IOWA CITY – The 2024 Cy-Hawk game started a lot like how many Cy-Hawk games of the past for the Cyclone offense. The offense started out about as slow as possible, getting shutout in the first half 13-0. 

In the second half, everything changed. Iowa State scored 20 points, capped off with a Kyle Konrardy game-winning 54-yard field goal, that gave the Cyclones the 20-19 victory. 

It all started on Iowa State’s own one-yard line after Iowa’s punter Rhys Dakin perfectly placed a punt to pin the Cyclones deep in their own territory. 

The first drive was a sign of things to come for Iowa State in the first half. The Cyclone offense was able to move the ball out of the shadow of their own endzone, getting it to third and two, but two pre-snap penalties killed the drive and forced Iowa State to punt out of its own end zone, giving Iowa great field position. 

“We had some pre-snap penalties,” Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell said. “Those are things that are coaching, that’s not playing. I think the reality of that is we have to clean those up because we will be in these environments again.”

That was the story of the first half: the Cyclones getting the ball deep in its own territory, then committing mistakes leading to the Hawkeyes getting the ball with great field position. One of those mistakes was a quarterback Rocco Becht interception on third down that gave Iowa the ball on Iowa State’s 12-yard line. 

“I didn’t think anything of it, I’ve been there before,” Becht said. “I just kept my poise throughout the game and trusted my teammates and trusted the coaches who put me in the best situation possible.”

Even after all the mistakes the Cyclone offense made, they only found themselves only down 13-0 with possession after timely stops from the defense.

It took seven drives for Iowa State to finally get things going on offense. Right before halftime, the Cyclones were able to put together their best drive up to that point. Becht finally started to look comfortable, moving Iowa State to midfield. 

The drive stalled out and the Cyclones were forced to punt the ball away, but after a roughing the punter penalty, the drive continued. It looked as though Iowa State was in line to finally get on the scoreboard as redshirt freshman kicker Kyle Konrardy lined up for a 41-yard field goal, the first attempt of his career.

But just as with everything else in the first half, it went wrong. Konrardy missed the field goal off of the left upright and the Cyclones went into the locker room at halftime with nothing on the scoreboard, trailing by 13. 

In the second half though, everything seemed to change. After a defensive back Darien Porter interception that gave the Cyclones the ball back, a switch seemed to flip in Iowa State’s offense. 

“[Porter] made the interception is what happened,” Campbell said. “The game really swung from there.” 

Starting at their own 25-yard line, the Cyclones executed what was by far their best offensive drive by getting into the red zone for the first time in the game. After making it all the way down to the three-yard line, Iowa State was stuffed on first and second down to make it third and goal. 

On third down, Becht dropped back and threw a fade to wide receiver Jayden Higgins, who came down with it after seemingly ripping it out of the Iowa defender’s hands. All of a sudden it was 13-7 and we had a game on our hands. 

“We expanded a little bit,” Becht said. “We wanted to be more aggressive in the second half because we thought we were pushing the ball in the first, but we just couldn’t get over those little humps.” 

Iowa would go right down the field to extend its lead to 19-7, but the Cyclones responded even faster. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Becht dropped back and found a streaking wide receiver in Jaylin Noel for a 75-yard touchdown to get Iowa State right back in the game, trailing by just five. 

From there the offense would start to stall once again. On the next four drives, the offense was held to just three points after being forced to punt three times. Luckily for the offense, the Cyclone defense stepped up in a big way, forcing the Hawkeyes to punt four straight times. 

The Iowa State defense made the stop it needed to make, forcing Iowa to punt the ball away, which gave the Cyclone offense one last chance to take the lead. 

Iowa State got the ball on its own 22-yard line with just 34 seconds left down 19-17. 

“I just needed one more shot, because I knew we had something left in the tank,” Becht said. “I just trusted my guys, trusted the process and ultimately we came out on top.”

Becht found Noel on first down for ten yards, moving the ball out to the 32-yard line. Then the big play the Cyclones needed happened. 

Becht dropped back and found Noel streaking down the sideline for a 30-yard pickup that put the ball at Iowa’s 38-yard line. 

“He ended up beating him with speed,” Becht said. “I just tried to give him a chance, tried to put a ball out there for him to go get it and he did the rest of it.” 

“I was really studying to go against Castro all game,” Noel said. “He’s a great player, but I felt like I had the ability to win that matchup.” 

After a two-yard gain, Campbell elected to send Konrardy out for a 54-yard field goal and Konrardy drilled it, making the game 20-19 with just seconds left on the clock.

“It’s really all the same thing in my mind, I just got to go out and perform, really,” Konrardy said about his mentality before the game-winning field goal. 

The Hawkeyes attempted a last second pass as time expired, but Porter came up with his second interception of the game, securing the win and sending the Cy-Hawk trophy back to Ames. 

“To me, there’s no greater win than that,” Campbell said.