DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -After one of the most gut-wrenching defeats in Iowa State history – and that’s saying a lot – the Cyclones are trying to get over their heartbreak and salvage a season that was looking promising.
Iowa State was one routine extra point away from sending Saturday’s game against Kansas State into overtime. But Grant Mahoney’s kick was blocked, allowing the Wildcats to escape with a 24-23 win that was thrilling for them and utterly excruciating to the Cyclones.
Iowa State will try to bounce back when it plays at No. 16 Kansas (4-0) on Saturday.
“We’ll have to wait and see how they’ll handle it,” coach Paul Rhoads said Monday. “Their spirits were still down when we came to work yesterday. But our practice, although lacking some enthusiasm, was excellent.”
Iowa State (3-2, 0-1 Big 12) has seen its fair share of disappointments over the years. But this one would be hard to top.
ntum on their side. Kansas State roared back, though, and quarterback Grant Gregory’s 54-yard TD pass to Brandon Banks with 5:36 left gave the Wildcats a 24-17 lead that.
Given the Cyclones’ recent history, that lead seemed insurmountable.
But Rhoads, in his first season, has worked hard at changing Iowa State’s losing ways, and it appeared to pay off on the Cyclones’ final drive. Quarterback Austen Arnaud drove the Cyclones 64 yards in about a minute and Jake Williams capped the drive with a catch that will rank among the best of the season.,
Williams, flanked by two Kansas State defenders in the end zone, tipped the ball into the air and snagged it just before hitting the turf for a 23-yard touchdown that tied the game, pending the extra point, of course.
But with a kicker who had never missed a PAT, 47 for 47 in his career, that was a forgone conclusion – right? Wrong.
Mahoney’s kick was low and blocked by a leaping Emmanuel Lamur, sending an elated bunch of Cyclones into instant despair.
It was as though Lucy finally let Charlie Brown kick the ball – and Snoopy blocked it.
“I was in utter disbelief and shock,” Iowa State defensive lineman Nate Frere said after the game.
The good news for the Cyclones, though, is much of the improvement they had shown during an encouraging 3-1 start was evident against the Wildcats.
s own despite allowing a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns. The Cyclones held Kansas State to 15 first downs, including four through the air, and forced a pair of turnovers.
A big improvement over last season when Iowa State allowed at least 35 points in seven of eight Big 12 games, including 38 in a loss at Kansas State in the season finale.
The Cyclones, who were 111th in the nation in scoring defense in 2008, are 40th through five games this season.
Iowa State also got a boost from reserve running back Jeremiah Schwartz, a 232-pound bruiser who rushed for 76 yards in the first extended action of his career.
Schwartz got the nod because starter Alexander Robinson, who had racked up three straight 100-yard games while beginning to show glimpses of becoming the playmaker Iowa State has lacked for so long, aggravated a groin injury early in the game.
Rhoads said Robinson’s injury is improving, and it sounds as if he’ll play against the Jayhawks. But Schwartz’s strong effort against the Wildcats gave the Cyclones hope that they’ve found a complement to the speedy Robinson.
“Jeremiah doesn’t have the explosive speed that (Robinson) has, and because of that there were some yards probably left out there on the field that Alexander would have picked up,” Rhoads said. ‘But he ran physical, he ran hard, he didn’t turn the ball over.”
State will have plenty of company in the program’s record sad history. The Cyclones blew the Big 12 North title in 2004 with a three-point overtime home defeat to Missouri, and they did it again in 2005 by losing at Kansas in overtime.
They didn’t finish anywhere near .500 in the next three seasons – under two different coaches – but 2009 had started to feel different.
A win over the Wildcats would have moved Iowa State within two victories of bowl eligibility, something that once seemed unlikely for a team that was a near-unanimous pick to finish last in the Big 12 North.
There are reasons for the Cyclones to be optimistic if they can get past the pain of the K-State game.
“The early indication is that they’ll respond just fine,” Rhoads said.
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