclone team looked miles better than the team that took the field against NDSU last week, and both Kamari Cotton-Moya and Tom Farniok being back made a huge difference. If they can manage to step away from the edge and maintain some belief in themselves, this team still has a legitimate chance to scrape a handful of wins out of this season. Still, while watching everything about the final quarter, it seemed inevitable - one knew that Iowa State would lose this game.

Special accolades to Jarvis West, who returned a punt for a TD, caught a TD, and threw a TD. As of this writing, he has the highest passer rating in college football. Sam Richardson also looked quite good in many scrambling situations, but eventually the crushing undertow of the purple and silver sea pulls us under. This year's Farmageddon was no different.

At least there's only 61 days until Hoiball.