A team that had been on the losing side of a few lopsided losses this season flipped the script Saturday night as Iowa State’s offense clicked under first-time starter Jared Barnett at quarterback and its defense halted Texas Tech’s high-powered offense in a 41-7 win in Lubbock, Texas.

The lowdown

Texas Tech’s offense, fifth-best in total yards in the nation, took the field to start the game and Iowa State’s defense looked prepared. A five-play, 30-yard drive ended with a punt and Barnett trotted on the field to start his first game in an ISU uniform. Eight plays and 67 yards later it was Barnett who darted 13 yards into the end zone to give the Cyclones an early touchdown lead.

After another Texas Tech punt, the Cyclones drove into Texas Tech territory once again but came out with no points as Grant Mahoney missed a 52-yard field goal. However, the ISU defense forced another punt seven plays later and this time the Cyclones capitalized. Barnett found wide receiver Josh Lenz on a 38-yard completion down to the Red Raiders’ 3-yard line and running back Jeff Woody punched it in as Iowa State upped its lead to 14-0.

Texas Tech quarterback Seth Doege threw an interception on the first play of the next drive to defensive back Ter’Ran Benton, who returned the ball all the way down to the Tech 1-yard line. That set up the Cyclones’ third score of the day, a two-yard touchdown pass from Barnett to wide receiver Darius Darks.

Both teams exchanged fumbles as Doege dropped the ball at Texas Tech’s 27-yard line, and then five plays later running back James White coughed up the ball at the Texas Tech goal line.

The Red Raiders followed up by driving 97 yards on 12 plays but were halted on a fourth-down-and-1 at the ISU 2-yard line as Benton brought down running back Aaron Crawford at the line of scrimmage.

Doege finally got the Red Raiders on the board with an eight-yard leaping touchdown run with 8:33 left in the first half, his third rushing touchdown on the year. The Cyclones responded with a 42-yard Zach Guyer field goal three and a half minutes later as Iowa State took a 24-7 lead, which it would take into the half.

Barnett was knocked out of the game as linebacker Cqulin Hubert took him down with a hit near the ISU sideline that was flagged as a personal foul with just more than three minutes left in the half. Barnett left the game for the remaining three minutes, but played the entire second half.

A quick start to the second half gave the Cyclones a 31-7 lead as Duran Hollis was untouched and scampered 71 yards on the third-play of the opening drive. Iowa State’s defense continued its impressive performance in the third quarter, allowing only 49 total yards and forcing a trio of punts.

White added a one-yard touchdown run with 11:08 left in the fourth quarter and Guyer split the uprights on a 23-yard field goal with 4:48 remaining to complete the Cyclones’ scoring in the 41-7 victory. 

Turning point

Down 14-0 with 3:26 remaining in the first quarter, Texas Tech took over at their own 24-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Doege dropped back and fired a ball down the middle of the field that was intercepted by Benton. Benton returned the ball all the way down to the Texas Tech 1-yard line.

Playing in his 40th game in an ISU uniform, the interception was the first of Benton’s career and only the sixth thrown by Doege through 417 career passes thrown.

The Cyclones scored their third touchdown of the first quarter three plays later as Barnett found Darks on a two-yard touchdown pass and took a 21-0 lead following the extra point.

X factor:

ISU running game

After allowing an average of 310.6 yards rushing during the last three games, the ISU offense decided to do some running of its own, carrying the ball 67 times for 368 yards, an average of of 5.5 yards per carry.

Both White and Hollis rushed for more than 100 yards as the Cyclones eclipsed the 300-yard mark for the first time since a 49-7 win over Kansas in 2001.

By the numbers

2: ISU running backs with 100 rushing yards in the game. White carried 31 times for 138 yards and Hollis carried four times for 101 yards.

14-1: Iowa State’s record since 2009 when holding teams under 24 points.

34: Margin of victory for Iowa State. The Cyclones last won a game by 30 or more points on Sept. 21, 2002, a 42-12 win over Troy State and last won a conference game by 30 or more points on Aug. 31, 2002, a 45-3 win against Kansas.

69: Consecutive games with a touchdown pass for Texas Tech before Saturday night.

368– Rushing yards by the Cyclones. The first time the Cyclones have rushed for more than 300 yards since Nov. 17, 2001 when they ran for 320 in a 49-7 win against Kansas. That total is also the 17th highest total for the Cyclones since 1946 and second-most in a conference road game.

Up next for Iowa State

The Cyclones will host the Kansas Jayhawks at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium. Kansas (2-6, 0-5 Big 12) lost its sixth straight game Saturday night, a 43-0 loss at Texas. The Jayhawks were outgained in that game by an astounding 544 yards (590-46). Kansas leads the all-time series 35-49-6. Iowa State defeated Kansas 28-16 in 2010.