The game ball goes to ... Wally Burnham

  By Rob Gray

 Correspondent

 AMES - Twelve years.

That's how long it had been since Iowa State posted a Big 12 Conference shutout by rolling Baylor 41-0 - until Saturday.

When the Cyclones blanked Kansas 34-0 on the coldest night in Jack Trice Stadium history and the game ball went to …

ISU defensive coordinator Wally Burnham.

“It's hard to shut out a team in college football, especially in the Big 12,” said Cyclone linebacker Jeremiah George, who forced his first career fumble and padded his league-leading tackle total with 14. “So to get that done was a huge accomplishment.”

Don't cry hyperbole.

The Cyclones (2-9, 1-7) recorded the only shutout in the past two seasons of conference play.

You have to track back to Oct. 29, 2011 to find the last Big 12 goose egg - when Texas hammered the Jayhawks 43-0 at Austin.

That same weekend, ISU throttled Texas Tech 41-7 at Lubbock.

Yes, it's been that long.

“Shutouts just don't exist anymore,” Cyclone coach Paul Rhoads said. “You shut out anybody, you've played phenomenal defense and our guys did (Saturday). And Wally's the one that leads that charge.”

Kansas (3-8, 1-7) could run, but couldn't throw.

The Jayhawks totaled 187 yards on the ground, but managed to produce just 92 yards through the air.

They wouldn't stop trying, though - and quarterbacks Montell Cozart and Jake Heaps combined to go 11 of 31 passing.

Cozart was picked off by ISU's Jansen Watson in the end zone late in the first half and that was as close as Kansas would get to scoring six points.

“I was very happy for (Burnham) because he's had some very good defenses around here and this season's been very up and down.” George said. “We had a very good game against TCU (a 21-17 loss), a very good half against Oklahoma (10-10 at halftime, 48-10 loss) and then we go out there and do what we did and it doesn't look good from his standpoint. He's one of the better defensive coordinators I've been around and I've talked to people around the country about.”

The Cyclones' offense took notice of Burnham's superior scheme, too.

“To pitch a shutout, that's enough said for me,” said ISU running back Shontrelle Johnson, who scored his second rushing touchdown of the season in Saturday's win.

 IRVING REINSTATED*: Defensive tackle David Irving played Saturday despite facing a domestic assault charge stemming from a Nov. 13 incident involving the mother of his child.

Irving did not travel with the team for the previous week's 48-10 loss at Oklahoma and Cyclone coach Paul Rhoads said Irving had been suspended for that game - a disciplinary action consistent with the student-athlete code of conduct policy that had not been previously divulged.

Rhoads noted that a “through internal investigation by both the athletic department and the university” was completed prior to this week's game and it was determined Irving, a 6-7, 272-pound junior, should be allowed to return to the field.

For now, at least.

“Now, as the legal system works its way through, we reserve the judgement to change if we need to as that goes forward,” Rhoads added.

FISHER KING: ISU senior running back Jeff Woody chuckled as he told reporters the improbable story that may lead to walk-on senior receiver Ben Fisher riding around campus on a new motorcycle. “(He'd) never played a snap in his life and no one ever expected him to play a snap in his life,” Woody said. “And his dad said, ‘If you get in I'm going to buy you a motorcycle.' He convinced (coach) Shane Burnham to put him in on a kickoff and he had a tackle on his first and only play in college football. I don't know, it's moments like that - great night. Fans were awesome. It's four degrees at the end of the game and there were still 20,000 people in the stands. You can't thank the fans enough for all the support.”