Ball finally bounces Cyclones’ way against Iowa in Trice, and they were ready to grab it

AMES — Prairie High in Cedar Rapids is 22 miles from Kinnick Stadium, but Gabe Burkle instead went westward and cast his lot here.

There can’t be an Iowa Hawkeyes fan who doesn’t wish Burkle had stayed close to home, but he chose Iowa State. He picked the Cyclones over Indiana, Kansas State and Michigan State. A hidden recruiting gem, he was not.

Here is Burkle with 10 catches through three games, a player in two straight wins over Iowa. Fellow tight end Benjamin Brahmer had the only touchdown reception in Iowa State’s 16-13 win over the Hawkeyes Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium, and already has 13 catches and three TDs this season.

Is this the new Tight End U., a title Iowa happily had hung on itself over the last decade with stars and studs at that position?

“I would say so,” Cyclone quarterback Rocco Becht said. “We had Charlie Kolar (now a Baltimore Raven) and Chase Allen. Those two guys really stepped up and paved the way for these guys.”

Saturday, Burkle made two huge third-down catches on the Iowa State fourth-quarter drive that went from its 10 to prime Kyle Konrardy field goal position. Which was 54 yards out.

That was nine yards closer than a field goal Konrardy made the week before against South Dakota, and the same distance from which he beat Iowa in the final seconds last year at Kinnick.

The first of Burkle’s two clutch grabs pretty much suggested the Cyclones would finish that drive with the winning points. When a great piece of luck is seized by talent at a critical moment, you feel charmed and the opponent feels snakebit.

It felt like something that seemingly always happened to Iowa State instead of for them in the previous six Iowa-ISU games here, all Hawkeye wins.

Snakebit? Not Matt Campbell’s program, not anymore. Not with three wins in the last four games against the Hawkeyes. Not with wins over high-quality foes Kansas State and Iowa before September was seven days old.

With the score 13-13 and 5:43 left in the game, Rocco Becht’s pass on third-and-4 from the ISU 27 was tipped by an Iowa defensive lineman.

Instead of “Uh oh,” it turned into “Wow!” The deflection went straight ahead where it hit off an outstretched hand of intended receiver Xavier Townsend. That carom sailed upward, over Hawkeye defensive back Jaylen Watson.

Behind Watson, Burkle leaped and twisted, with both arms high in the air. He made a clean catch for 17 yards, holding onto to the ball despite getting taking a hard pop from safety Koen Entringer. The chains moved and bad feelings started swirling in Hawkeye stomachs.

“It was a little bit of a blur,” Burkle said. “I would just say right place, right time for me being able to go up and make a catch. Yeah, right spot, right time.

Right player.

Four plays later on third-and-2 from Iowa 48, Becht made a nice catch for 10 yards on a pop pass. Four plays later, Konrardy kicked a 54-yard field goal with 1:52 left for the deciding score.

The most-competitive instate rivalry in major-college football added another white-knuckler to its history, and for once the home team’s fans here got to celebrate a win over Iowa in their own stadium and the Trice parking lots.

This was Iowa State’s first win over Iowa in Trice since 2011. A long time.

“You go to Ireland and you see almost 20,000 Iowa State fans that put up the money to do that,” Campbell said. “You know what this fan base has done for our football program over the course of our 10 years here. When there was no belief in Iowa State football, they gave you something to build on.

“To be able to give them some special moments, that was really important. We talked about that … to try to give them something to be really proud of, and hopefully we did that today.”

Campbell called Kansas State and Iowa “programs that for the last 30 to 40 years have stood for something.

“That’s what Coach (Kirk) Ferentz is about. Obviously what he’s about to do (become the Big Ten’s winningest all-time coach) is really special, and the respect that I have for coaches that have done it the right way to stand for what’s right is powerful.”

You win this game, you’ve beaten someone. You lose this game, you’ve lost to someone.

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