David Montgomery gets Iowa State offense going in win over UNI

AMES - Halftime approached and the Iowa State football team was still searching for answers.

Holding a 14-10 lead against Northern Iowa without an offensive touchdown was a fortunate spot to be in, but there needed to be more.

That's when running back David Montgomery made himself a challenge.

'Coach (Matt) Campbell really harps and tells me that I can be a catalyst in this program and I can really help everybody around me,” Montgomery said after the Cyclones' 42-24 win Saturday night. 'I just try to make my energy contagious.”

After the Panthers (0-1) trimmed their deficit to 14-10, they held a 207-63 advantage in total yards and the Cyclones (1-0) were 0-for-4 on third downs. That's when quarterback Jacob Park got things going through the air.

Completions of 13, 22 and 8 yards went to Marchie Murdock, Trever Ryen and Hakeem Butler to set up Montgomery 29 yards from the end zone. The shifty sophomore hit creases, danced around defenders and ran through defensive backs on three straight plays to get the ISU offense in the end zone and give the Cyclones some juice before the break.

'Oh, pretty special,” Campbell said. 'That guy plays at a different level sometimes. I thought he was huge. He kind of gave us some energy and emotion when we needed it offensively in the football game.

'I couldn't say more about David Montgomery and what he stands for, how he runs the ball, how he goes to work day in and day out.”

Montgomery finished with 14 carries for 82 yards and two scores while Iowa State rushed for 134 yards as a team. Simply put, the offensive performance, particularly in the second half, just looked different than last year's matchup when the Cyclones ran for just 51 yards all game.

The defense carried the day with defensive scores by Willie Harvey and Kamari Cotton-Moya and was buoyed further by junior Brian Peavy's interception along the sideline. Joel Lanning made his debut at linebacker, recording seven tackles with a hurry. There is enough, though, that Campbell wants to see cleaned up this week.

'I thought a little bit we got antsy and tried to make some things happen and tried to jump some routes and they were able to get behind us,” Campbell said. 'We'll evaluate it, see what that looks like and may not look like, but their kids certainly did make some big plays.”

Other than an interception near the end of the first half, Park was crisp and was 27-for-35 passing for 271 yards and two touchdowns.

Butler, who was highly spoken of in fall camp, was the second-leading pass catcher with seven receptions for 75 yards and a touchdown. Murdock had three catches for 19 yards and a score while Ryen had six catches for 55 yards. Park, we know, has plenty of options on the outside and senior wide receiver Allen Lazard has some teammates that can take the pressure off him.

Lazard, meanwhile, had eight catches for 108 yards and broke three ISU records. He passed Todd Blythe as the all-time receptions leader (178), earned his fourth straight 100-yard receiving game and ninth overall 100-yard game.

Iowa State hosts Iowa (1-0) Saturday at 11 a.m. (ESPN2).

'It's a huge honor and everything,” Lazard said of the records. 'It just kind of shows how much work and dedication I've had for this program and how much this program means to me.

'It's all great, but I'm not worried about that. I'm just happy we won the game and I'm focused on Iowa now.”

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