Completed Event: Football versus Iowa on September 6, 2025 , Win , 16, to, 13
.png&width=70&height=70&type=webp)
Iowa State University Athletics
Thursday, August 28
Ames, Iowa
7:00 PM
Iowa State
44
vs
17
South Dakota State
Defense Shines In ISU's Season-Opening Win
08.28.2008 | Football
AMES, Iowa? Iowa State head coach Gene Chizik knows defense. As the former defensive coordinator at national powers Auburn and Texas, he developed some of the stingiest defenses in the nation. His Cyclone defense is starting to arrive, as ISU picked off five passes and forced a total of six turnovers in a 44-17 victory over South Dakota State in the season-opener Thursday night in Jack Trice Stadium.
“I'll tell you what, I was really proud of our defense tonight," Chizik said. "They got themselves into some situations where we did very well. Whether it was something that happened on special teams or a turnover, they did a great job.”
The five interceptions by ISU was the most since picking off five passes at Kansas in 2001. The Cyclones also shattered the school-record for interception return yards (202), besting the old mark of 167 set against Iowa State Teachers College (Northern Iowa) in 1945.
The Cyclone offense was sharp right out of the gates, scoring on their first drive of the season with an eight-play, 69-yard series. An Austen Arnaud 24-yard pass to tight end Collin Franklin was the big play of the scoring drive that was capped off by an Arnaud 1-yard sneak to push ISU out in front 7-0 with 11:30 left in the first quarter.
Turnovers by both teams halted scoring throughout most of the first quarter. ISU forced a fumble deep inside SDSU's territory, but then quickly handed the ball back to the Jackrabbits when Alexander Robinson coughed up the ball as he was going into the endzone, resulting in a touchback.
Two more SDSU turnovers resulted in a pair of Grant Mahoney field goals to push ISU out in front 13-0 with a little under seven minutes remaining before intermission. Defensive end Kurtis Taylor perfectly read a screen pass and ran back the interception 46 yards to set up the first Mahoney kick. Michael Bibbs then picked off a Ryan Berry pass at the ISU 6-yard line and returned it 53 yards to thwart the Jackrabbits' scoring drive. Mahoney later drilled his second field goal from 36 yards.
ISU proceeded to close out the half with a 20-0 advantage behind another interception. This time Austin Alburtis picked off Berry, his fourth of the opening stanza, and rambled 61 yards to the SDSU 14-yard line. On the very next play, quarterback Phillip Bates hit true freshman Sedrick Johnson on a fade in the corner of the endzone with 4:16 left before halftime.
SDSU got on board with a Peter Reifenrath 35-yard kick at the nine-minute mark of the third quarter to make it a 20-3 game. However, ISU put the game out of reach with a pair of touchdowns to go up 34-3 just before the third quarter ended. Arnaud completed an 18-yard scoring strike to true freshman Darius Darks, followed by Derec Schmidgall's 37-yard interception return for a touchdown.
“In college football wins are hard to come by," Chizik said. "That football team (SDSU) right there is going to win a lot of games. I was happy obviously to see us win. A win is a win. Obviously in these opening games there is some sloppiness you have to alleviate. We certainly have to do that this week in practice. Turnovers cost us on special teams and the turnovers cost us twice on offense, so that's unacceptable. But, I'm happy over all.”
In his first career start at quarterback, Arnaud, a sophomore from Ames, completed 8-of-11 passes for 98 yards and a touchdown. Robinson carried the majority of the rushing load for the Cyclones, gaining 74 yards on 15 carries. Jason Harris rushed for 78 yards in the fourth quarter, including a 68-yard touchdown scamper. Mahoney, a true freshman kicker from Marion, Iowa, was a perfect 3-for-3 on his field goal tries in his Cyclone debut.
ISU plays host to Kent State next Saturday (Sept. 6). Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
Players Mentioned
DL
/ FootballDL
/ Football
QB
/ FootballQB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
LB
/ FootballLB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
TE
/ FootballTE
/ Football
RB
/ FootballRB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
PK
/ Football
RB
/ FootballRB
/ Football
LB
/ FootballLB
/ Football
DL
/ FootballDL
/ FootballCyclone Express ISU at Colorado 2025
Wednesday, October 15
FB REPLAY: Iowa State at Colorado ESPN 2025
Monday, October 13
Campbell Post-Game vs. Colorado
Saturday, October 11
FB Highlights vs. Colorado
Saturday, October 11
