Benton scoops up game-saver for ISU

TEMPE, Ariz. - Ter'ran Benton made the game-saving play late in Iowa State's 14-13 victory over Minnesota in last night's Insight Bowl.

Amidst the team's on-field celebration he took time to praise first-year coach Paul Rhoads and his willingness to take over a program that had lost 10 straight games and won just five games in two years under Gene Chizik.

“He could have taken any job, but he came here,” Benton said of Rhoads, the first rookie coach at ISU since George Veenker in 1931 to finish with a winning record. “What Coach Chiz didn't do and what Coach Rhoads did is he had belief in us. Even when we lost against Missouri, and when we lost against Kansas State and Kansas, Coach Rhoads never put his head down like Coach Chiz did last year. When we started losing game after game, Coach Chiz knew this was a program he didn't want to be at. I'm glad Coach Rhoads is here. He's a hell of a coach.”

Benton, playing his first game since breaking his leg in ISU's Oct. 24 win at Nebraska, scooped up quarterback MarQueis Gray's fumble at ISU's 15-yard line with about four minutes to play.

Gray took the snap from center and tried to run off the right side.

“He's hurting right now,” said Golden Gophers Coach Tim Brewster.

Benton picked the ball up after one bounce and nearly took it back the other way for a touchdown. ISU's offense ran out the clock from there.

“I'm pretty sure somebody stripped it,” Benton said. “The only thing I was looking at was my man. I saw the ball and I tried to take it to the house.”

Rhoads reunion

Among the thousands who made it here for the game were Kevin and Brenda Askland, friends and former neighbors of the Rhoads family during his stint as an assistant coach at ISU in the mid- and late-1990s.

The Asklands visited the family a few times at Rhoads' previous coaching stops at Pittsburgh and Auburn. They even watched over Rhoads' son, Jacob, when their second son, Wyatt, was being born.

“When he got to come back it was absolutely fantastic,” Brenda Askland said. “They are a great family.”

“For a first-year staff to go to a bowl game in the Big 12 Conference, you can't ask for any more than that,” said Kevin Askland.

Tearful goodbye

It was an emotional finish for ISU's senior class. Reggie Stephens watched the on-field trophy ceremony alone.

James Smith and Fred Garrin stood back and watched as tears welled in their eyes. Receiver Marquis Hamilton, one of the team's fifth-year senior, was all smiles.

“Are you crying?” Hamilton asked them.

Next season

ISU's Sept. 4 season-opener against Northern Illinois is likely to be moved to Thursday night, as has been the custom the last several years.

ISU ‘s non-conference schedule features home games with Northern Illinois, Utah and Northern Iowa. The Cyclones play Sept. 11 at Iowa.

By Eric Petersen