AMES — In a game where nothing seemed to make sense, it’s only fitting that biggest weapon for the Iowa State offense in their 38-35 win over UCF was quarterback Rocco Becht’s legs, as he ran for a career-high 97 yards and two touchdowns.
It was sophomore running back Carson Hansen’s legs that got the offense started though.
The Cyclones found themselves down by seven early in the game after their first drive didn’t go anywhere. On the second play of the second drive, Hansen took the hand off from Becht and ran the ball 57 yards for the Cyclones’ first touchdown, tying the game at seven.
Hansen wasn’t done there.
On the very next drive the Cyclones went on an 11-play, 73-yard drive that took 4:40 off the clock. Hansen capped off the drive with a five-yard touchdown run to give the Cyclones a 14-7 lead with 30 seconds left in the first quarter.
That touchdown made it five consecutive Iowa State touchdowns scored by Hansen going back to his three touchdown performance against West Virginia last week.
Hansen finished the game with nine carries for 91 yards and two touchdowns after leaving the game early in the third quarter with an injury.
“[Hansen] was dinged up during the game, we were concerned about his health and a couple carries, he just couldn’t physically do it anymore,” Head coach Matt Campbell said.
After that touchdown the Cyclone offense went ice cold.
Iowa State punted on five of its last six drives to end the half, four of those being three-and-out’s. The one drive that didn’t end in a punt ended in Becht throwing an interception that was returned by the Knight’s Brandon Adams, which gave the Knights a 21-14 lead going into the half.
Becht’s late pick-six highlighted what was an uncharacteristically poor performance throwing the ball in the first half. In the first half, Becht went just 6-for-16 for 48 yards, no touchdowns and the aforementioned pick-six.
“I felt like we were kind of trying to find our rhythm a little bit and half time probably couldn’t come fast enough,” Campbell said. “It gave us a chance to get back inside and kind of reset ourselves.
Where he did find success was on the ground. Besides the sack, Becht ran the ball five times for 44 yards, setting a new career high in just the first half.
“That’s a good team, that’s a good defense, you know, when things weren’t there, that’s just when I had to use my legs,” Becht said.
“I thought he really did a great job as the game kind of went on using his feet to make, obviously, really good plays,” Campbell said.
Coming out of the half, the Cyclones received the ball and it looked like more of the same from the first half. The Cyclones received the kick off and went three plays, zero yards and punted the ball away.
UCF’s offense went down and scored a touchdown on its first drive of the second half, which made the score 28-14, putting the Cyclones back against the wall.
The Cyclone offense responded.
After falling down 14 points the Cyclones put together a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that was capped off by a one-yard touchdown run by Becht.
After the Cyclone defense got a stop, the offense once again put together a long scoring drive. Iowa State then went on a 14-play, 76-yard touchdown drive that took 6:26 off the clock, capped off by a 12-yard touchdown reception by Jayden Higgins, his sixth of the year.
The drive was aided by Becht’s continued ability to use his legs. Becht ran the ball just twice for 15 yards on the drive, but the runs came in huge spots. One converted a third and eight while the other one was used to convert on a fourth and three.
The Cyclone defense once again got a stop after another score, handing the ball back to the Cyclones offense trailing 27-28.
The offense once again went on a march and got the ball into UCF territory before Becht threw another interception. It was essentially a second pick-six, but the UCF defender dropped the ball just before crossing the goal line.
UCF retained the ball at the one-yard line and punched the ball in for a touchdown one play later, extending it’s lead to 35-27.
The Cyclone offense tacked on a field goal to bring the score to 35-30. After the two teams traded punts, the Cyclones got the ball back on their own 20 yard line with just 1:47 remaining to keep their undefeated season alive.
Becht and the offense went on what will go down as one of the best drives in Iowa State football history.
“I knew we were gonna score,” Becht said.
The first play of the drive was a pass to freshman wide receiver Carson Brown for eight yards, followed by yet another Becht run for a first down.
Then, from the Cyclones own 36-yard line Becht found senior wide receiver Jaylin Noel for a 29-yard gain, bringing the ball to UCF’s 35 yard line.
After an incomplete pass Becht found Noel again, this time for 16 yards, bringing the ball to the UCF 19 yard line with 55 seconds left in the game.
“Before the last drive I went and told the offense we’re gonna win this game,” Noel said.
After a pass interference penalty gave the Cyclones the ball on UCF’s four yard line, Becht went back to his legs. After a three-yard run to get the ball just one yard away, Becht completed the comeback with his second rushing touchdown of the game.
Fittingly, Becht used his legs one last time to run in the two-point conversion, making the final score 38-35.
Becht finished the game with 20 carries for a career high 97 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
“It’s a great testament to him [Becht]. At quarterback you’re not always going to win throwing the football,” Campbell said.
“Every night he [Becht] comes out and fights,” Noel said. “His leadership continues to push this team and I couldn’t be more honored to play with a quarterback such as himself.”
