Manhattan, Kan. — The ISU football team has made a habit this season of failing to finish in close games. Against Iowa, Toledo and Oklahoma State, Iowa State found itself in position to pull off an upset.

But every time, the Cyclones fell short. 

That trend continued Saturday in Mahattan, Kan., where the Cyclones suffered their biggest collapse of the season. Iowa State (3-8, 2-6 Big 12) fell, 38-35, in the fleeting seconds against Kansas State (4-6, 1-6 Big 12) after turning the ball over twice inside of the game’s final two minutes. 

The Cyclones were attempting to earn their first win against the Wildcats since 2007 and looked in position to do it. Iowa State led by 21 points at halftime and was up by seven with 1:31 left in the game. 

The Cyclones fended off the Wildcats for most of the afternoon and found themselves just a few knees and one, late-game stop away from victory. But running back Mike Warren fumbled the ball on first down and turned it over. 

Kansas State promptly scored in the next 40 seconds, tying the game at 35.

Iowa State regained possession with 40 seconds left in the game. But as Joel Lanning rolled out to the right on 2nd down, a KSU defender popped the ball loose, leading to another turnover and a reverberating roar from the Wildcat crowd. 

Just a minute and a half removed from a near-certain ISU victory, Kansas State kicked the game-winning field goal that the Cyclones away. 

“I don’t know, just we let another one slip by,” Lanning said. “Really we only needed to put one drive together and put points on the board, and we probably could have put them away.”

All of it could have been avoided. With just 1:31 left in the game and Kansas State holding one timeout, Iowa State could’ve have knelt the clock away and punted to let the Wildcats have one play. 

But Rhoads wanted to run out the entire clock, not allowing the Wildcats to have a shred of chance to pull off a win. 

“Run out the clock and never having to punt the football,” Rhoads said. “You take a knee on the ready on that play, you’re going to get a timeout, and then you’re going to be down to a 4th down play having to punt the football.”

But some of the players thought it was a time to kneel, particularly Lanning, who ceded to Rhoads. 

“That’s kind of what everybody thought, but coach said different. We’re going to listen to coach and back him up, and that’s what he wanted to do,” Lanning said.

After Kansas State tied the game at 35, Iowa State had a decision to make: play for overtime or get the win by driving to field goal territory.  

Rhoads decided to run a play to kick start a drive. After a four-yard ground gain from Lanning, Rhoads opted not to take a timeout, appearing to cede an overtime period. Yet he again chose not to take a knee, calling another play that ended in Lanning’s fumble.

“If we got it started with one of those plays, we were going to try to continue with it,” Rhoads said. “If we didn’t on that second-down play [the fumble], we were going to take a knee and go to overtime.”

Coming out of halftime, Iowa State led Kansas State, 35-14, taking advantage of 148 first-half rushing yards from Warren and three touchdown passes from Lanning. 

The Wildcats exited the locker room and made sure not let the Cyclones score again. Kansas State put together two scoring drives, spanning 11:50, to pull within seven points and set themselves up for a chance to win. 

The Cyclones had seven drives in the second half to put the game out of reach, but they couldn’t make it happen. 

“We’re hurting ourselves,” Lanning said. “The fourth quarter, we had three fumbles offensively, and that’s obviously not going to win you games. Turnovers aren’t going to win you games. We’d start drives, we’d move the ball well, and we just couldn’t finish it.”

The ISU defense did its part in keeping the Wildcats at bay. Kansas State had three attempts to try and tie the game up before the fumble, and each time, the defense turned it away. 

But that strong performance may have led to some players’ thinking it was over before it really was. 

“I know I got myself thinking toward the end of the game if we make a few plays, we’ve got this game in the bag,” said linebacker Luke Knott. 

The loss is a microcosm of the season, one painted by an ISU inability to put teams away late and close out tight games with a win.

“It’s very frustrating because we know what we’re capable of as a team, and we know that we can compete in the Big 12,” Lanning said. “We just have to find ways to finish games. Right now, we’re not finishing games.”