Iowa State Beats Oklahoma State

The strife is o’er!

Iowa State defeated the Oklahoma State Cowboys by a final score of 34-27 in Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday evening, snapping a troubling two-game losing streak.

The game was certainly well-contested, but the Cyclones would stretch their lead to 14 points in the second half and managed to keep the Cowboys at arms-length until the final buzzer.

Rocco Becht is easily the star performer in this one, going 27/38 for 348 and 3 touchdowns in a stellar performance. He threw the football to Jaylin Noel plenty, who finished with 8 receptions for 146 and a score. Eli Sanders led the Cyclones on the ground, running for 58 yards on 15 carries.

After trading some punts, Ollie Gordon II ran it 71 yards to the Cyclone 12 yard line before Alan Bowman scored on the next play. Iowa State would counter with two 30+ yard completions to Jaylin Noel to even the score at 7.

More punts ensued before long passes led to another Cyclone score, on which Gundy’s squad immediately countered again thanks to a long wheel route TD to Jaden Nixon. Iowa State would add two field goals and OSU one to make it a 20-17 score at the break,

Beau Freyler would snap building Cowboy momentum with an interception, and the Cyclones would add two touchdowns to make it 34-20. Daniel Jackson was another star on the day, scoring his second touchdown to cap a 6 catch, 90 yard and 2 touchdown performance.

Iowa State went into hold-on mode, and Oklahoma State made it interesting with a score and a stop before TJ Tampa picked off Bowman to end the game.

In all, the running game was still not ideal, and there were some bothersome play calls, but the offense when Rocco Becht gets to cook looks like a competent Big 12 offense. Defensively, John Heacock’s defense was good but not great, but Mike Gundy has always been able to rattle off big plays in this game.

The important thing is that the offense moved the ball, and the Cyclones came out victorious.