No. 14 Iowa State took a brutal 38-30 loss against road game opponent Cincinnati on Saturday, marking the Bearcats’ highest-ranked win since 2006 and handing the Cyclones their first loss of the season.

Iowa State’s lack of physicality 

Before the game against Cincinnati, Iowa State fans came in confident with their team’s defense; however, the Cyclones suffered their first loss due to tremendous mistakes on the defensive end.

In Cincinnati’s opening drive of the game, the Bearcats had a successful 30-yard rushing touchdown by senior redshirt running back Evan Pryor. Within the first drive of the game, Cincinnati completed six plays for 80 yards in a span of 2:28 minutes.

Within the first half, Cincinnati completed five scoring possessions in a row. Four drives with four touchdowns and one drive with a successful 38-yard field goal put the Bearcats in a 31-15 lead at the end of the first half.

Cincinnati was purely physically dominant throughout the game, averaging a 2:17 time of possession and completing 214 receiving yards and 260 rushing yards.

Iowa State did very little on defense to stave off Cincinnati’s clicking offense in the first half, by missing tackles and putting no pressure on the Bearcat quarterback.

Cincinnati found the most success on the gridiron from redshirt junior quarterback Brendan Sorsby, as he completed 214 passing yards and two touchdowns throughout the game due to the Cyclones’ lack of pressure on Sorsby.

Iowa State left the state of Ohio with zero sacks against Sorsby, completed 54 tackles compared to Cincinnati’s 77, had four tackles for a total of -4 yards and had zero forced fumbles.

Cyclone youth step up

As multiple injuries plagued Iowa State before and after the Cincinnati loss, the Bearcats saw a different roster than originally planned as the Cyclones walked in with 16 players out.

Coming into the game, senior cornerback Jeremiah Cooper and redshirt junior defensive back Jontez Williams were out for the season due to both having similar knee injuries.

Along with redshirt sophomore kicker Kyle Konrardy, out for the last two games due to a foot injury, redshirt junior quarterback Rocco Becht was known to be injured during last week’s game against Arizona and was looked over for a head injury.

However, in place of our usual starters, we saw a variety of players stepping up in place. These included redshirt freshman defensive back Quentin Taylor Jr., who completed five total tackles, and redshirt freshman wide receiver Dominic Overby, who completed 22 receiving yards.

The Bearcats also saw freshman walk-on kicker Chase Smith as he filled in for Konrardy and went 2-for-2 on his field goals after two successful touchdowns, but missed a 35-yard field goal in the second quarter.

Freshman quarterback Alex Manske saw the top of the helm twice in place of Becht. First, in the first quarter where he completed a rush up the middle for 4 yards, then later in the second quarter where he rushed to the right for a gain of 1 yard.

During the game, much of the Cyclone roster found themselves in the injury tent, such as redshirt junior wide receiver Chase Sowell, second-string kicker Smith, starting quarterback Becht, junior running back Carson Hansen and more.

Penalties, penalties and more penalties

With an average of 2.6 penalties per game, Iowa State doubled the amount of penalties received early on and finished the game with eight penalties for 60 yards.

However, Cincinnati had a field day with penalties, especially in the fourth quarter, where the team received nine penalties, complementing its overall total of 13 for 128 yards.

In the second quarter, Becht was brutally sacked by Cincinnati sophomore linebacker Simeon Coleman. After the review, Coleman was ejected from the game after targeting Becht with a helmet-to-helmet hit.

Becht visited the injury tent for a couple plays while Manske stepped in. Becht later returned to the field to be sacked again by redshirt senior defensive lineman Jalen Hunt, leading to a missed field goal by Smith.

Known for his calm demeanor on the sideline, Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell was penalized in the fourth quarter for unsportsmanlike conduct with a fourth down and 7 yards to go.