AMES – After losing their chance for their first conference title in over a century in 2024 to Arizona State, the Cyclones lost their Big 12 Championship redemption game Saturday, after a 24-19 loss, despite bright spots found within Cyclone defense.
Marking the two teams’ second time meeting each other on the gridiron, Iowa State has now lost both games, the first with a 45-19 loss in the Big 12 Championship. Alongside Saturday’s loss, the Cyclones now hold a four straight game losing skid.
“I feel like we’ve been stuck in the same cycle,” Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell said. “There is 70% of really good football, and there are some critical moments where you don’t make the tackle, you don’t score the touchdown. Those critical moments are costing us the opportunity to win football games.”
Despite the Cyclone fans walking into Jack Trice with mixed feelings, sparks of defense gave them hope.
The first spark from the defense that filled the team with momentum happened with 1:35 left on the clock in the second quarter. With Arizona State leading 17-10, and in possession of the ball, the Sun Devils’ sixth-year quarterback Jeff Sims rushed up the middle for 1 yard, where redshirt junior Will McLaughlin forced a fumble. The fumble was then grabbed by redshirt junior defensive lineman Ikenna Ezeogu.
Coming into the game marked questionable, Campbell expressed his gratitude for having McLaughlin back on the gridiron against the Sun Devils and for making important and effective plays.
“That guy could hardly walk on Tuesday and Wednesday,” Campbell said. “And that guy is out there and giving everything he’s got today and huge play, critical moment, we’re really proud of him.”
The forced fumble led to Iowa State making two plays within its offensive drive. With 1:03 left on the clock, Iowa State redshirt junior quarterback Rocco Becht threw a 17-yard pass to the left for the touchdown by junior tight end Benjamin Brahmer.
Despite an extra point miss by redshirt sophomore kicker Kyle Konrardy, the Cyclones drove to a closer scoring margin of 17-16.
Shortly after, in the final seconds of the second quarter, Sims once again threw a deep pass to the left, intended for junior tight end Khamari Anderson. However, instead of making contact with Anderson’s hands, redshirt senior linebacker Caleb Bacon tipped the pass and was caught and returned for 18 yards by sophomore defensive back Marcus Neal Jr.
Neal continued his defensive momentum throughout the game, as he later forced a fumble during the seventh minute of the fourth quarter, after Sims rushed to the right for a gain of nine yards, and was then recovered by redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Zaimir Hawk.
Similar to Neal’s success, who finished the game with seven total tackles, four of which were solo and one interception, junior linebacker Kooper Ebel had five solo tackles, which contributed to his team’s high of nine total tackles, including one breakup pass and two quarterback hurries.
“I give a lot of credit to our D-line today,” Ebel said. “They played great, did a great job on taking on blocks and leaving me free again. Those guys do a great job, so they make my job easy.”
In between the two defenders, junior defensive back Jamison Patton had eight total tackles, contributing to Iowa State’s overall total of 63 compared to Arizona State’s 55.
Despite the bright spots found within the game, Iowa State was unable to pull through on the offensive side after Neal’s forced fumble in the fourth quarter. The Cyclones were unable to find complete passes and gain yardage down the field to secure their Big 12 Championship redemption win.
“You know, Arizona State is a great team, they played a great game,” junior running back Carson Hansen said. “They do things very well there and we just came up short.”
