Rob Gray

Rocco Becht has thrown at least one touchdown pass in his first eight starts as Iowa State’s quarterback — a feat matched only by Kyle Kempt in 2017. But even tough Becht helped guide the Cyclones to a convincing, 30-18, win at Baylor on Saturday, the redshirt freshman provided a blunt assessment of what he found lacking in his performance.

“It wasn’t perfect.” That’s what Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell said after his team’s 30-18 win over Baylor to spoil Homecoming in Waco Saturday afternoon.

The Bears have been blown out in their two conference losses to Texas and Texas Tech. So there’s discontent there and if Iowa State can start strong, it will be interesting to see if Baylor’s resilient enough to punch back. Here are three keys.

Iowa State wide receiver Jayden Higgins smiles effortlessly because he knows something no foe seems to recognize: He can’t be stopped when enough throws are launched into his orbit.

Preferred walk-on Caleb Bacon worked his way onto special teams units as a redshirt freshman last season and isn’t yet a starter at linebacker. Bacon is, however, a key rotational player — and leads Iowa State with 5.5 tackles for loss.

Beating the Bears on the road for the first time since 2017 would go a long way toward determining if surging Iowa State can retain realistic hopes for achieving a top-three Big 12 finish as the regular season shrinks to a final four-game sprint to the finish.

Iowa State seeks to accomplish a rare feat on Saturday: Win at Baylor. Here are five Baylor players to watch.

Five hundred and ninety-two days unfolded between Tre King’s last basketball game for Eastern Kentucky and his first for Iowa State. Now just over two weeks separates the Cyclones’ sixth-year senior forward from his first and last full season in cardinal and gold — and to say he’s jazzed up about the prospect would be the epitome of an understatement.

Coach Matt Campbell said the Cyclones are ‘starting to mature’ heading into the bye week with a 3-1 record in the Big 12.

Stevo Klotz’s 13-yard scoring grab emphatically sealed the winning outcome for the Iowa State Cyclones, who scored 27 of the final 30 points and played turnover-free football for the second consecutive game. ISU spoiled Cincinnati’s Homecoming game that played out before 38,193 rain-soaked fans.

For the Iowa State and Cincinnati football teams, losing Saturday’s game means hopes for attaining bowl eligibility start to fade from quite possible to somewhat unlikely. Here are three keys for the Cyclones.

After rushing for 99 yards against TCU, Eli Sanders hopes to keep helping the Cyclones’ formerly dormant running game continue to progress Saturday at Cincinnati.

Kelsey Joens boldly charted the path she hopes to trace throughout her Iowa State career. “I want (to be) Big 12 freshman of the year,” Joens said during ISU’s media day event on Thursday.

Malik Verdon’s size and athleticism provided a critical component to a Cyclone defense intent on building off last weekend’s solid second-half performance against TCU

Iowa State point guard Tamin Lipsey knew one area of his otherwise well-rounded game needed a lot of work, so the sophomore-to-be honed in on improving his jump shot in the offseason.