Cyclones Stumble in Stillwater, 24-21

Ladies and gents, the time has come. Your 17th ranked Cyclones travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma to take on the 6th ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys. An immovable object (Okie State’s defense (allegedly)) meets an unstoppable force (Breece Hall). With this being the biggest game in recent memory, the ‘Clones have to get the offense rolling early and keep Oklahoma State on their heels. I don’t know about you, but I am gosh darn heckin’ pumped.

Let’s roll.

Spencer Sanders gets the start for OSU as they drive down the field with ease to start the game, before Anthony Johnson makes a great defensive play to prevent a Tylan Wallace touchdown. Oklahoma State kicker Alex Hale shows his love for the brand and misses a chip shot wide right.

Here comes the ISU offense. The Cyclones show signs of big plays, but that OSU defenses proves themselves and forces a punt. A lot of blitzes early from Okie State.

MIKE ROSE PICK TIME

Iowa State forces an interception off of a Greg Eisworth tip, and they are rolling. Brock Purdy starts the possession with an oh, so familiar read option to put ISU in the redzone. After a Breece Hall run, Purdy fakes it to him and takes it himself 11 yards to put the Whirlybirds up 7-0 early.

The ensuing possession for Oklahoma State gained some ground but would inevitably end in a punt. That Cyclone defense is looking stout thus far. Open field tackling has been phenomenal throughout the first quarter.

A questionable fair catch would set the Cyclones up at their own 5 yard line. Breece Hall says 5 yard line 5 shmard line. He takes the handoff 70 yards to put ISU deep in Cowboys territory. After a 3rd down intentional grounding call, Connor Assalley is unable to connect from 48 yards, score stands 7-0.

The Pokes waste no time, taking just 3 plays to get 69 yards (not gonna say nice) in 52 seconds to tie the game on a Spencer Sanders pass to the big bodied tight end Jelani Woods. We have ourselves a game.

After an Iowa State punt, Oklahoma State converts on several plays that seemed impossible to make to set up a Chuba Hubbard rushing touchdown. Kudos to Chuba for keeping his balance to take it the distance, Cowboys lead, 14-7.

Needing to respond, the Cyclones get the offense moving on some Purdy-Hutchinson connections but find themselves with a 4th and 2 at midfield, only to send out the punt team. Pokes take over from their own 9 yard line. Anthony Johnson then talks the talk and walks the walk to play some great defense on Tylan Wallace to force OSU to punt, and get this, Greg Eisworth returned a punt for Iowa State to quickly get the ball back inside of Cowboy territory.

The Cyclones show a little spark and start consistently getting yards to start threatening Oklahoma State. Charlie Kolar gets a holding call to set up a first and goal. Once the drive is halted in the red zone, Assalley is once again unable to score points, making the halftime score 14-7, Cowboys.

Brock Purdy and company start the second half off poorly, with Purdy throwing an interception just a few plays into the possession. Blah blah blah Okie State drives blah blah blah....LAWRENCE WHITE SAYS GIMME THAT. CYCLONE FOOTBALL. After stalling for a few plays, mama there goes that man. Breece Hall takes it all 66 yards to tie up the game at 14 a piece.

Corey Dunn comes out for the drop kick which would put Oklahoma State passed their 30 yard line, where Iowa State forgot to play defense and the Pokes score right away to take back the lead, 21-14.

Iowa State keeps the offense rolling, whether it was Breece Hall running or Brock Purdy throwing up a prayer for Charlie Kolar to catch, the offense was in a groove. Then a fumble, a screen, a penalty, and a sack completely takes ISU out of field goal range. Oof. The Cyclone D gets another stop and Iowa State gets the ball right back. More unstable offense continued and Joe Rivera was sent out to punt once again.

I feel like a broken record, but the Iowa State defense keeps the ‘Clones in the game and forces yet another punt. Oh and then we punt. OSU continues to run the ball effectively with both Hubbard and quarterback Spencer Sanders, but are forced to kick a field goal, 24-14 Cowboys.

Both teams traded punts for awhile, but Iowa State gets the offense moving just a little too late. A last-minute drive shows some signs of life and ends in a Xavier Hutchinson touchdown grab. Now, for the all important onside kick. Close, but no cigar. Iowa State falls, 24-21.

Breece Hall played just about as well as you could have asked, but the rest of the offense needs some work in big time moments. Iowa State falls to 3-2 (3-1) as they head to Lawrence next week to take on Kansas.