Iowa State Falls to No. 22 Kansas

AMES , Iowa – A slow start on offense, a pick-6 and a back-breaking 80-yard touchdown pass combined to knock Iowa State out of a tie for first in the Big 12.

No. 22 Kansas jumped on the Cyclones early and held off a second-half charge to escape with a 28-21 victory Saturday night at MidAmerican Energy Field at Jack Trice Stadium.

The loss snapped ISU's three-game winning streak and dropped the Cyclones to 4-2 in the league and 5-4 overall. Kansas (7-2, 4-2) followed up its upset of Oklahoma a week ago with another solid performance that spoiled the ISU Homecoming.

Rocco Becht passed for 216 yards and directed two long Iowa State scoring drives in the second half that cut the KU lead to 21-18 when Becht scored on a 2-yard keeper with 8:09 remaining. But on the very next offensive play, KU's Jason Bean found Lawrence Arnold open in the middle of the field and the Jayhawk wideout easily outran the pursuit for an 80-yard TD and a 28-18 lead.

The Cyclones came right back, moving the ball to the Kansas 12 on Becht's 35-yard completion to Daniel Jackson. But the drive stalled and Chase Contreraz drilled a 29-yard field goal to get the Cyclones to within seven with 4:53 remaining.

They never got the ball back. Bean delivered third-down completions of 11 and 13 yards that enabled the Jayhawks to run out the clock.

Iowa State managed only 121 yards and five first downs in falling behind 14-3 at halftime. Kansas drove 75 yards in 11 plays for a touchdown to start the second half and then the Cyclones' offense came alive. They marched 75 yards in nine plays to cut into the lead on Eli Sanders' 6-yard touchdown run. Sanders than ran for a 2-point conversion to draw ISU to 21-11.

After forcing a punt, the offense came right back with a 90-yard drive – the longest of the season -- highlighted by a trick play, wide receiver Jaylin Noel taking a backward pass from Becht and hitting Jayden Higgins on a 42-yard pass. Becht scored on his keeper five plays later.

Becht completed 20 of 26 passes but had a costly interception that Mello Dotson returned 50 yards for a touchdown that put the Jayhawks up 14-0. The Cyclones got the offense going at the end of the half to set Contreraz up for a 35-yard field goal that made 14-3.

Iowa State kept the Kansas running game in check, holding the Jayhawks to 74 yards rushing. But Bean went 14-of-23 for 287 yards, including seven completions of at least 20 yards.

The Cyclones will continue their quest for bowl eligibility at Big 12 newcomer BYU next Saturday night. Kickoff time is 9:15 p.m. CST. It will be the first meeting between the two since 1974.

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Team Stats

Rocco Becht

Jaylin Noel

Players Mentioned

Rocco Becht

Chase Contreraz

Jayden Higgins

Daniel Jackson

Jaylin Noel

Eli Sanders

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