IOWA CITY – No touchdowns, no win. 

Despite out-gaining the Iowa Hawkeyes 325 yards to 244, Iowa State’s inability to put the ball in the end-zone on any of its three red-zone chances cost the Cyclones a chance at beating Iowa for the second consecutive season on Saturday.

The end result of the Cyclones red-zone stumbles – a deflating 17-5 loss in front of 70,585 fans at Kinnick Stadium, and the loss of the Cy-Hawk trophy. 

For the Cyclones (2-1) the third quarter was an opportunity that they didn’t take advantage of. Three times in the quarter [six in the game], the Cyclones drove inside the 30, but they came away with just one field goal. 

“Definitely, I think we let the whole team down,” running back Alexander Robinson said of the offenses performance. “You get into the red-zone [three] times and you don’t score, that definitely hurts you when you’re trying to win a big game like this.” 

Perhaps the biggest moment of the game came with the Cyclones trailing 3-0 midway through the third quarter. The Cyclones had already faltered in Iowa territory at the end of a 7:22 drive to open the second half, when sophomore quarterback Austen Arnaud lofted a pass that was intercepted in the end-zone by Tyler Sash. 

Sophomore Phillip Bates replaced Arnaud on the following drive that started at the Iowa 26 after a shanked Hawkeye punt. Facing a big third-and-five on Iowa’s 8-yard line, Bates was flushed from the pocket and rolled to his left. As he neared the sideline, Bates dove for the end-zone but stepped out of bounds leaving Iowa State just a yard shy of the first down. 

Freshman kicker Grant Mahoney’s field goal attempt from 21 yards out, aided by a high snap, doinked off the left upright, leaving the Cyclones in a 3-0 hole. Again, no touchdown. 

“Three points is inexcusable for an offense to score,” Arnaud said. “That should never happen when we have to score touchdowns for this team to win the game. We have too much talent on offense, too much speed to score three points.” 

The Cyclones problems on Iowa’s side of the field forced them to rely on special teams. Yet, where former kicker Bret Culbertson was the hero of last years Iowa-Iowa State who scored all of the Cyclones points on five field goals, Mahoney struggled. Mahoney made just 1-of-4 field goals in the game, missing from 38, 21, and 46 yards. 

“He’s been pretty consistent,” wide receiver Marquis Hamilton said Mahoney. “I was very surprised to see him miss those kicks, but at the same time if the offense would have scored a touchdown, you know, instead of putting him in that position, we wouldn’t be in this predicament here.” 

Despite the Cyclones dominating time of possession in the third quarter 11:24 to 3:36, the Cyclones came away facing a 3-3 tie, and a surprise at quarterback. 

Just a week removed from being benched in favor of sophomore quarterback Ricky Stanzi, junior Jake Christensen returned to replace a struggling Stanzi who was 5-14 with two interceptions already in the game. 

The Hawkeyes responded, and Christensen went 3-for-3 for 22 yards on a drive aided by a 15-yard helmet-to-helmet penalty on Cyclones freshman cornerback Leonard Johnson. 

“I think just what we saw happen today in the fourth quarter speaks volumes about Jake Christensen,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “He came out and faced the music like a stand-up guy would and should.”

While Iowa State failed to punch the ball in the endzone, Iowa running back Shonn Grenne made sure to finish off a drive, in which he accounted for 43 yards, with a touchdown that put the Hawkeyes up 10-3. Greene finished the day with 120 yards rushing. 

“He’s a big back, he runs hard, and if you don’t gang tackle its kind of hard to get him down, but like I said we kicked ourselves in the foot,” defensive tackle Michael Tate said of Greene. “We had times where we could have had em down and let em go.”

 As bad as the three missed field goals for the Cyclones were, it wasn’t the only dark spot for a Cyclones special teams unit which had been praised for its performance against Kent State. With the Cyclones still trailing by a touchdown with just 8:27 remaining in the game, Iowa wide receiver Andy Brodell returned a punt 81 yards for a touchdown, effectively ending most hopes at a Cyclone comeback. 

“We had that one special teams meltdown and any time you do that you’re concerned,” head coach Gene Chizik said. “Again it came down to missed tackles and I’m very concerned. I thought that was the strength of our team.” 

With the score 17-3, the Cyclones last real chance came with under four minutes remaining with a first and goal at the Iowa 5. Again, the drive stalled. 

Iowa’s punter J.D. Griggs ran out the back of the end-zone for a safety on the ensuing possession to make it 17-5. 

The Cyclones defense played well on the day, and kept Iowa State in the game during a first half that saw Iowa living on the Cyclones side of the 50 yard line. The defense twice came up with big stops with Iowa threatening, once forcing Iowa to punt from the ISU 30, then later sacking Stanzi on third down which forced a 50 yard field goal attempt by Daniel Murray that sailed wide left. 

Arnaud threw for 224 yards on 21-of-34 passing, while Bates was just 3-of-6 for 28 yards. Bates threw one interception, and Arnaud threw two with the second coming on a heave down the sideline with just 30 seconds left in the game.