Key players return from injury in home loss to No. 11 BYU

AMES — First, the good news: Iowa State saw a handful of key players return from injury in Saturday’s game against No. 11 BYU.

Now, the obvious bad news: That didn’t help the Cyclones avoid a litany of miscues in major moments in a once-promising, then-dispiriting 41-27 Homecoming loss to the Cougars at a sold-out Jack Trice Stadium.

“Our precision and detail — and I know it’s gonna be on repeat — (but) the reality of it is there was, again, a lot of really good football, and in every moment we had the opportunity to kind of break this thing open,” said ISU head coach Matt Campbell, whose team (5-3, 2-3 Big 12) was outscored 31-3 after taking a 24-10 lead late in the first half. “We kept them in the football game.”

But at least top tailback Carson Hansen and starting placekicker Kyle Konrardy were able to get back in the football game after missing one week and three weeks, respectively. Hansen didn’t play in the Oct. 11 loss at Colorado because of lingering effects from a concussion. Konrardy worked his way back from a hip injury and made field goals of 36 and 43 yards in his return. Hansen rushed for a career-high 152 yards on 16 carries and scored two touchdowns.

“The offensive line did a great job,” said Hansen, who scored his third and fourth rushing touchdowns of the season in defeat. “It was good to be back out there and with the guys. I hate watching it from home, so it’s good to be out there and with the guys, but we’ve just gotta refine things and get better for the next week.”

No one wants to talk about silver linings after ISU’s third straight loss, but here’s one anyway: The Cyclones have fielded a 150-plus yard rusher in each of the past two games. Hansen’s backfield mate, Abu Sama, rushed for 177 yards in the 24-17 loss to the Buffaloes — and added 63 yards on nine carries against the Cougars.

“We’ve just gotta continue to get the balls in our explosive players’ hands and let them go to work,” said ISU quarterback Rocco Becht, who notched his sixth career 300-plus yard passing game but also threw a career-high three interceptions in Saturday’s loss. “And that starts with me. I’ve gotta continue to give there ball to the best guys on the field and have them go out there and just do their thing.”

  Buy Photo

Konrardy was available for field goals, but not kickoffs. The latter continued to be an issue for the Cyclones, as a short kick fueled a big return that set BYU up with a first-and-10 at its own 40-yard line late in the first half. ISU led, 24-10, but Cougars quarterback Bear Bachmeier drive his team 60 yards in 1:20 to make the score 24-17 with 25 seconds remaining before the break — and begin his team’s 31-3 string of dominance on the scoreboard.

“That was certainly a challenge,” Campbell said. “And then you got a short field and the inability a couple times, I think — we had two opportunities to really get off the field there, at least, hold them to a field goal. We weren't able to do that.”

Therein lies the next challenge. The 2024 Cyclones enjoyed unprecedented success en route to a Big 12 title game appearance and program-record 11 wins be being able to execute the winning plays in the game’s most crucial moments. This team has struggled mightily in so-called “crunch time," but is capable of regaining its prowess in “precision and detail” areas — even as formerly dim hopes of reaching the conference championship game for the second straight time are all but mathematically dashed.

“Gotta start this next week (by) not thinking about those last three losses,” ISU linebacker Caleb Bacon said. “Just starting new. Starting fresh.”

Comments: robgray18@icloud.com