IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa State headed into Iowa City to take on No. 21 Iowa in the 71st annual Cy-Hawk game on Saturday after taking down North Dakota at home. After a strong showing of resilience by the Cyclones in the second half, Iowa State was able to reclaim the Cy-Hawk trophy and defeated the Hawkeyes 20-19 on Saturday.

Konrardy’s game-winning kick seals the deal for the Cyclones

Perhaps the biggest moment in this game came down to Iowa State’s final offensive play, where the Cyclones had an opportunity to kick a game-winning field goal from the foot of redshirt freshman Kyle Konrardy with 9 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Prior to this kick, Konrardy attempted his first-ever collegiate field goal in the waning moments of the first half. It had been a struggle for Iowa State to find itself within scoring position, so for the Cyclones to potentially have some points before the end of the half would have been crucial for momentum throughout the rest of the game.

Konrardy lined up for the 41-yard kick and saw the ball heading towards the left upright, to which it bounced off of it and the field goal was no good. The Cyclones would be heading into halftime down 13-0.

But for Konrardy, he wouldn’t let this missed opportunity ruin his mindset for a bigger kick that would be presented later on in the game.

“It was not focusing on the mistakes, but focus on what’s next,” Konrardy said. “I just had to go out there and perform.”

So when it came down for Konrardy to get his redemption back and successfully make his first ever collegiate field goal, he did not let that opportunity go to waste.

His 54-yard kick in the fourth quarter would go on to be the game sealing points to give Iowa State the 20-19 win over No. 21 Iowa at Kinnick Stadium.

“I told him right before he ran out there that is was just like practice,” redshirt sophomore quarterback Rocco Becht said. “He makes those kicks all the time in practice, so I just tried to clear his mind and he got the job done.”

Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell praised Konrardy for what he did for his team, especially knowing that his family was in the crowd watching him save the day for the Cyclones.

“For that kid to step up in a critical moment for his dad and his mom, that’s what this sport is about,” Campbell said.

Porter’s two-interception day provides spark for Iowa State

Coming into Saturday’s game versus the Hawkeyes, Iowa State defensive back Darien Porter had been longing to knab his first career interception.

The redshirt senior was heading into his final season with Iowa State after going through a position change and the constant battle to make his impact known on this Cyclones team whether it be on any side of the ball.

Porter had previously been recruited to Iowa State as a wide receiver, but had not found much usage in the receiving game for the Cyclones. So, he decided to make the change to defensive back, where he’d make an immediate impact.

Primarily known for his play on the special teams unit, Porter had longed to make an impact in the group he transitioned to be in.

Campbell preached Porter as the ultimate team player after going through so much trial and tribulations in his collegiate career while still being one of the best players on the team.

“The ultimate team player here for the last six years is the guy who makes the play to swing the tide,” Campbell said. “He’s the most selfless and incredible human being on our team.”

On Saturday, his opportunity would present itself in more than one way, as Porter would collect his first interception early in the third quarter off of Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara that would ultimately turn the tide for not just the defense, but for the entire Iowa State squad.

Defensive back Myles Purchase had long awaited for Porter to make a key impact like he did on the defensive side of the ball Saturday and praised the redshirt senior’s success.

“That’s my guy,” Purchase said. “My freshman year, I used to guard him at receiver and it was tough. So to see him do this in his senior year is something special.”

The Cyclones would go on to score all 20 of their points in the second half while only limiting six second half points.

Just when Porter thought his day was done by grabbing one interception, he would collect his second interception on the very last play of the game, where the Hawkeyes threw up a hail mary pass that would eventually land in his arms.

“It’s a great feeling especially in a game like this,” Porter said. “It feels good to impact the game in multiple different ways.”

Second-half offense turns the tide for the Cyclones

After scoring 21 points and showing off the aggressiveness to push the ball down the field in Iowa State’s win over North Dakota last Saturday, it was expected that the same aggressiveness would be shown in the Cyclones upcoming bout against the Hawkeyes this Saturday.

But for Iowa State, it did not turn out how they would’ve liked, as the Cyclones offense struggled immensely to push the ball down the field in the first half. Their first offensive first down wouldn’t come until the last six minutes of the second quarter.

Through offensive penalties and an interception thrown by Becht late in the first quarter, the Iowa State offense knew they had to change its scheme to attempt to comeback in this game.

“I didn’t think anything of it,” Becht said. “I just kept my poise throughout the game and trusted my teammates and trusted the coaches to put myself in the best position possible.”

Although the Cyclones’ opening drive of the new half would result in yet another punt, the tides turned following the Porter interception off of McNamara. 

That drive following the interception resulted in Iowa State’s first touchdown of the game as Becht found wide receiver Jayden Higgins on the side of the endzone for a three-yard grab.

Following the scoring drive by Iowa to answer the Cyclones’ scoring, the aggressiveness and big play ability shined once again as Becht launched a 75-yard touchdown to wide receiver Jaylin Noel to bring the game within one score.

“We wanted to be more aggressive in the second half because we couldn’t get over those little humps [in the first half],” Becht said.

Even though Iowa State had multiple attempts following to take the lead, they couldn’t seem to get in scoring range until the last drive of the game by the Cyclones, where Becht led a five play, 42-yard drive that got Iowa State in range to kick the game winning field goal.

“The real win is when you see young men respond to adversity,” Campbell said.

Iowa State’s run defense gets torched, but redzone defense holds strong

Despite all the positives that came out of this game, one issue stayed evident throughout the whole game: stopping the run.

Last week against North Dakota, Iowa State allowed 174 yards on the ground across five different runners. Even though the Cyclones won that game 21-3, it was still an issue that needed to be solved before heading to Iowa City on Saturday.

But, that issue was still readily apparent as Iowa State struggled to contain the Hawkeyes running game, mainly coming from running back Kaleb Johnson who torched the Cyclones on Saturday.

Johnson’s final stat line would be 25 carries for 187 yards and two touchdowns. Johnson was single handedly dragging Iowa’s offense to the success they had on Saturday.

“They were doing a really great job within the boundary with the run game,” Campbell said. “Credit to them for their really good scheme, but I thought our defensive staff did a really good job to adjust.”

Clearly it was not enough to take down Iowa State, as the Cyclones held strong in the passing game and within the redzone. 

Iowa State’s defense only surrendered 99 passing yards and forced two interceptions thrown by McNamara that were both collected by Porter.

“I’d say it was a collective effort,” Purchase said. “What we keep saying on defense is bend don’t break especially in the redzone so I feel like we did a good job of that today.”

Despite giving up two rushing touchdowns to Johnson, the Cyclones limited Iowa’s offense in the redzone, as they only gave up two other field goals that were both kicked inside the five-yard line.

Even with the Hawkeyes’ gifted field position, they still couldn’t convert when they needed to most, hence Iowa State coming out on top.

“The redzone is always a big part of our focus,” Porter said. “Our mindset is just to keep playing regardless where they are on the field.”