The only thing uglier than the weather on Saturday was the Kansas Jayhawks’ special teams.

Iowa State (4-2, 2-1 Big 12) walked away with a 45-0 win over Kansas (1-5, 0-3 Big 12) in a game marred by sloppy weather and even sloppier play.

Both offenses struggled to gain much on offense. The difference in the game was Iowa State’s dominance on special teams.

“Since I’ve been here at Iowa State, special teams has really been an emphasis,” senior punter Colin Downing said. “We take a lot of time to get our special teams to be as good as we possibly can… I think it showed up today in a game that could’ve really exposed us in a negative way.”

The Cyclones received the opening kickoff and punted two minutes later. Kansas got the poor play started early as returner Steven Sims muffed Downing’s punt. Redshirt senior wide receiver Trever Ryen recovered the loose ball for Iowa State, giving the team great field position.

That wasn’t Ryen’s only big play on special teams today, however.

Ryen received a punt at Iowa State’s 32-yard line, ran to the right side, picked up a monster block from redshirt junior De’Monte Ruth, and took the punt to the house.

“I saw Ruth give a little hand, like ‘hey, this way!’ so I trusted him and I heard the crowd just go crazy,” Ryen said. “I was like, ‘he probably got that guy pretty good.’”

Coach Matt Campbell applauded the return team, too.

“You just felt the energy come into the stadium,” Campbell said. “I thought that was at least a momentum swing in the football game.”

Iowa State held a 17-0 lead late in the second quarter with Kansas set to punt from deep in its own territory. A bad snap led to a fumble, and Iowa State took over at the Kansas 23. Two plays later, the Cyclones took a 24-0 lead on a David Montgomery touchdown.

It was an all-around dominant special teams performance from Iowa State.

“Special teams means a lot to our team,” Ryen said. “It’s kind of like our foundation. It gets the offense going and it gets the defense going.”

The Kansas special teams struggled all day. Early in the third quarter, Kansas’ punter Cole Moos, dropped the long snap and rushed his punt. The ball didn’t even make it back to the line of scrimmage. Kansas punted for a loss of two yards.

On all sides of special teams combined, Kansas had three fumbles and gave up a touchdown. The sloppy conditions certainly played a role in that, but Iowa State was able to avoid disaster when Kansas couldn’t.

“We worked all week with wet balls,” Downing said. “I went with gloves today. The only other time I [have worn gloves in college] is Baylor a couple years ago when it was raining.”

Additionally, Downing pinned Kansas inside the 10-yard line four times, including pinning them at the 1-yard line late in the third quarter. Kansas had drives start at its own 1, 4, 6 and 8-yard line. Two of those punts were downed by Ryen.

“I’ve got some fast guys down there,” Downing said with a smile. “It’s nice to have some speed on the edges. The coaches are always trying to take those guys off it just to give them a break and I’m like ‘no, no, you gotta leave them in!’ Our coverage team, it really showed today how good they are.”

Iowa State also booted a 26-yard field goal off the leg of redshirt senior Garrett Owens, who is now 8-for-10 on field goals this season and perfect on extra points.

Even with all the success, Iowa State’s special teams players know the work isn’t done. There are always bigger plays and fewer mistakes to make.

“I don’t even think I had one of my better games punting honestly,” Downing said. “I kinda had a couple shanks. I think today really showed how good my coverage team is.”