AMES — On the final drive of the game for the UCF Knights, they looked to avoid a major comeback that was brewing from No. 9 Iowa State.

A drive prior, the Cyclones found their way to comeback from a 28-14 deficit and took their second lead of the game late in the waning moments of the game thanks to the rushing abilities from redshirt sophomore quarterback Rocco Becht.

Now, it was left to the Iowa State defense, which had been stout in the passing game but left to ruins from the explosive rushing attack of the Knights, to get one final stop to officially seal what would be a miraculous comeback.

After a 12-yard completion to UCF wide receiver Kobe Hudson on the first play of this drive, it looked like the Knights were prepared to march down the field and potentially win the game in the last moments.

But following a false start by the Knights, they ended up losing five of those 12 yards gained, which ended up not helping their case.

The next play killed nine seconds off the clock and resulted in a three-yard rush from quarterback Jacurri Brown that kept the clock within the final 15 seconds of the game.

However, the very next play would end up being the final play of the game, as Brown attempted to launch a pass deep to Hudson that would be intercepted by Iowa State defensive back Jontez Williams to effectively end the game 38-35.

This interception gave Brown two on the day, as defensive back Beau Freyler had previously picked him off late in the second quarter.

For Williams, this interception meant that he had at least one interception in four consecutive games. Conveniently, all four interceptions were made in the four Big 12 games that the Cyclones had played in.

With Williams in his second season with Iowa State, it meant the world for him to grab another key interception after struggling to get one all of last season and in the beginning of this season.

“I thank God for putting me in that situation to make that play,” Williams said. “I was proud I was able to make the play for this team.”

Williams’ interception capped off a day for the Cyclones defense that they’ll want to forget, as they gave up a season high 354 yards on the ground in 39 attempts, with four of the five touchdowns that the Knights scored coming from the rushing attack.

Led by star running back RJ Harvey and Brown, UCF had its way with an Iowa State defense that had struggled at times to hold a strong rushing offense to limited yards.

“They got the most explosive run game and the best running back in the Big 12, in my opinion,” defensive lineman J.R. Singleton said. “We made the right adjustments, never got down on each other and just played the next play until the end of the game where we ended on top.”

But, Iowa State’s defense did have something that it did perform well in, and that was defending the passing attack of the Knights.

Coming into this game, UCF had been riding a quarterback carousel with three different players getting their opportunity to play, but it came down to Brown leading the way for the Knights, who had been on a three-game losing streak after starting the season 3-0.

But what Brown was getting prepared to face was a Cyclones defense that had been ferocious in preventing opposing offenses from scoring a lot of points against them.

Iowa State led the Big 12 in average points against (11), total yards (285.3) and passing yards (145.7) going into Saturday night’s matchup, so having Brown play in only his second game for the Knights wasn’t favorable.

It showed within his passing abilities, as Brown struggled mightily to find much success against the stout Iowa State defense, as he only completed eight of his 20 passes for 62 yards and two interceptions. 

Although his rushing abilities helped UCF, his passing abilities were what ultimately failed the Knights in the end with the costly interception thrown to Williams.

As the game progressed, it had looked like the Cyclones defense would end up crumbling and was the main reason for their defeat, but that was not the case as the bend don’t break mentality won the day for Iowa State in the end.

“It really goes to great leadership in the locker room,” head coach Matt Campbell said. “When you have great leaders, powerful things can happen. We’re fortunate because our walls have them.”