The ISU offense out gained Oklahoma State through the air and ran the ball for more than 150 yards on the ground for the fourth time this season, but the snowball effect of turnovers and injuries led to Oklahoma State running away with the game, putting it a win out of reach before the fourth quarter arrived.

“Playing an opponent like that you can’t make mistakes, you can’t turn the ball over, you can’t have foolish penalties,” said ISU coach Paul Rhoads. “We had way too much of that in 60 minutes to give ourselves an opportunity to win the football game.”

ISU quarterback Sam Richardson suffered a concussion in the second quarter on a hit from behind, sending in backup Grant Rohach for the second straight game in a relief role.

Rohach led Iowa State to a score on his first possession going 3-4 for 34 yards capped by a 20-yard back shoulder touchdown by Quenton Bundrage.

After the scoring driver, however, Rohach finished the game having completed only nine of his 19 passes for 63 yards with one connection to Ernst Brun being stripped and taken back for a touchdown.

“There’s no excuse for not making plays and throwing strikes when guys were open,” Rohach said. “Guys are open; you need to hit them to continue the drive.”

Defensive woes

Dating back to Oct. 19 game against Baylor, the ISU defense has given up 129 points in eight quarters and 1,134 yards in that same amount of time.

Absent from the defense during the the Oklahoma State game due to injury was starting linebacker Luke Knott, who ranks No. 3 on the team in tackles, and starting defensive end Willie Scott, who is No. 2 on the roster in tackles for loss. Without two starters in the front seven, the group could not stop Oklahoma State from controlling the game via the ground plowing for 342 total yards on the ground, with 235 of that coming in the second half.

“Our job is to stop them, so I put the blame all on us,” said ISU linebacker Jeremiah George. “I have nothing but respect for those guys over there, but our job as defenders is to be in the correct spots, have the correct gap and make the tackle when you’re presented the chance and we didn’t do that.”

Coming into the game, the Cowboys were No. 95 in the nation on the ground, and OSU running back Desmond Roland had only 147 yards in his career. In his first career start, he finished the game with 219 yards on 26 carries and four touchdowns, averaging 8.4 yards per carry.

Through the first half, Roland had only tallied 54 yards on 11 carries with two scores, but in the second half he toted the ball 15 times for 165 yards and another pair of touchdowns.

“They ran for 342 yards,” Rhoads said. “Whoever was carrying, it was impressive.”

Injury Updates

• Quarterback Sam Richardson suffered a concussion in the second quarter and did not return. Rhoads said he had a concern about his head and neck area. He expects him to practice this week and play on Saturday.
• Luke Knott missed the game due to a recurring hip and groin injury. He could have played this week, but Rhoads said he would not have been at full speed.
• Willie Scott missed the game for “Failure to execute the expectations of his program,” Rhoads said.
• Aaron Wimberly has a lingering hamstring injury he aggravated in Thursday’s practice. He expects to play next week. 
• E.J. Bibbs hurt his shoulder in the second quarter but finished the game and is expected to play next week. 
• Jarvis West has an MCL injury that Rhoads expects to have him sidelined for about four weeks.