Game Report: Iowa State 9, Iowa 6

BY THE NUMBERS

8 – Number of dropped passes by Iowa receivers, tight ends and backs

6 – Consecutive trophy games lost by Iowa

24 – Total margin of defeat in those six games

KNOTT'S LANDING

Iowa State linebacker Jake Knott will be known for more in his Cyclone career than for just an interception that sealed a 9-6 win against his cross-state rival.

But the first-team all-Big 12 linebacker cemented his status as an all-time great Saturday with the play of a lifetime.

Iowa trailed 9-6 and faced first-and-10 from the ISU 32-yard line inside of 90 seconds left. As Iowa QB James Vandenberg dropped back, Knott dropped into coverage. Vandenberg tried to air the ball over Knott to tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz at the 20-yard line. Knott tipped the ball up with his right hand and pulled it down for the pick with 1:11 left.

“It was a play they had run earlier," Knott said. "Kind of knew it might come if they ran a certain way. So it came with film study and me and (ISU linebacker) A.J. (Klein) were talking before the play. Kind of got lucky he didn't get more air on it because it would have been a big play for them.”

LEGENDARY PLAY

Had Knott not tipped the ball, Fiedorowicz likely catches it and isn't touched by ISU safety Jacques Washington until reaching at least the 17-yard line. Iowa clearly could have been in field-goal range to tie the score and had enough time to score a game-winning touchdown.

“It was a great throw," Fiedorowicz said. "I thought it was coming right to me. (Knott) just happened to get one finger on it and popped it straight up to himself and made a great play.”

Iowa State Coach Paul Rhoads said it was a play "in which legends are made in.”

“Jake Knott made that kind of play in a series that will have him go down in history for that play he made,” Rhoads said. “Who knows how he high he was, what the level of the ball was when he made the play. But to do that after 59 minutes of football, with our backs against the wall, momentum clearly in their favor, then to have the presence of mind to settle and find it and then intercept it, you don't make better plays than that in this game."

COMEBACKER THWARTED

Iowa took over at its 10-yard line with 1:56 left. After a 7-yard Vandenberg scramble and two incompletions, Iowa faced fourth-and-3 at its 17. Vandenberg then found Keenan Davis open for a 39-yard gain to push the ball to midfield.

Vandenberg then passed twice to running back Damon Bullock out of the backfield for gains of 10 and 12 yards, respectively. That put the ball on the ISU 32 before Knott's interception.

"The ball can't be thrown. We're in field-goal range," Vandenberg said. "There's no excuse for it. That ball's got to go out of bounds or down to a back, anybody but into traffic."

REPORT CARD

D (Iowa) – I assume the empty trophy case stays in the locker room.

• Marc Morehouse

A-minus (ISU)/C-minus (Iowa) – Iowa State keeps the Cy-Hawk. Iowa still has four empty traveling-trophy cases.

• Mike Hlas

C (Iowa) – Iowa receivers dropped eight more passes than Jake Knott.

• Scott Dochterman

B (ISU) –  The defense shined brightly, but the offense had chances to put the game away and didn't, primarily because of four turnovers.

• Rob Gray

BIG-PLAY MORRIS

Iowa linebacker James Morris produced his own interception midway through the fourth quarter that kept Iowa in the game.

Iowa State faced third-and-goal from the Iowa 7 and ISU QB Steele Jantz threw directly to Morris, who was standing on the goal line in front of intended receiver Aaron Horne. Morris returned the ball 49 yards to give the Hawkeyes the ball at midfield with 3:23 left in the game.

"I think they were throwing a slant," Morris said. "I didn't see who it was, but I saw my guy leave my zone and I took a look at the quarterback's eye and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time."

"I tried to look off the linebacker and he went initially but when I went back to Aaron, he just made a great play," Jantz said. "He went really fast, and I knew I had to fit it in there. He just made a great play. He reacted faster than I anticipated and made a great catch."

DROP IT LIKE IT'S HOT

Iowa's receivers dropped as many passes (eight) as freshman punter Connor Kornbrath had punts.

Fiedorowicz dropped two passes, as did Bullock and Kevonte Martin-Manley. Fullback Mark Weisman dropped a pass at the goal line that would have scored and wide receiver Don Shumpert dropped a pass on fourth-and-10 with just over 3 minutes left.

"The whole day we dropped passes as a group," Fiedorowicz said. "That's tight ends' and receivers' fault."

"We all drop balls," said Iowa wide receiver Keenan Davis, who did not drop a pass. "It's human nature."

TOUCHDOWN LOST

Iowa trailed by six points late in the third quarter and faced 3-and-7 from the ISU 12 when Vandenberg tossed to Davis in the left flat. Davis tiptoed up the left sideline and into the end zone for an apparent touchdown. But replay overruled the score and Iowa had the ball at the ISU 3-yard line. A pair of runs and an incompletion forced the Hawkeyes to kick a field goal

"That's a makeable situation that we didn't get it done," Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said.

DEFENDER OF THE FAITH

Jantz now has won back-to-back games against the Hawkeyes. Jantz was sharp early, completing his first seven passes. But he slowed afterward, throwing two interceptions. He completed 24-of-36 passes for 241 yards.

"To start off there are two things that I want to say: The first is praise God and the second is defense," Jantz said.

TROPHY TALK

Iowa has lost its last six trophy games, dating to a 31-30 defeat against Wisconsin in 2010. The Hawkeyes have dropped two straight to both Iowa State and Minnesota.

The six losses have come by a total of 24 points. Among Iowa's traditional rivals -- Wisconsin, Iowa State, Minnesota -- Iowa's five losses have come by a total of 11 points. The other trophy loss came to Nebraska, 20-7, last year in the inaugural Heroes Game.

HITCHING A RIDE

Iowa linebacker Anthony Hitchens finished with a game-high 19 tackles, seven more than Morris and 10 more than ISU's leader, Durrell Givens.

Hitchens, a junior, made his second career start for Iowa.

"I wasn't even counting them, I wasn't even thinking about tackles," Hitchens said.

QUOTABLE

"I think going into the football game, we've fully understood that this would be a 60-minute affair. I think when you approach it with that mindset that there's going to be a lot of momentum swings and you're going to have to respond, which our kids did, you've got a chance to stick around and never have your head up in the clouds and never have it in the sand, either. I think that's the way we played."

-- ISU Coach Paul Rhoads

UP NEXT

Iowa (1-1) plays host to Northern Iowa (1-1) on Saturday. The Hawkeyes have won 14 straight against UNI, dating to 1899. The Panthers won the inaugural meeting 11-5 in 1898.

Iowa State (2-0) plays host to Western Illinois (2-0) next Saturday in the Cyclones' final non-conference game this season.