AMES — The No. 22 Cyclones did not make it easy for themselves, but they found a way to escape Salt Lake City with a 31-28 win over the Utes, backed by strong performances from wide receiver Jayden Higgins and linebacker Jack Sadowsky V.
Iowa State blunders keep game close
Iowa State led 17-13 at the end of the first half, but the score does not tell the whole story.
On the first drive of the game, the Cyclone offense went three and out. The Utes went right down the field and scored a field goal, to take a 3-0 lead.
From there Iowa State dominated… on the stat sheet.
In the first half the Cyclones had 243 total yards to the Utes’ 76, 14 first downs to the Utes’ two and 41 plays to the Utes’ 17, but yet the Cyclones led by just four at the break.
Iowa State’s biggest enemy was itself.
On the Cyclones’ third drive of the game, leading 7-3, they went on an extended drive, taking the ball down to Utah’s 16 yard line. On second and nine, quarterback Rocco Becht attempted to find wide receiver Jaylin Noel, but the pass was off target, getting tipped into the hands of Utah’s Lander Barton who took it all the way back for a touchdown, giving the Utes a 10-7 lead.
After Iowa State regained a 14-10 lead, Utah punted the ball away. Noel was camped under the ball, but he was not able to corral it. The Utes recovered the muffed punt, ultimately resulting in a field goal to cut the Cyclones lead to 14-13. The mishaps did not stop in the second half.
On the Cyclones’ first drive of the second half, up 17-13, they lined up for a 46-yard field goal, which kicker Kyle Konrardy pushed wide right.
Later, up 24-13, Iowa State lined up to punt the ball back to the Utes. Punter Tyler Perkins handled the snap, dropped the ball and punted it, but it was blocked by Utah’s Jackson Bennee and recovered by David Washington in the endzone for a Utah touchdown, cutting the lead to 24-20.
When the game was said and done, the Cyclones outgained the Utes 405 to 224 and committed just one penalty for five yards compared to the Utes’ six for 57.
But because of the pick six, muffed punt return, missed field goal and blocked punt, the Utes were alive until the very end, but the Cyclones were able to survive.
Jayden Higgins reaches milestone in big performance
Despite the mistakes, Iowa State was still able to move the ball down the field with decent success. Higgins was the one who led the way.
Higgins was Becht’s favorite target in the game, much like many other games in the past two seasons.
The senior receiver hauled in a team-high nine passes for a season-high 155 yards and a touchdown, as well as drawing multiple pass-interference penalties against the Utes’ defense.
During the game, Higgins crossed the 1,000-yard mark on the season with one regular season game to go after falling just 17 yards short of the 1,000-yard mark last season.
Higgins’ big performance brings his totals to 1,015 yards and eight touchdowns, both of which lead the team.
Coming into the game, Iowa State was one of two FBS programs to have two wide receivers with over 850 receiving yards.
Higgins came from behind to hit the 1,000-yard mark before teammate Noel, who had 935 yards coming into the game and ended the game at 976 yards, just 24 yards shy of joining Higgins in the 1,000-yard club.
Sadowsky leads energized defense
Utah may have scored 28 points, but only 13 of those came against the Iowa State defense. The Cyclones allowed just 224 yards, caused a turnover, got two sacks and recorded seven tackles for loss.
The Iowa State defense especially excelled against the run.
Coming into the game, the Cyclones were second-to-last in the Big 12 in rushing defense, allowing 184.5 yards per game.
That was not the case against the Utes. The Iowa State defense held Utah to just 95 yards rushing on 3.4 yards per carry, with 40 of those yards coming on one run.
The player that stood out most on the Cyclone defense was Sadowsky.
The sophomore linebacker had seven tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack and a fumble recovery.
His fumble recovery set up an Iowa State touchdown drive that extended the lead to 24-13.
Coming off its worst performance of the season against Kansas, the Cyclones have put together two very strong performances, and they will need one more against Kansas State next week to book a trip to the Big 12 Championship.
