Iowa State Comes Up Short Against Baylor

Iowa State fell to the Baylor Bears in Jack Trice Stadium and dropped a 31-24 contest.

The Bears had the advantage from the get-go, going 12 plays and 77 yards on their first drive to take an early 7-0 lead. The Bears were aided by some…questionable…penalties from the officiation crew, including a bad targeting call on Beau Freyler.

Hunter Dekkers responded by leading ISU on an equally long drive that was unaided by bullshit penalties to tie the game at 7-7. The usual suspects, Jaylin Noel and Xavier Hutchinson, were the deciding factors on the scoring drive.

Baylor QB Blake Shapen would complete his transformation into Tom Brady later in the half, quickly leading Baylor to a 17-7 lead. The Cyclone defense (HEACOCK) gave up some big pass plays, and could not find a solution for Baylor in the first half.

Iowa State would make it interesting with a long touchdown drive just prior to the halftime whistle, with Brock picking up nice yards on the ground before a beautiful 24 yard touchdown pitch and catch from Dekkers to Dimitri Stanley.

The second half was a disaster.

Two Hunter Dekkers interceptions and ineffective offense led to two Baylor scores to put the Cyclones in a 31-14 hole which they would never climb out of. While the defense did much better in the second half, it was too little too late from them and too little in general from the Cyclone offense. A late Jirhel Brock touchdown (on a fumble after the review) made it interesting, but a win just wasn’t in the cards.

In all, you have to give credit to the Baylor Bears. Baylor is very well coached, and did not commit a single mistake today. They absolutely smothered Iowa State’s receivers, and their offensive line bullied the Iowa State defensive line. While the Cyclone defense did improve in the second half, big passing plays sunk them, and Baylor could run the ball easily even in obvious running situations. Their offensive and defensive line beat up on their Cyclone counterparts all day, which isn’t a huge surprise considering their talent at both spots.

The prognosis for the season is relatively unchanged, but the excitement for the season has probably gone down for the time being.