Aaron Wimberly got in a rhythm, carrying the ball 19 times for 137 yards to help lead Iowa State to its first win of the season 38-21. 

Iowa State scored three times in short yardage situations, all plowed in by running back Jeff Woody, who had a score for every two carries on the night. 

“[Wimberly] doesn’t need a lot of space,” said ISU coach Paul Rhoads. “And when you get him north and south and he has an opportunity to slash, he’s a talented player.

ISU quarterback Sam Richardson completed 26 of his 41 passes for 255 yards, two scores and a touchdown. Richardson was still operating not at 100 percent with his right ankle, but moved better in the pocket and carried the ball 14 times against the Golden Hurricane. 

“I think he held up very well. I’m sure he’ll be sore tomorrow. I’m sure he’s sore right now. Ankles aren’t as sore when you win and water tastes better when you win,” Rhoads said. “So that’s how we’ll move forward and he was obviously more mobile than he was two weeks ago and he showed that and he was more efficient than he was.

“But I’ll still be anxious to have him back at 100 percent because he’s not there yet. We’ll see if seven days will get him there.”

Tulsa’s Cody Green turned the ball over three times to Iowa State, two fumbles in the first half and an interception in the second half after being temporarily bench by backup Dane Evans. Green finished the game completing 18 of 31 passes for 237 yards two scores and an interception.

It was after Evans failed to produce that Green was reinserted into the game where he threw a late touchdown before throwing his interception to seal the game for the Cyclones. 

In his first start at tight end, E.J. Bibbs was second on the team in catches and yards with four for 49 yards and a 20 yard score in the third quarter to put Iowa State up 21-14, where they never looked back. 

In the late fourth quarter with Green’s resurgence in the game, Tulsa temporarily made it a game, on a nine yard score to Thomas Roberson for his second touchdown of the game, cutting it to 31-21. 

Then it took two drives for Iowa State to put the game out of reach, capped off by a three yard touchdown run from Jeff Woody, making it 38-21. 

“I promise you the next week’s worth of practices will be different than the last month’s has been,” Rhoads said. “You work so hard for 12 guaranteed opportunities. To work so long and be sitting there 0-2. There’s a lot of frustration out there as you work and as you practice and we work hard, we practice hard.

“We’ll continue to do that but they’ll have a little more bounce in their step as they go about it with victory.”

Iowa State moves to 1-2, while Tulsa drops to 1-3. The Cyclones play Texas on Thursday, Oct. 3 at Jack Trice Stadium.