No. 11 Iowa State Suffers First Loss to Texas Tech

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State just missed its shot at school history.

Texas Tech squeezed out a 23-22 victory at MidAmerican Energy Field at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday, handing the 11th-ranked Cyclones their first loss of the season after it looked as though coach Matt Campbell‘s crew might pull off another last-minute escape.

Iowa State took a 22-17 lead on Rocco Becht’s 44-yard touchdown pass to Carson Brown with 2:11 left, the first collegiate touchdown for the redshirt sophomore from Ankeny.

But quarterback Behren Morton drove the Red Raiders 71 yards for the winning touchdown, a 6-yard dash around right end by running back Taj Brooks with just 20 seconds left, not enough time for a Cyclone miracle.

Some untimely penalties and two turnovers frustrated Becht and Co. in their bid to become the first Iowa State football team to start the season 8-0. The Cyclones (7-1, 4-1 Big 12) now will try to regroup before hitting the road for a game against Kansas at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium next Saturday.

Iowa State outgained Tech 432-366 and the defense came up with three sacks and two interceptions. But three promising drives stalled in Tech territory, including one when the Cyclones had first-and-goal at the Tech 1-yard line, and they had to settle for Kyle Konrardy field goals of 49, 37 and 21 yards instead of touchdowns that would have put it out of reach.

Still, it looked as though the Cyclones had followed up their last-minute 38-35 victory over UCF with another thrilling finish.

On third-and-13 at the Tech 44, Becht hit Brown at the 35 and the backup wide receiver slipped two would-be tacklers and sped down the right sideline to the end zone. It was Becht’s second TD pass of the game and just the fifth career reception for Brown.

But Morton and Brooks combined to drive the Red Raiders (6-3, 4-2) quickly down the field and spoiled ISU’s 111th Homecoming.

Becht also threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Higgins in the final seconds of the second quarter for a 13-10 halftime lead and finished 23 of 39 for 299 yards and one interception. Iowa State also lost a fumble for the first time this season.

Becht has thrown a TD pass in 12 straight games, tying Brock Purdy’s school record, and is the seventh ISU quarterback with 5,000 passing yards in his career, running his total to 5,196.

Higgins caught a career-high 10 passes for 140 yards, his sixth 100-yard game at Iowa State, and has a touchdown reception in nine of his last 10 games, including three of the last four. Jaylin Noel had six catches for 44 yards.

Darien Porter and Myles Purchase had interceptions for the Cyclones, the Purchase pick leading to a snappy 50-yard drive that culminated with Becht’s touchdown pass to Higgins.

Another interception was negated by a penalty deep in Tech territory and that was costly because Tech went on to score a touchdown for a 17-13 lead.

The Cyclones also hurt themselves with a false start after Abu Sama’s juking 26-yard run gave them a first down at the Tech 1. After two runs netted only 2 yards and an incompleted. ISU had to settle for Konrardy’s 21-yard field goal, which cut the lead to 17-16.

Iowa State was penalized seven times in all for 55 yards.

The start time for the Kansas game has not been set. The Cyclones will be back at home against Cincinnati on Nov. 16.