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    • Cyclones take advantage again in victory over Utah
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    Cyclones take advantage again in victory over Utah

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    SALT LAKE CITY − There’s no doubt that Iowa State’s season will be defined by how it ends.

    Saturday night against Utah, however, the Cyclones ran the risk of things ending in a different direction that no one in the program would have wanted.

    The hopes and dreams of the Cyclones’ Big 12 title game, and possibly everything that would come after, weighed heavily on the final drives of the game at Iowa State and Utah.

    The Big 12 Conference is expected to run through all possible scenarios and tiebreakers and officially release it on Sunday, but the Cyclones need to win to have any chance of punching their ticket to Dallas.

    “Everyone counted us out, I think, two weeks ago,” Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said. “We haven’t wavered for a moment. We haven’t wavered. We just keep fighting, so we will be defined by who we are at the end of the football season, and we have four more quarters to help define that. We look ahead to the opportunity.”

    Trailing by four points due to back-to-back Utah touchdowns, the Cyclones found themselves in a familiar high-pressure situation with less than six minutes remaining.

    Iowa State responded by starting the touchdown drive, a crucial sequence that ended with a Carson Hansen three-yard touchdown run on a 26-yard halfback pass from Hansen to Gabe Burkle.

    Utah managed to cross midfield and attempted a field goal to save the game, but Cole Becker’s 54-yard kick was no good, and Iowa State hung on for a 31–28 win.

    “Obviously we know the stakes are high, but every game has been important to us this season. We’re approaching the game like it’s a playoff game,” senior Darien Porter said. “We just have to continue with our process, make corrections if necessary and then get ready to play.”

    What was going through the Cyclones’ minds during those crucial final possessions?

    Hansen’s pass and run ended a Cyclone drive in the fourth quarter

    Campbell stirred the pot from the sideline to surprise the Utah defense and call the halfback pass.

    “We kind of had that in our back pocket and why not, you know?” Campbell said. “Put it on the line and let’s see what happens, and we did. Carson – great throw – and Gabe – great catch – and then to finish it off. At some point you have to take a little bit of a risk . and-2, the short distance situation, we played that part about four times for the short distance, so yes, you can put it all on the line.

    Hansen was responsible for 101 yards of offense and two rushing touchdowns, but his arm ended up in a crucial spot.

    “We’ve been working on it all week and it was just a great opportunity to be able to do this,” Hansen said. “Just a great opportunity to do it and the confidence in the coaches to be able to throw that thing, and I really appreciate the whole line for always having my back and protecting me.”

    The drive was also kept alive with a third-down carry by Rocco Becht, a third-down conversion by Jaylin Noel and a pair of receptions by Jayden Higgins.

    Higgins exceeded the 1,000-meter mark for the first time in his career. He also finished with a season-high 155 yards and a touchdown on nine receptions.

    “I don’t know why guys keep hanging out with him one-on-one because I’ll put it to him every time,” Becht said. “He’s just a dominant guy who can just go up there and make any play. I’m proud of that guy tonight because he had a great game and he needed that for his confidence, and he’s not going to lose that anytime soon go the way.”

    It was the fourth go-ahead start for the Iowa State offense in critical time this season. The Cyclones also put together late game-winning drives against Iowa and UCF.

    They also came through in the closing minutes of the Texas Tech game, but the Red Raiders cracked the Cyclone defense and answered back.

    “I think this season has shown that no matter how I play or what choice I make, when we go through adversity, I feel like I’ve just been able to keep playing my game, get on the field and score” , says Becht. of orchestrating those late game drives at quarterback. “I’m going to continue to do that, build on that and see what the future brings.”

    Utah crossed midfield, but the Iowa State defense remained ready to close out the game

    Everyone in Rice-Eccles Stadium was on the edge of their seats, and some Iowa State fans might have even thought, “Oh no, not again,” as Utah crossed midfield and gave brief flashbacks to the Texas Tech loss.

    “It was stressful, it came down to that last drive,” said sophomore Jack Sadowsky, who recovered a fumble earlier in the game. “I think everyone knew that we just had to take our hearts out and leave everything on the field, and I think that’s what we did. You can’t leave it to chance and luck, you just have to play with your heart, play for the man next to you, and everything will go the right way.

    Utah’s offense got a second wind when fourth-string quarterback Luke Bottari was thrown into the game after an injury to Isaac Wilson in the second half. He orchestrated Utah’s only touchdown-scoring drive, and he got the Utes moving on their final possession.

    Bottari made a number of completions for first downs, including a third-down throw to Zacharyus Williams to put the Utes in Cyclone territory.

    Their momentum was thrown back when Bottari was flagged for intentional grounding.

    They were able to gain a few yards back, but after a deep pass on third down went incomplete, Utah attempted the tying field goal attempt.

    It wasn’t good.

    “Emotionally drained, mentally fried,” Campbell said of the Utes’ final possession. “To be honest, I think we got ourselves into a bit of a situation. I thought coach (Jon) Heacock’s pressure at second was enormous, it got the ground (penalty).

    “On third down, we took the time to make sure we put ourselves in the best situation situationally to not let a quick throw go to the sideline. I wanted to see if they would be in a run formation or passing formation. They were in a passing formation, so we tried to do a great job of protecting the sideline and at the end of the day the kicker was just enough to finish the football game and the situation was good.”

    Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at [email protected]. To follow it on Twitter @erapay5.

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