The momentum from Iowa State’s first first-quarter lead of the season quickly faded away as offensive struggles and defensive penalties plagued the Cyclones in a 33-17 loss – their fourth straight on the season – at home against No. 17 Texas A&M.

“I thought we played with great energy, I thought we did a lot of good things, but not enough to beat the 17th ranked team in the country,” said coach Paul Rhoads.

The lowdown

ISU fans couldn’t have asked for a worse start. On the Cyclones’ first play from scrimmage, ISU quarterback Steele Jantz threw an interception that deflected off the hand of wide receiver Josh Lenz and into the arms of Texas A&M defensive back Trent Hunter. The Aggies took over at the ISU 14-yard line, but the ISU defense forced the Aggies into a field goal as kicker Randy Bullock got Texas A&M on the board first with a 25-yard field goal.

Both teams traded punts twice before the Cyclones made the first major lineup move of the day as they benched Jantz in favor of redshirt freshman Jared Barnett. Barnett, who played the entire fourth quarter against Missouri last week, promptly led the Cyclones 83 yards down the field on nine plays capped off by a 19-yard rushing touchdown by James White.

Iowa State’s defense continued to stifle quarterback Ryan Tannehill and the Aggies’ offense, allowing only 23 yards of total offense in the first quarter as the Cyclones took a 7-3 lead into the second quarter.

The Aggies cut Iowa State’s lead to 7-6 as Bullock split the uprights from 47 yards with with 9:19 remaining in the first half. A three-and-out by Iowa State on its next possession and a pair of defensive penalties translated into another score for A&M as Tannehill found wide receiver Jeff Fuller on a 10-yard touchdown pass.

Another ISU punt gave the Aggies 2:25 to score before the end of the first half. Texas A&M capitalized. After converting on a third down at their own 49-yard line, Tannehill attacked the middle of the field, completing passes of 13, 20 and 18 yards; the 18-yard completion was a touchdown to tight end Michael Lamothe with 42 seconds remaining in the half.

ISU kicker Grant Mahoney’s opening kickoff of the second half rolled out of bounds, giving the Aggies the ball at their own 40-yard line to start the half. Nine plays later, Bullock added his third field goal of the day, another from 47 yards out. Another three-and-out for the ISU offense opened the door for the A&M offense as it drove 69 yards on six plays ending with a nine-yard touchdown run by running back Christine Michael.

The Cyclones responded on their next two drives, first with a one-yard touchdown run by running back Duran Hollis to cap an eight-play, 74-yard drive and then a 43-yard field goal by Zach Guyer to cut the Texas A&M lead to 30-17 at the end of the third quarter.

The Aggies nearly scored again, but failed to convert on a fourth-and-1 from the ISU 19-yard line. The Aggies added another Bullock field goal, this time from 20 yards, on their second drive of the fourth quarter, which upped their lead to 33-17. A failure to convert on fourth down and 18 for the Cyclones with 3:53 remaining in the fourth quarter sealed the victory for Texas A&M as the Aggies ran out the clock and picked up their third consecutive victory.

Turning point

Down 7-6 with 7:19 remaining in the second quarter, Texas A&M took over on offense from its own 20-yard line. On the second play of the drive, Tannehill found wide receiver Ryan Swope on a 25-yard completion. After a Texas A&M false start, the Aggies offense stalled at their own 44-yard line. However, on third down and 15, ISU defensive back Ter’Ran Benton was called for pass interference, which brought the ball into ISU territory on the 41-yard line.

Three plays later, a delay of game penalty on ISU defensive back Jacques Washington gave the Aggies a first down and 5 at the ISU 23-yard line. Gains of six and seven yards by A&M running back Cyrus Gray brought the ball down to the ISU 10 and then Tannehill found wide receiver Jeff Fuller on a 10-yard touchdown reception.

From that point on, the Aggies never trailed, taking a 20-7 lead at halftime and improving that margin to 30-7 in the third quarter.

X factor

Ryan Tannehill – Texas A&M quarterback

The senior signal-caller continued his impressive season quarterbacking the Aggies offense to another 30-plus point offensive outing. The Big Spring, Texas, native completed 24-of-43 passes with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Tannehill improved his season totals to 2,005 yards passing and 15 touchdowns to six interceptions.

By the numbers

2-16: Iowa State’s record since 2009 when allowing teams to score more than 24 points

7: Penalties committed by Iowa State in the first half. A season-high for the Cyclones through 14 halves of football.

8: Catches for ISU wide receiver Josh Lenz, setting a career-high. Lenz also set a career-high in receiving yards with 117.

180: Passing yards by Barnett, who relieved Jantz in the first quarter and played the rest of the game. Barnett also led the Cyclones with 66 yards rushing.

247: Rushing yards by Texas A&M, who came into the game averaging 227.7 yards per game. The ISU defense has allowed a combined 685 rushing yards in its last two games.

Up next for Iowa State

The Cyclones (3-4, 0-4 Big 12) will travel to Lubbock, Texas, next Saturday for another Big 12 Conference game against Texas Tech. The Red Raiders (4-2, 1-2) will take on No. 3 Oklahoma at 7 p.m. Saturday. Texas Tech started the season 4-0 before falling to Kansas State and Texas A&M at home. The Cyclones are 2-7 all-time against Texas Tech and 0-5 in games at Texas Tech.