Iowa State Season In Review

The Lead
Iowa State (7-6, 5-4 Big 12) ended the season falling to No. 19 Clemson in the Cheez-It Bowl, as the Cyclones appeared in a school-record fifth-straight bowl game. ISU recorded its fifth-straight above-.500 record in league play. From 1996-2016, ISU tallied just one winning conference season (2000). ISU was undefeated at home vs. Big 12 teams for the second-straight year, and its 11-game homefield winning streak vs. league foes is the Big 12's best active string.

Key Storylines
-Iowa State played in its 17th bowl game in school history. ISU is 5-12 all-time in bowl games.
-All four of ISU's 2021 Big 12 losses were one-score defeats that went down to the final possession. Five of ISU's six losses on the year were by seven points or fewer.
-All-America RB Breece Hall was second nationally in both scoring (138) and touchdowns (23). Hall was a consensus All-American for the second year in a row, joining Troy Davis (1995-96) as the only two-time consensus All-Americans in school history.
-Hall broke the all-time NCAA FBS record by rushing for a touchdown in 24-straight games.
-QB Brock Purdy ended his career owning/sharing 32 school records. He ranked fifth nationally in completion pct. (71.7) and led the Big 12 in passing (245.2) and was second in total offense (263.5).
-ISU's only three-time All-American, Charlie Kolar, won the 2021 William V. Campbell Trophy. He set ISU season TE records for receptions (62) and receiving yards (756) in 2021.
-DE Will McDonald IV broke his own season sack record (11.5), ranking ninth nationally. His 29.0 career sacks is a school record and ranks fourth all-time in Big 12 history.
-WR Xavier Hutchinson broke ISU's season record for receptions with 83.
-ISU ranked ninth nationally in total defense (310.5) and 49th nationally in total offense (424.5). ISU's total offense margin (+114.0) was 12th nationally.

Season Highlights
-Appeared in a school-record fifth-straight bowl game and notched a school-record fifth-straight winning season.
-Had an overall streak of four-straight games holding opponents to below 100 yards rushing for the first time since 1944.
-Limited UNLV to just seven first downs, ISU's second-fewest since 1996.
-Iowa State's 48-3 win at UNLV was its largest margin of victory on the road since 1923 and the sixth-largest road victory in school history since 1900.
-Iowa State's 28 points scored in the first quarter vs. Kansas marked the most points scored by a Cyclone team in the first quarter and tied for the third-most points scored in a quarter overall.
-ISU's 38 first-half points vs. Kansas tied for the fourth-most scored in a half in school history.
-The Cyclones defeated the Jayhawks, 59-7, the second-most points scored vs. a conference team in school history, and their 52-point margin of victory was the third-largest vs. a conference opponent.
-Ended a seven-game losing streak at Kansas State with a 33-20 victory, ISU's first win in Manhattan since 2004.
-The win at Kansas State gave head coach Matt Campbell a road win vs. every Big 12 team in his career.
-Iowa State's 24-21 win over No. 8 Oklahoma State was Campbell's fourth career victory over a Top 10 team.
-The OSU win gave Campbell a victory over every league team at Jack Trice Stadium in his tenure.
-The win vs. OSU marked ISU's fifth-straight season with a victory over a ranked team.
-Iowa State was 3-1 in October to go 16-3 in the month of October since 2017 (4-0 in 2017, 3-0 in 2018, 3-1 in 2019, 3-1 in 2020, 3-1 in 2021).
-Recorded its third-straight win over Texas in a 30-7 victory, outscoring (27-0) and outgaining (296-81) UT in the second half.
-Tallied its second-straight perfect home record (4-0) vs. conference teams.
-Iowa State currently owns a school record for consecutive wins at home over Big 12 opponents with 11, the league's best active streak.
-Broke its season home attendance mark by averaging 60,704 fans per game, selling out a school-record four games.

Defensive Notes
-ISU ranked among the Big 12's top three in scoring defense since 2017 and was third in the league and 20th nationally yielding 20.5 ppg.
-Excluding four non-offensive TDs, ISU averaged 18.4 points per game.
-The Cyclones were second in the Big 12 and ninth nationally in total defense (310.5), their lowest season average since 1984.
-The Cyclones limited opponents to under 300 yards of total offense 20 times since 2017, including 12 vs. Big 12 teams.
-ISU held 11 of 13 opponents to below 350 yards of total offense this year (West Virginia, Texas Tech).
-ISU led the Big 12 and was 11th nationally in passing defense (187.8). The Cyclones held seven teams to below 200 passing yards.
-Held Oklahoma to under 100 yards passing (96) for the first time since 2014.
-The Cyclones allowed 105 points in the second half this year, yielding just 9.1 points after intermission.
-Against Iowa, the ISU defense held the Hawkeyes to 173 yards. Iowa scored 20 of its 27 points off turnovers.
-At UNLV, the Cyclones held the Rebels to 130 yards and just seven first downs, tying for the second-lowest total since 1996.
-ISU tied a season-high 5.0 sacks and outscored (27-0) and outgained (296-81) Texas in the second half of its 30-7 win.
-ISU also had five sacks vs. TCU and had 16 sacks in its last five games (3.2 sacks per game).
-ISU ranked third in the Big 12 in sacks (33), equaling the school record.
-Allowed 219 first downs, the 10th-fewest nationally.
-ISU was second in the Big 12 and 12th nationally in red zone defense (72.7 pct.).

Offensive Notes
-Iowa State was second nationally in red zone offense (95.9%), converting on 47-of-49 trips, including 33 touchdowns.
-The two times ISU failed to convert in the red zone was on a 4th-and-goal at the one-yard line at UNLV where it appeared Breece Hall had the ball over the goal line and a fumble at the one-yard line at West Virginia where again it appeared Hall crossed the goal line with an elbow down before a fumble was called.
-ISU owned a total offense average margin of +114.0 per game to rank second in the Big 12 and 12th nationally, outgaining its opponent in 10 of 13 games this season.
ISU's +114.0 total offense margin was the second-best total in school history (+121.9, 1976). No other Cyclone team has outgained their opponents by over +100 yards in school history.
-Reached 400 yards of total offense in 12 of its last 17 games dating back to 2020.
-Ranked 19th nationally and fourth in the Big 12 in yards per play (6.4), the second-best average in school history.
-Was second in the Big 12 and 11th nationally in fewest penalty yards (502).
-In Big 12 games only, ISU ranked second in scoring (34.8) and first in total offense (452.7).
-ISU rushed for over 200 yards in five of nine Big 12 games.
-Tallied the fourth-best scoring average (31.3) and the fifth-best total offensive average (424.5) in school history.

Players Mentioned

Breece Hall

Xavier Hutchinson

Charlie Kolar

Will McDonald IV

Brock Purdy

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics