Cyclones Beat Gophers 14-13 in Insight Bowl

TEMPE, Ariz. - Bowl champions once again.

Coach Paul Rhoads capped his first year as Iowa State's head coach with a nail-biting 14-13 victory over Minnesota last night in the Insight Bowl.

The Cyclones finished the season 7-6, their first winning season in four years and first bowl victory since 2004.

As was the case much of the season, it wasn't pretty, but it was effective. Rhoads got a Gatorade shower as the final seconds ticked off the clock and held high another trophy to take back with him to Ames.

“My wife asked me before I was leaving the hotel what kind of game do you think it is going to be?” Rhoads said. “I said it would be a white-knuckler for all 60 minutes. That certainly came true. Our football team showed a lot of grit.”

The Cyclones scored two touchdowns in the final 4 1/2 minutes of the first half and hung on in the second half thanks to its defense. After cornerback Ter'ran Benton picked up a Minnesota fumble and the offense ground away the final few minutes of clock, the cardinal and gold heavy crowd of 45,090 at Sun Devil Stadium was able to celebrate.

Happy New Year.

Quarterback Austen Arnaud had an up-and-down evening. He finished 19 of 26 passing for 216 yards and a touchdown. He rushed for 76 more and a score, but had four turnovers - two interceptions, two fumbles - that put the onus on ISU's defense to hold steady.

With Iowa State clinging to a one-point lead late in the game, Arnaud helped salt away the final 4:04 and secure the win. He celebrated after his 2-yard run gave ISU its final first down.

“I'm a confident kid,” Arnaud said. “That's why I play quarterback and that's why I signed up to do this job. It's not easy. People have these games likes this every Saturday and Sunday. It's unfortunate I had one today, but a win is a win is a win.”

Minnesota (6-7) managed only a field goal in the first half but came out firing after halftime.

The Golden Gophers finished with 434 yards of offense, 286 of those in the second half. Adam Weber's 23-yard pass to tight end Nick Tow-Arnett set up by a 40-yard fake punt pass was their first offensive touchdown in 11 quarters.

A 21-yard field goal by Eric Ellestad a few minutes later in the third quarter trimmed ISU's 14-3 halftime lead ever further.

“They were attacking us and playing sound football,” said defensive back Michael O'Connell. “We were hanging in there. It was bend don't break.”

ISU tailback Alexander Robinson had 137 yards rushing, his sixth 100-yard rushing game of the season. He moved into 10th place on the Cyclones' career rushing chart with 2,363 career yards.

“There was some talking out there because I've known him for a long time,” said Minnesota safety Kim Royston, a childhood friend of Robinson's. “He had a great game.”

Arnaud's 9-yard touchdown run gave ISU a 7-3 second-quarter lead.

He followed that with a season-best 89-yard scoring drive capped by a 38-yard catch in the end zone by Jake Williams. Williams finished with six catches for a career-high 83 yards.

After three seasons of futility, Rhoads has earned back a good measure of respect for the program.

Even more was earned with last night's bowl victory.

“The program has credibility based on what we've done thus far, what we set out to do and what we accomplished,” Rhoads said.

- By Eric Petersen, Gazette Correspondent