Hlas: No Iowa State hangover, just a Kansas headache

AMES — This wasn't a showcase game, one that kept Iowa State in the national headlines after winning at Oklahoma a week earlier.

It couldn't be. The opponent was Kansas, the Big 12's football foot wipe. The Jayhawks are 4-61 in the conference since 2010.

Yet, you heard predictable pregame concerns about the Cyclones that you hear about not-so-fabled programs that pull off a big upset. Will they fully show up for the next game?

Iowa State (4-2) showed up Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium, giving Kansas a 45-0 throttling. It held the Jayhawks to a mere 105 yards, the fewest it had allowed in a league game since 1963.

Kansas is still Kansas, though it did come here averaging 458 yards a game. But in a game-long rain at a contest that started 40 minutes late because of the weather, the Jayhawks were stifled by an ISU defense that has made strides from Game 1 to the season's midway mark.

The score at Oklahoma was 38-31, but the Cyclones held the Sooners to 110 yards and seven points after halftime.

'The defense feels like it's definitely overlooked,' said Cyclone running back David Montgomery, who rushed for three touchdowns. 'Those boys got that chip on their shoulder. They want to be on that stage where they're recognized. I love those guys.'

Iowa State's offense was unremarkable this day, but cashed five short-field situations and didn't give the ball away. The season's turnover total is Opponents 11, Cyclones 5.

The play of the day featured a Cyclone wide receiver and cornerback. The receiver, senior Trever Ryen, caught a Kansas punt at the ISU 32 and eluded the first Jayhawk to get near him. With KU safety Emmanuel Moore then bearing down on Ryen at an angle, Cyclone 170-pound corner De'Monte Ruth delivered a flying blindside block on the 200-pound Moore, blasting him to the soggy turf.

Ryen then tore from the left hash marks to the right sideline, followed the rest of his blocking, and went 68 yards for a late first-quarter score to make it 14-0.

'I just laid my block,' said Ruth. 'It was a touchdown from there. It skyrocketed us. That was the big play. That blew the doors wide open.'

'Trever Ryen,' Montgomery said, 'is one of the fastest white persons I've ever seen in my life.'

Ryen was a sprinter for Iowa State's track squad last spring. The guess here is he's the fastest person of any race, creed, color or gender to ever come from Ida Grove.

That return for a score wasn't all Ryen did on special teams Saturday. ISU punted on its first possession, but Kansas' Steven Sims fumbled Colin Downing's kick, and Ryen recovered the ball near midfield.

Field position went the Cyclones' way the rest of the game, largely because Downing had some great punts and Ryen dashed downfield to down one at the KU 4 and another at the 1.

'He's so fast,' Montgomery said. 'I can't catch him.

'If anybody on this team will try to outwork you or will outwork you, it's Trever Ryen. I'm grateful and honored to be on the same team as him.'

The Cyclones had the Big 12's Offensive (quarterback Kyle Kempt) and Defensive (linebacker Joel Lanning) Players of the Week last week. On Monday, they surely will have the league's Special Teams honoree in Ryen.

So here sits Iowa State at 2-1 in the Big 12 for the first time since 2002. Here sits a team that's 4-2 after going 3-9, 2-10, 3-9 and 3-9 the previous four years. But chest-pounding, the Cyclones aren't. And can't, not with six serious challenges left.

'There's still mistakes out there, still things we need to do to be a better team,' Lanning said.

Lanning had 10 tackles, and 2.5 tackles for losses. From the quarterback position, he had eight keepers. He had back-to-back third-quarter carries for 10 and 13 yards.

Had Montgomery thrown a better pass on a second-quarter trick play, Lanning would have added a reception to his two-way stat pack. So there's a lot of meat left on the bone around here.

Said Montgomery: 'We've got dogs on this team that have the type of mentality 'It's not enough. It's never gonna be enough.''