LAWRENCE, Kan. — One win away from bowl eligibility, the ISU football team called upon the grit of quarterback Sam Richardson.

And for the most part, Richardson delivered.

The redshirt freshman, who had yet to attempt a pass in college, led the Cyclones (6-5, 3-5 Big 12) to its sixth-and-deciding win 51-23 against Kansas to have them “bowling” for the third time in four seasons.

“First collegiate pass that he threw tonight, but [Richardson] had great composure,” said ISU coach Paul Rhoads after the game. “Sometimes with a quarterback when you want leadership, when you want aggressiveness, when you want decisiveness and confidence, you can be fooled by that composure that you’re getting the leadership and you’re not getting the execution that you desire.

“Sam took the field very composed, very poised and delivered physically.”

This was Iowa State’s first win at Kansas since 2001, snapping the third-longest losing streak to current Big 12 teams (1990 at Oklahoma, 2000 at Oklahoma State). The scoring total of 51 is the most Iowa State has ever scored against Kansas (previous high was 49-7 in 2001).

Richardson came in for Steele Jantz after two series while trailing 7-3. After getting benched with a 48-23 lead, Richardson finished 23-for-27 for 250 yards and four touchdowns.

The jet tempo was a point of emphasis for the offense, creating opportunities for higher levels of execution that had been absent in the past few games.

“I think we play really well when we’re at a faster pace than just calling plays and trying to get them set up,” Richardson said. “We definitely got in the zone where we could run plays at the tempo that we’d like to run. Obviously it was working pretty well.”

Center Tom Farniok said he gave Richardson some words of encouragement having been played as a redshirt freshman last season and being able to identify with that situation.

“I was talking to him and I was like, ‘Look, you’ve got this, just run the show,'” Farniok said. “‘We’re going to protect for you and we’re going to run the ball good, just you do your thing and it will work out good.’

“He did phenomenal; he probably did better than I thought he would.”

When asked whether Richardson would get the start next Friday in the regular season finale against West Virginia, Rhoads said he hadn’t even thought about that game.

Check back to iowastatedaily.net for more coverage of Iowa State’s victory against Kansas.