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Despite an offensive explosion from Oklahoma State, Iowa State put up nearly 600 yards of total offense against the Cowboys defense as the Pokes lost up in Ames, 51-49.
With the loss, the Pokes fell to 5-3 on the season and 3-2 in Big 12 play.
“Obviously, a super disappointing one; just self-inflicted wounds like crazy,” Eric Morris said after the game. “We’ll start there: obviously, giving them two possessions in the first half was a huge deal. They did a nice job of keeping the ball away from us. The most disappointing thing about that is defensively, what [Iowa State] was able to do at will against us, obviously, super balanced and we didn’t make them one dimensional at all: they had a ton of explosive runs, they had explosive passes. And two, to put the nail in the coffin at the end on Halloween night, we have the most selfish penalty ever after we score a touchdown and go up and put our defense in a bad position. That falls on me, that falls on me as the head coach and I’ll get that fixed.”
With the game on the line and trailing 45-35 with just over 10:30 left in the ball game, on 4th and 3, Mestemaker kept it himself to try and pick up the first down. He spins around Beau Goodwin and reaches the ball forward as he’s completely extended and picks up the first down by an inch to extend the play.
Just a few plays later, Mestemaker had a streaking Wyatt Young down the middle of the field for a wide-open touchdown but dropped the pass. A few plays after that, Young caught a pass and battled his way to the one-yard line, where Caleb Hawkins got into the end zone one second later for his second rushing score of the game to make it 45-42 ISU.
On the very next drive, the Cowboys came up with one of their biggest stops of the game to force a fourth Cyclone punt. However, Mestemaker threw his first interception of the game, giving the Cyclones the ball at the OSU 29-yard line.
The defense held the Cyclones to a 29-yard field goal to give Mestemaker the offense another chance with 2:56 left on the clock. The Pokes proceeded to march all the way down the field and on 1st and 10 from the ISU 19-yard line, Hawkins rushes for five yards but the Cyclones are called for an unsportsmanlike call, putting the ball on the seven-yard line. Mestemaker recorded his fifth passing touchdown as Young walked into the end zone to give the Pokes a 49-48 lead with :53 second left.
An unsportsmanlike called on Young after the touchdown tacked on a 15-yard penalty on the ensuing kickoff, with ISU returning it to their 39-yard line. Jaylen Raynor completed a 33-yard pass on the first play of the drive, followed by three-straight runs by Aiden Flora for 14 yards and Kyle Konrardy hit a 34-yard field goal as time expired.
As an offense, the Cowboys combined for 533 yards of total offense, 323 passing and 210 yards on the ground. Quarterback Drew Mestemaker had a solid game as he went 27-of-42 for 323 yards with five touchdowns and one interception.
Running back Caleb Hawkins had a solid game as well as he rushed for 194 yards and two touchdowns and was great out of the backfield receiving with six catches for 81 yards and a touchdown.
Receiver Justin Bowick had a great game for the Pokes as he finished with seven catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns.
The Cowboy defense had a rough night against the Cyclones. They gave up 253 yards in the first half, 116 through the air and 137 on the ground. The Cyclones held the ball for just over 18 minutes of the first half, compared to just under 12 minutes for the Pokes, going into the half trailing the Cyclones 24-21.
While other things happened for the Pokes on both sides of the ball, kicker Sam Keltner missed his first field goal of the season in the first half, a 45-yarder.
The Cyclones outscored the Pokes 14-7 in the third quarter, while outgaining them 176-112. Time of possession was also a big point of concern for the Pokes as the Cyclones had the ball for nearly 11 of the 15 minutes.
The Cyclones finished the game with 581 yards of total offense, 309 through the air and 272 yards on the ground, while holding onto the ball for nearly 10 more minutes than the Pokes.
The Cowboys are back in action next Saturday as they’ll be back out on the road against Kansas State.
