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Flip and flop: Cyclones sent selves over the moon as Hawkeyes got lost in space
Iowa State didn’t accept a possibility of a total cave-in, digging itself from a 13-0 hole and leaving Iowa on the rocks
Sep. 7, 2024 8:40 pm, Updated: Sep. 8, 2024 9:16 am
IOWA CITY — The first time Iowa State got the ball Saturday, it was in the bad part of town. Namely, the 1-yard line in the earsplitting north end of Kinnick Stadium.
The Cyclones’ last offensive play ended 109 yards to the south when Kyle Konrardy’s 54-yard field goal soared between the uprights for a 20-19 victory.
Oh, the things that transpired between those two plays. How many items can you point to as things that helped the Hawkeyes destruct and self-destruct? A football field-full.
How much credit can you pass around the Iowa State roster? Enough to spread several layers on the Cyclones’ sideline.
That sideline, by the way, was full of ISU players jumping in glee after Iowa’s first play of the third quarter, a Darien Porter interception of a long Cade McNamara pass.
The Hawkeyes led 13-0. Porter’s pick seemed to send a needed power surge through his teammates, telling them there was a competitive football game left to be played instead of the first-half mess they had when they executed just one play for more than 7 yards.
Kyle Konrardy, a redshirt freshman from Dubuque, missed a 41-yard field goal on the first half’s final play, a fitting end to his team’s dismal half. The field seemed totally tilted the Hawkeyes’ way.
Except … Iowa had a first-and-goal at the ISU 1 and settled for three points, then had a first-and-goal at the ISU 3 and settled for three more points. Hmmm.
The Cyclones fired another blank on their first possession of the third quarter, but then came Porter’s pick. He used to play wide receiver for the Cyclones, but it’s tough to crack their lineup at that position with Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel doing what they do, and doing what they did here.
Iowa State moved 75 yards for a touchdown on its next possession, then answered an Iowa’s answer of a TD with an answer of its own to make it 19-14.
Noel caught a 30-yard pass from Rocco Becht to reach the Iowa 38 with 24 seconds left and his team down 19-17. Three plays later, a fellow who had never made a college field goal before Saturday crushed the Kick Heard Round the State.
Konrardy is No. 97 in the program, No. 1 for the next week (or longer) in Cyclone lore. Did he know that field goal was good when he struck it?
“Yes, sir,” he said. “Yes, sir.”
In so many ways, the Hawkeyes could have stashed this game in a fireproof, waterproof safe. They could so easily have given their fans yet another year to talk derisively about “Little brother.”
Instead, it was “Oh, brother!” Iowa’s offense, which looked like a major-college operation in the first half, had 19 passing yards after that. Iowa State had 205. Rocco Sock-o.
When a total cave-in seemed a realistic scenario, the Cyclones dug themselves out and ran to daylight.
“The real win is when you see young men respond to adversity,” Iowa State Coach Matt Campbell said.
The team that will swap spots in the national rankings with Iowa Monday is the Cyclones. The team that turtled, that tried to play out the clock with a lead in Hawkeyes-style was the Hawkeyes.
“This one is going to hurt for a while,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. Uh, yeah.
Do not for a moment deny the heart the Cyclones showed in the heart of hostility.
Noel, who went from 18 receiving yards at halftime to 133 at the end, called Kinnick “a beehive.” The honey, however, went back to Ames.
Konrardy’s memory of the immediate moments after his game-winner cleared the goal post?
“I just see a lot of face masks in my face.”
“I mean, I’m a little chill now. Once we get on that bus ride, it might be a little more fun.”
Only if you enjoy having an entire student body and fan base thank and praise you for how you stepped up and stepped out, and how you were surrounded by teammates who did likewise.
Iowa State gradually went from its 1-yard line to the moon. Iowa’s capsule had an inspiring liftoff but eventually returned to earth, empty.
Comments: mike.hlas@thegazette.com; (319) 398-8440.
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