'Do or die' play kept things alive for Cyclones

By Rob Gray, Correspondent

AMES - A fateful fourth down and a stout Northern Iowa pass rush sent Steele Jantz scrambling, then sprinting.

The touted but green - and until then, erratic - Iowa State quarterback was running out of sideline with less than five minutes remaining in Saturday's wild 20-19 win over the Panthers, but hope remained.

He planted, reared back and heaved a pass across his body.

The Cyclones trailed 13-7, receiver Josh Lenz settled in beyond the goal line, then knelt inches from the sideline.

The throw hit him in the gut, he doubled over and kept ISU alive.

“It was do or die,” said Jantz, who connected on 15 of 37 passes before completing his last three - with the hoist to Lenz sparking a flurry of big plays from both teams in the closing minutes. “I was running out of room. I saw Josh and I gave him a shot and he made an amazing play. I give all the credit to him on that one.”

The Panthers responded immediately, with Tirrell Rennie hitting running back David Johnson for an 80-yard touchdown pass on the next play from scrimmage.

Thirteen seconds had elapsed between Lenz' jaw-dropping catch and Johnson's lightning-quick answer as ISU linebacker Jake Knott tried to tail him along the sideline.

Knott caught his breath, then watched as Jantz went back to work down 19-14 with 4:17 left.

“It's kind of like college football at its finest, I guess you could say,” said Knott, who led the Cyclones with 15 tackles, including 2.5 for loss. “It's one of those games that's fun to watch. I think it shows a lot of our offense that they could come back in the fourth quarter and really go down and make some plays like they did.”

The largest crowd ever assembled for an ISU home opener - announced at 54,672 - gasped, groaned and cheered as their team struggled, then shined in the final minutes.

Jantz threw three interceptions in the first three quarters. He completed his last three passes, including a team-best 32-yarder to Aaron Horne that set up his winning one-yard touchdown run with 40 seconds left.

“I had too many nerves at the beginning,” said Jantz, who ended up 18-of-40 for 187 yards. “I need to settle down more. One thing I learned about our team is they never gave up.”

The Panthers also fought to the end - and fell by one point in a game against Iowa State or Iowa for the third time in six years.

They saw two field goal attempts blocked in a 17-16 loss to the Hawkeyes in 2009 and fell 28-27 to the Cyclones in 2006 after a last-second 51-yard field goal try from Brian Wingert barely missed.

“I'm very proud of them because after (ISU) scored (on Lenz's catch) we came right back at them,” UNI coach Mark Farley said of Saturday's effort. “That's the sign of a great football team. It's what we came down here to do and we could have won the game. ... We didn't win because they had one great play.”