Cyclones rally in second half to beat Kansas, 28-16

AMES, Iowa (AP) - The calm in the Iowa State locker room at halftime ran counter to what had just happened on the field.

Favored by 19 points over lowly Kansas, the Cyclones were trailing 9-7 and scuffling on offense. Time for a fiery speech?

Nope. Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads simply reminded his team what had to be done in the second half and the Cyclones responded, scoring three third-quarter touchdowns that stood up for a 28-16 victory on Saturday.

"It was just coming out and executing, executing, executing," running back Shontrelle Johnson said. "That's what coach talked about. Kansas came in ready to play and we kind of came out a little bit flat. But we made a few adjustments and got it going."

Josh Lenz returned a punt 62 yards for Iowa State's lone first half touchdown and Austen Arnaud ignited the third-quarter outburst with a 37-yard pass to Darius Darks as the Cyclones, coming off their first victory ever over Texas, built a 28-9 lead.

Given up for dead after allowing 120 points in consecutive losses to Utah and Oklahoma, Iowa State (5-4, 3-2 Big 12) now needs only one victory in its last three games to become bowl eligible for the second year in a row.

"Our goal all season was to get to a bowl game, win a bowl game," tight end Collin Franklin said. "It's in our minds, but at the same time, we've done a good job so far focusing on the task at hand and focusing on the game that week.

"You're not going to be able to get to a bowl game if you don't do that."

Keeping their focus this week shouldn't be hard. The Cyclones host No. 14 Nebraska next Saturday.

Kansas (2-6, 0-4), meanwhile, continues to struggle under first-year coach Turner Gill and lost its 11th straight Big 12 game.

The Jayhawks, down to third-stringer Quinn Mecham at quarterback because of injuries, showed some spark in taking their 9-7 lead on Jacob Branstetter's field goals of 34, 42 and 38 yards. They couldn't maintain it, but still came out looking better than their three previous games, in which they were outscored 159-24.

"I thought our team made some progress this game," Gill said. "Our guys came out and continually played hard. I thought they did some good things. The defense continued to play hard. I thought our offense did some good things in the circumstance that Quinn Mecham had his first start."

Iowa State managed only five first downs in the opening half and got on the scoreboard only through Lenz's spectacular punt return, the first by an ISU player for a score since 2006.

Lenz wove his way across the field after catching the ball at his own 38, then finally found a wall of blockers and tightroped down the left sideline to the end zone.

"Yes, that was a letdown," Gill said. "We let him get outside and missed a couple of tackles and that's the way it goes. They made a play and we didn't."

The touchdown fired up the crowd, but did nothing for the Cyclones' listless offense. They failed to convert on two tries after facing third-and-2 at the Kansas 37 and the Jayhawks drove 42 yards to get Branstetter's third field goal as time expired in the half.

But it all turned in the second half.

The Arnaud-to-Darks hookup put the ball on the KU 25 and five plays later, Alexander Robinson burst in from the 2 for a 14-9 lead. Robinson topped 100 yards for the second straight week and went over 3,000 for his career, finishing with 117 in 17 carries.

A sack of Mecham forced a Kansas punt on the next series and the Cyclones drove 89 yards in 16 plays for another touchdown, a 3-yard plunge by Jeff Woody. Iowa State had more first downs on that drive (6) than it managed in the entire first half.

Johnson left three defenders on the ground grasping air during a 33-yard touchdown run that made it 28-9 late in the third quarter.

"It looked like he hurt a couple of people - without touching them," Rhoads said.

Mecham, who had thrown only one pass prior to Saturday, went 22 for 33 for 149 yards, one touchdown and one interception - a leaping grab by Jake Knott that set up Johnson's TD. Kansas didn't get its lone touchdown until Mecham tossed a 5-yard pass to James Sims with 7 seconds left.

"It was a step in the right direction on that last drive," Mecham said.

Arnaud finished 16 of 26 for 168 yards and no interceptions after going just 4 for 10 in the first half. Iowa State finished with 400 total yards - 278 in the second half.

Robinson ran his career rushing total to 3,088 yards, which ranks fourth in school history.

"It was a tale of two halves," Arnaud said. "I think there was a little nervous energy coming off the big win last week. We came out flat on offense. The defense was doing their part. They kept us in the game in the first half. They did their part and we didn't."