With their last home game of the season, the Cyclones walked into Jack Trice in style, wearing new helmets, helping fuel Iowa State’s offensive success, to end senior night with a 38-14 win over Kansas.
The new offensive skill and confidence the Cyclones carried were shown in the opening drive. As on the 12th play of the game, redshirt junior quarterback Rocco Becht threw a pass to the right, caught by sophomore wide receiver Brett Eskildsen, in the 8:28 minute for a nine yard touchdown.
“It’s dangerous to have back-to-back wins and to have a game where you’re constantly working and dominating up front and dominating in the pass game,” Becht said. “You’re going to gain your confidence back, and that’s what we were able to do today.”
Quickly following, the Cyclones secured a point after touchdown (PAT) from redshirt sophomore kicker Kyle Konrardy, who had his confidence a little rattled after an injury earlier in the season and went 2-for-4 on his kicks during the 24-19 loss against Arizona State. However, Konrardy clearly gained his footing and helped move the Cyclones to a 7-0 lead.
“Kyle [Konrardy] is exceptional, I mean, he is an elite talent,” Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell said. “I dont know, maybe there are some people statistically that may be better than him, but I don’t know if there’s a better kicker in the country than what Kyle [Konrardy] is.”
Only a few minutes later, in Iowa State’s second drive of the game, Eskildsen continued his offensive momentum as he secured a 10 yard pass, thrown to the left side of the gridiron, then a 17 yard pass to secure a first down and help the team trek up the field 72 yards.
The Cyclones finished the drive, four seconds into the second quarter, as junior running back Carson Hansen rushed up the middle for a four yard touchdown. Followed by a successful PAT by Konrardy, which gave Iowa State a 14-0 lead.
“I think he [Hansen] is having a really special year,” Campbell said. “I mean, one of the toughest young men in our program. How he runs the football, how he runs the football late in games, how he came back into the game today to run the football.”
Although he only scored one touchdown in the game, Hanson was a pivotal part of the Cyclones’ offensive drive as he had 21 touches in the first half, five in the second and overall secured 120 rushing yards and 32 receiving yards.
Konrardy then went on to score a 55 yard field goal, granting Iowa State three scoring drives in a row, all within the first half.
Starting their drive at 13:06 in the third quarter, Eskildsen caught a 12 yard pass to help the Cyclones march down the field. Becht then passed the ball to the left for 11 yards to Hansen, who was then tackled by redshirt senior defensive tackle Tommy Dunn Jr. Hansen was then assisted off the field to the injury tent.
Six plays after, Eskildsen secured his second touchdown of the game. Due to a pass from Becht to the right of the field, Eskildsen caught the ball over his head to score a 20 yard touchdown in the 8:56 minute of the third quarter.
Moving the Cyclones lead to 24-7, Eskildsen celebrated his touchdown by doing the popular dance, the griddy, down the endzone and Iowa State’s sideline. Eskildsen finished the game with six receptions for 73 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
“Honestly, I’ve had that one [dance] prepared for a little bit now,” Eskildsen said. “So I just like to have fun with it.”
Keeping their now normalized offensive momentum, Becht lobbed a pass over the Kansas defense to a wide open junior tight end Benjamin Brahmer in the endzone, for a 12 yard touchdown pass in the 2:18 minute to close out the Cyclones’ success in the third quarter.
Becht, who overcame a lot this season, ended his last junior year game in the Jack, going 18-for-23 and securing 241 passing yards.
“He’s all types of leaders, leads by example, he’s a servant leader, he’s going to put everyone before himself,” Eskildsen said. “‘It’s unbelievable, having a guy like him in the locker room, better yet, quarterback.”
“Our quarterback is one of the best quarterbacks,” Campbell said. “He is tough, he is gritty and if you look at every game that we have played, that guy is giving us a great chance to win the football game.”
Finishing the fourth quarter on a high note, Hansen joined the team on the field again to continue right where he left off on his offensive success. At the 1:13 minute mark, redshirt freshman running back Aiden Flora rushed to the left of the field for a 38 yard touchdown, marking Iowa State’s longest rushing touchdown of the season. Followed by a successful PAT kick, the Cyclones ended the game 38-14.
Following the touchdown, the popular song Swag Surf blasted around Jack Trice, and the Cyclones, on the sideline, huddled together and danced their hearts out to finish the last home game of the season.
“We just like to have fun with it together,” Eskildsen said. “We dance a lot in practice together, too.”
