Iowa State fans rush to the field as Cyclones win 29-21 over Kansas State Wildcats in the NCAA football at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
AMES — Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht took a wait-and-see approach. He said he might “peek” at his phone to see how No. 19 BYU was doing against Houston in an all-important Saturday nightcap after his 18th-ranked Cyclones’ 29-21 win over No. 24 Kansas State on senior night at a frost-framed Jack Trice Stadium.
But that’s it. His seniors deserved to be the center of attention after helping lead ISU (10-2, 7-2 Big 12) to its first 10-win season in program history — and fourth triumph over the Wildcats (8-4, 5-4) in the past five meetings.
“This team deserves what we did tonight,” the sophomore playcaller said. “The seniors deserve what we did tonight. People are gonna remember these seniors for a long time, because that 10-win season, it’s never been done, so this night’s for them.”
One of those seniors, wide receiver Jaylin Noel, appreciated the sentiment, but couldn’t resist the urge to scoreboard watch. Not when the stakes are this high. Not with what he and the relatively short list of seniors have enjoyed and endured during four (or more) seasons as a Cyclones.
“Oh, I’ll be watching it,” said Noel, who joined fellow senior Jayden Higgins in surpassing 1,000 receiving yards this season on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Becht in the second quarter. “It means a lot. Obviously it’s not guaranteed yet, but if it does happen and we get to go to the Big 12 championship it’s just going to show all the work this team’s put in throughout the year. Nobody’s given up. Nobody’s folded up their tents — even after the two losses in a row. To be able to bounce back and win three games in a row, and get to that 10-win threshold, it means a lot.”
It didn’t, as ISU head coach Matt Campbell routinely says, come easy. The Cyclones turned a pair of Kansas State fumbles in the first half into two touchdown drives that spanned 30 or fewer yards. ISU never trailed, but saw 10-point leads shaved to three-point edges twice before sealing the victory with a blocked field goal, a safety, and a final stand when the Wildcats’ Avery Johnson tried in vain to rally his team from deep in its own territory in the closing seconds.
“This is how you have to win at Iowa State,” said Campbell, whose team could play for a league title for the second time in his nine seasons at the helm. “You’ve gotta out tough people. You’ve gotta be the toughest mentally, and the toughest team that you can possibly be, and you’ve gotta be able to do the little things really well here. There’s never gonna be another way to do it, and if there is, God bless ‘em, whoever comes next, but the reality for us of being a tough, physical football team with a great mindset to go play as a team and for each other, I still believe that’s the way to win here.”
Becht completed just 13 of 35 passes for a career-low 137 yards and a pair of touchdown passes to Noel and Higgins. He didn’t turn the ball over and also rushed for 35 yards and a touchdown while convert on four of five fourth down situations.
“Rocco is a great leader ands for him to really just want to celebrate the seniors, it means the world to me,” said Noel, who has combined with Higgins for 2,081 receiving yards and 15 touchdown catches this season. “All year, he’s been a brother by my side, making sure I’m OK along the way, and vice versa. … I wouldn’t want anybody else as my quarterback.”
Campbell wouldn’t want anybody other than Jon Heacock to be his defensive coordinator, either. The Cyclones’ defense held the Wildcats nine points below their scoring average and linebacker Jacob Ellis recorded a 22-yard sack of Johnson that turned into a safety because of an intentional grounding call in the end zone. It was the only sack of the game for ISU, which won the turnover battle three-to-zero.
Cornerback Darien Porter also recorded the fifth blocked kick of his career when Kansas State attempted a 21-yard field goal midway through the third quarter — another “little” play that made a big difference to extend the Cyclones’ historic run this season.
“Being able to do something that hadn’t been done here as a senior class, that’s something that we set out as our mission before the season started,” Porter said. “So being able to accomplish that, it’s been great.”
