Iowa State Falls to Iowa in Cy-Hawk Game, 31-17

The Iowa Hawkeyes stole back the Cy-Hawk trophy and won their second consecutive game in Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday afternoon, coming away with a 31-17 victory over Iowa State. The win served as a nice close to an emotional week for the Hawks following the passing of former Iowa athletes Tyler Sash and Roy Marble.

Iowa State won the opening coin toss and elected to defer to the second half. After kneeling the opening kick for a touchback, the ISU defense began the game by forcing a three-and-out on Iowa's opening drive.

The first possession for Sam B. Richardson and the Cyclone offense looked good at first, as they gained three consecutive first downs. Unfortunately, things went south quickly as Richardson got sacked and Wendell Taiese got flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. That set up a 3rd and 32 from the Iowa State 33 yard line. After a holding call on the next play, the offense kept going backward and was faced with a 3rd and 42. Richardson completed a pass to Tyler Brown in the flat, but Iowa tackled him for no gain and the Cyclones were forced to punt.

On the following drive, the Hawkeyes managed to get down to the Iowa State 31 yard line by running the ball, but three straight incomplete passes by CJ Beathard set up a 49 yard field goal try by Iowa kicker Marshall Koehn, and he striped it down the middle to take a 3-0 lead.

Once the Cyclones got the ball back, they put together a full drive helped out by a few Iowa penalties. On 1st and 10 from the ISU 49, Mark Mangino dialed up a reverse wide receiver pass, and the D'Vario Montgomery pass intended for Allen Lazard was picked off down the right side of the field by Iowa's Greg Mabin. Fortunately for Iowa State, Hawkeye defensive back Ben Niemann was flagged for pass interference on Lazard and allowed the Cyclones to retain possession. A few plays later, Cole Netten kicked a 37 yard field goal to tie it up at 3-3.

With 2:07 left in the first quarter, the Hawkeyes' star defensive lineman, Drew Ott, walked to the locker room with an apparent injury. It was revealed to be a wrist issue and he never returned to the game.

The first touchdown of the game came in the 2nd quarter when Richardson found wide receiver Quenton Bundrage over the middle for an 11 yard touchdown. Richardson zipped the pass in front of Bundrage, just out of the reach of the Iowa defender.

Iowa answered a couple drives later when Tevaun Smith caught a laser pass from Beathard in the back corner of the end zone. On the drive, new ISU defensive tackle Demond Tucker tweaked his ankle and had to come out of the game. He was seen taping it up on the sideline shortly after coming out, but never came back in. His status is still unknown.

The last score of the first half came on a brilliant one-handed catch by sophomore Jauan Wesley. The touchdown was a 29 yard completion and pushed the score to a 17-10 Cyclone lead.

It looked as if Iowa would be content to kick a field goal when they drove down to the Iowa State 22 yard line and called a timeout with one second left on the clock, but Kirk Ferentz dialed up a fake field goal. Luckily for ISU, Joel Lanning made a touchdown-saving tackle on the three yard line to prevent the Hawkeyes from scoring before the half.

Iowa State struggled to contain Beathard's scrambling ability in the first half. At halftime, the Hawkeyes' quarterback had gained 84 yards on the ground, most of them gained on two big rushes when Iowa was backed up in their own territory.

The Cyclones got the ball first in the second half, but couldn't get down the field and had to punt. On the ensuing Iowa drive, CJ Beathard connected with tight end Henry Krieger Coble on a play action pass, and he took it down to the three yard line before fumbling the ball on a hit from one of ISU's defensive backs. Iowa's Matt Vandeberg was there to immediately scoop it up though, and he leaped into the end zone for a touchdown. 17-17, tie ball game.

ISU's offense continued to struggle. They couldn't get past midfield at all throughout the entire third quarter and the game went into the fourth quarter knotted at 17-17.

Iowa put together a lengthy 87 yard drive starting from their own five yard line, but running back Jordan Canzeri coughed up the ball on a run up the gut when ISU safety Darion Cotton got a shoulder on Canzeri's arm and jarred the ball loose. Linebacker Jordan Harris hopped on the ball and secured the game's first takeaway for Iowa State.

A few completed passes allowed the Cyclones to move the ball from their seven yard line to their 37 yard line, but the drive stalled there and Iowa State was forced to punt with 6:25 left in the fourth quarter.

Desmond King returned the punt from Colin Downing 34 yards and gave the Hawkeyes great field position at midfield. From there, Iowa methodically ran the ball down to the 25 yard line, then ran a beautiful play action look that allowed Beathard to find receiver Riley McCarron in the corner of the end zone with 2:14 remaining in the game to put the Hawks up 24-17.

Iowa State started from their 25 yard line after a touchback, but Iowa's Desmond King picked off Sam Richardson on third down and Jordan Canzeri added the game-sealing touchdown a few plays later. Iowa escaped with the Cy-Hawk trophy in tow with a final score of 31-17.