Richardson Passes Cyclones Past Toledo, 37-30

AMES, Iowa – Sam Richardson completed a school-record 37 passes for a career-high 351 yards as Iowa State rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat Toledo, 37-30, on Homecoming at Jack Trice Stadium Saturday afternoon. With the victory, Iowa State improves to 2-4 overall. Toledo falls to 4-3 overall.

Keys of the Game
The Cyclones trailed 13-9 at the half after seeing three drives stall prior to the end zone. Cole Netten drilled field goals of 32, 36 and 38 yards to remain perfect (7-of-7) this season.

ISU was firing on all cylinders in the second half as Richardson led the Cyclones on a scoring drive that was punctuated by a 23-yard strike to Tad Ecby with 12:11 left in the third quarter. After the Cyclone defense registered a stop, ISU again drove down the field and freshman Martinez Syria ran it in from three yards out for his first career touchdown to extend the lead to 23-13.

Toledo wouldn't go quietly, knotting the game up at 23-23 on a 41-yard field goal by Jeremiah Detmer with 13:38 left in the game.

Richardson helped the Cyclones regain control of the game on the next possession as the junior connected with E.J. Bibbs on a five-yard pass and catch with 10:23 remaining. Iowa State's defense got another stop and Richardson hit Allen Lazard from 14 yards out to put the Cyclones up 14 (37-23) with 3:35 left.

Toledo would get a touchdown, but Luke Knott secured the win by recovering the onside kick.

Offensive Players of Note...
Sam Richardson had a career game, completing 37-of-53 passes for 351 yards and three touchdowns. Richardson hit nine different receivers in the game, with Dondre Daley (6), Allen Lazard (8) and D'Vario Montgomery (9) all posting career highs for receptions.

Defensive Players of Note...
Jared Brackens got the start in place of an injured Drake Ferch and matched Kamari Cotton-Moya for the team lead with 12 tackles.

Knott finished with nine tackles, including 2.5 for a loss.

Toledo started the game going 7-for-9 on third downs, but converted just one of its final seven third-down plays.

Cyclone Quick Hits
*E.J. Bibbs has caught a pass in 18 straight games, tying for the ninth-best streak in school history.
*Jauan Wesley made his first career start. He is the fifth freshmen to record a start this season for the Cyclones.
*Sam Richardson went over 3,000 career passing yards in the game.
*Today was ISU's first Homecoming game against a non-conference opponent since 1986 (Wyoming).
*Lazard (96) and Montgomery (90) each had at least 90 receiving yards.
*With an attendance of 52,281 today, ISU topped 50,000 for the 23rd consecutive game.
*DeVondrick Nealy finished with a career-high 71 yards on 16 carries.

Next Up
Iowa State travels to Texas next Saturday for a 7 p.m. kick. The game will be televised on Cyclones.tv and the Longhorn Network.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

E.J. Bibbs

E.J. Bibbs

Jared Brackens

Jared Brackens

Kamari Cotton-Moya

Kamari Cotton-Moya

Dondre Daley

Dondre Daley

Tad Ecby

Tad Ecby

Drake Ferch

Drake Ferch

Luke Knott

Luke Knott

Allen Lazard

D'Vario Montgomery

D'Vario Montgomery

DeVondrick Nealy

DeVondrick Nealy

Cole Netten

Cole Netten

Sam Richardson

Martinez Syria

Jauan Wesley

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics