Cyclones Fall To Texas Tech, 42-26

AMES, Iowa--Texas Tech's Graham Harrell threw for 368 yards and six touchdowns, as the Red Raiders dealt Iowa State a 42-26 defeat in Big 12 action Saturday afternoon in Jack Trice Stadium. The Cyclones fall to 3-5 overall and 0-4 in Big 12 play.

“Texas Tech played an outstanding game today," ISU head coach Dan McCarney said. "Inexperience in some of our positions really showed up. I feel real bad for my kids and coaches because I see how hard they work everyday and how much preparation they put into this game, but it didn't show up nearly as well as we wanted it to today."

Iowa State played catch-up from the start, spotting Texas Tech a 14-0 lead with 7:21 in the first quarter. Harrell hit Joel Filani on a 30-yard strike for the first score and then took advantage of a Bret Meyer interception with another touchdown pass to Filani, this one from seven yards out to give the Red Raiders an early 14-0 lead.

ISU quickly answered with a six-play, 68-yard drive to cut the lead to 14-7. Meyer found Ben Barkema from five yards out for the 39^th touchdown pass of his career. After a key stop from the Cyclone defense, ISU cut the lead to 14-10 on a Bret Culbertson career-long 52-yard field goal. It was the first 50-yard field goal by a Cyclone since Tony Yelk hit a 51-yarder against Texas in 2003. It is the longest field goal for the Cyclones since Jamie Kohl drilled a 54-yarder against Kansas in 1998.

Texas Tech recorded two more touchdown passes from Harrell to Danny Amendola in the second quarter, but a pair of Red Raider fumbled punt returns in a swirling wind in Jack Trice Stadium enabled the Cyclones to hang in the game. ISU took advantage of an Amendola fumble and turned it into seven points on a Meyer 10-yard run. It looked like the half would end at 28-17, but Tech couldn't handle another Cyclone punt, allowing Culbertson to hit a 23-yard field goal right before intermission to make it 28-20.

ISU mounted a 14-play, 80-yard drive to begin the second half. Jason Scales rambled in from five yards out for his first touchdown of the season to cut the lead to 28-26. ISU failed on its two-point conversion attempt. The Red Raiders promptly answered by closing out the third quarter scoring with an eight-play, 76-yard drive. Harrell capped off the drive with a 32-yard strike to Shannon Woods to give TTU a 35-26 advantage. Harrell ended the scoring with his sixth touchdown pass of the game, hitting Filani for the third time from 16 yards out.

Stevie Hicks ran for 56 yards for the Cyclones, moving to No. 7 on the ISU career rushing chart with 2,601 yards. Meyer completed just 14-of-34 passes for a season-low 146 yards. His first quarter touchdown pass leaves him one TD pass shy of Todd Bandhauer's school record of 40 (1995-98).

"We still have half the Big 12 season to go and some very, very important games," McCarney added. "There is just a lot of class and integrity in this program and we are going to make sure to work harder and reach down even farther as coaches and players and see if we can get our first Big 12 win next week down at Kansas State."

Kickoff for the Iowa State-Kansas State game next weekend in Manhattan is slated for 2:35 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Ben Barkema

Ben Barkema

Bret Culbertson

Bret Culbertson

Bret Meyer

Bret Meyer

Jason Scales

Jason Scales

Tony Yelk

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