AMES — All it took was 26 seconds for Iowa State and Texas to get weird.

The Cyclones kicked off twice after offsetting penalties to the Longhorns, only for the second kick to be a touchback. Two plays later, Texas star running back Bijan Robinson fumbled the ball and Iowa State was in business at the Texas 39-yard line.

And through injury timeouts, trick plays and stout defense, the Cyclones took down the Longhorns 30-7 to continue their chase in the Big 12 title race.

Iowa State kicker Andrew Mevis got the night started after knocking through a 24-yard field goal for a 3-0 Iowa State lead less than three minutes in. 

But from there on out, it was a punting show for the rest of the half for both teams.

Texas ended the first quarter with 16 plays for 45 yards and one first-down. Iowa State started stronger with 20 plays for 114 yards and five first-downs.

And then the second quarter set in, taking the Cyclone offense away with it.

After Texas and Iowa State punted to open the second quarter, the Longhorns went marching. And they finally got on the board.

Texas gave a jet sweep to its breakout freshman receiver Xavier Worthy to cap off a 14-play, 78-yard drive to take a 7-3 lead.

Iowa State would go three and out the ensuing drive, leaving both offenses scoreless the remainder of the half. Both teams combined for 10 punts and went 4-16 on third-down.

After a serenade of Pikachus stormed the field at halftime, the Cyclones were back in business — fast.

Iowa State relied on Breece Hall’s 47-yard touchdown run to cap off a four-play, 75-yard scoring drive to take a 10-7 lead out of the half. Hall’s touchdown was his 21st consecutive game with a rushing score, good for third best in NCAA history.

Texas was forced to punt on its two drives out of the break for a total of six plays and negative-four yards of offense.

So then Xavier Hutchinson wanted his chance at passing duties and used a trick play to catch Texas sleeping for a 49-yard touchdown pass to Tarique Milton to make it a 17-7 for the Cyclones.

Will McDonald would sack Hudson Card on the next drive for Texas, giving the junior pass-rusher the program record with 26.5 career sacks. He broke JaQuan Bailey’s record of 25.5 career sacks. Iowa State would take over and Hall would do the rest. He added another touchdown run to his night to extend the lead to 24-7 with four minutes left in the third quarter.

Mevis would tack on another field goal in the fourth quarter on a 11-play, 86-yard drive for the Cyclones to pad the lead to 27-7. He’d add a later 51-yard field goal to make it a 30-7 ballgame.

Iowa State improves to 6-3 overall and 4-2 in Big 12 play with three games left. Texas continues to slide in the wrong direction, dropping to 4-5 overall, having lost four straight.

Iowa State will head back on the road to face Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas next week. The Longhorns will return to their home field to face the Kansas Jayhawks.