Iowa State football falls to Texas Tech on 62-yard field goal

LUBBOCK, Texas — Iowa State played one of the worst first halves of the season, digging itself a 21-point hole Saturday at Texas Tech.

The Cyclones clawed their way back to a 38-38 tie in the second half with a minute left, but a 62-yard field goal by Jonathan Garibay won it for the Red Raiders, 41-38.

Texas Tech (6-4, 3-4 Big 12) started redshirt freshman quarterback Donovan Smith. That decision proved to be a good one as Smith played well throughout the game, completing 25 of 32 passes for 322 yards and three touchdowns and adding 50 yards rushing.

On his first drive, he led Texas Tech to a touchdown.

Iowa State (6-4, 4-3) responded with an Aric Horne interception, followed up by a Xavier Hutchinson catch at the 1-yard line. That set up a Breece Hall touchdown run — his 22nd straight game with a rushing touchdown. That was the last positive thing to happen for Iowa State until late in the first half.

On the ensuing Texas Tech drive, Iowa State had the Red Raiders in a fourth-and-6 from the ISU 39-yard line. Smith went deep down the seam to Myles Price for a touchdown.

After a Brock Purdy interception, Texas Tech capitalized by marching down the field on a 15-play, 70-yard drive that took 8:51. The drive ended with a Smith touchdown pass to Erik Ezukanma.

On the next Texas Tech possession, the Red Raiders scored in just three plays, going 71 yards. The touchdown was once again Smith to Ezukanma.

Iowa State stopped the bleeding just before the half with a nice two-minute drill capped off by a 17-yard Hall touchdown run with 1:11 left in the half.

But Texas Tech ripped the band-aid back off and marched down the field for the fifth time in the first half. Garibay kicked a 45-yard field goal as the half ended to make it a 31-14 game.

Texas Tech outgained Iowa State, 326-131, before the break, but the ISU defense turned things around in the second half.

The Cyclones bowed up for the first time all game and stopped Texas Tech on two straight drives when the Red Raiders attempted to go for it on fourth down.

After the second Texas Tech turnover on downs, the Cyclones marched down the field in seven plays and 75 yards. The drive was completed with a Purdy 9-yard touchdown pass to tight end Charlie Kolar, who was wide open in the back of the end zone.

Iowa State’s defense then forced a three-and-out and the offense followed it up with another seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. And if that wasn’t enough deja vu, it was capped off once again by a Purdy-to-Kolar touchdown; this time, it was a 12-yard touchdown pass.

Texas Tech stemmed the Iowa State tide with a 13-yard SaRodorick Thompson touchdown to make it a 10-point game with 11 minutes left.

Iowa State was driving to answer Texas Tech’s score and Purdy had completed 12 straight passes. But in the red zone, it appeared Purdy threw his third interception of the game with 7:25 left. After review, it was ruled an incomplete pass; then an excessive celebration penalty on Texas Tech gave Iowa State the ball first-and-goal on the 4-yard line.

After two false starts, Purdy found Hall on a check down and Hall made several Red Raiders miss and scored a 14-yard receiving touchdown to make it a three-point game.

The Cyclones defense stood tall once again and forced a Texas Tech three-and-out to give Iowa State a chance to tie or take the lead.

Iowa State went on a 15-play, 68-yard drive that ended with an Andrew Mevis 29-yard field goal to tie the score with a minute left.

Smith made the most out of that minute and led Texas Tech to the Iowa State 44-yard line. That’s when Garibay made the 62-yard field goal to end Iowa State’s comeback attempt and put an end to Iowa State’s goal of making it back to the Big 12 championship game.

Purdy had 356 yards and three touchdowns on 32-of-42 passing. He also had the two interceptions.

Hutchinson and Kolar were Purdy’s favorite targets. Hutchinson had eight catches for 112 yards and Kolar had eight catches for 76 yards and two touchdowns. Kolar also had three catches that resulted in third-down conversions and one that resulted in a fourth-down conversion.

Hall was bottled up pretty much the entire game. He had just 51 yards on 18 rushing attempts, but he did have the three total touchdowns.

Iowa State travels to Norman, Okla., next week to play Oklahoma.

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