Iowa State Falls to Iowa 20-13

The Iowa State Cyclones dropped a game at home to the Hawkeyes by a final score of 20-13 in Ames on Saturday afternoon.

Disappointing is how you could best describe this affair, a game that seems eerily similar to the Cyclones home loss to Iowa in 2019. Offensively they appeared disjointed, with several drops and too many runs for negative yards. Defensively, the Cyclones were borderline dominant, but they surrendered a 59-yard run and a 35-yard pass on 3rd and two.

The Cyclones opened the game with a 15 play, 57 yard drive that stalled out and ended in a blocked field goal attempt. Following that drive, it was a 3-out fest comprised of poor rush attempts and 3-yard outs.

Iowa would take a 17-0 lead before halftime on a Sebastian Castro pick-6, though the Cyclones would rebound with a field goal before halftime.

The third quarter melted away without much action, as the defense held Iowa down after a field goal. A late field goal and prolonged drive got the Cyclones within 7 on a Becht pass to Jayden Higgins, but the drive was excruciating to watch and killed a lot of clock.

After getting a stop and the ball back, Cartevious Norton would slip on a 4th and 1, ending the comeback bid.

On the day, Becht finished 23/44 for 203, 1 TD, and 1 INT. The Cyclone running back room ran for 83 yards for an average of 2.8 per attempt, and Higgins led the way with 8 grabs for 95 yards and the lone touchdown.

Iowa State won the TOP battle, out-gained Iowa, and had 19 first downs to their 9, but the pick-6, the blocked field goal, and the too-little-too-late offense doomed them in the end.