Iowa State Cyclones wide receiver Jayden Higgins (9) catches the ball for a touchdown around Iowa Hawkeyes’ defensive back Deshaun Lee (8) during the fourth quarter of the Cy-Hawk football game at the Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023, in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK
AMES — Jayden Higgins’ hands kept hope alive.
The tall and talented transfer wide receiver clutched Iowa State teammate Rocco Becht’s lone touchdown pass late in Saturday’s 20-13 Cy-Hawk setback against Iowa at Jack Trice Stadium and one thought immediately crossed his mind as he handed the football to an official.
“We definitely knew the defense was gonna get a quick stop,” he said.
Sound prediction — and it proved to be prophetic. But did it come too late? The Cyclones needed 14 plays and nearly seven minutes of clock to finally breach the end zone on Becht’s 18-yard hook-up with Higgins on fourth and nine. Once the defense did force Iowa’s offense to go three-and-out, just 1:48 remained for Becht to exploit. ISU (1-1) failed to get a first down and its fate was sealed as a question emerged: Should the Cyclones have been operating more urgently, which could have potentially left time for a more extended final offensive possession, or maybe even two possessions?
ISU head coach Matt Campbell essentially answered “no.”
“I think the biggest thing you wanted to do regardless of what anyone else wants is you want to score the touchdown,” said Campbell, whose team lost the Iowa for the seventh time in the past eight meetings. “So the fool is, oh man, go fast and be wrong, or how about do it right and give yourself a chance to win the game, which is exactly what we did. I think the only thing there is there were a couple of plays when we had a chance to maybe score a little bit earlier and I think we’ll learn from it and grow from it, but at the end of the day the response to when it didn’t work to come back and make it work is all that matters.”
One thing that worked as the Cyclones struggled to score points while fighting from behind all day? The Becht-Higgins connection. Higgins — who caught 10 touchdown passes in his final season at Eastern Kentucky — snared just one pass for 15 yards in ISU’s season-opening 30-9 win over Northern Iowa. The 6-4, 210-pound senior from South Miami caught eight passes for a team-best 95 yards in his only Cy-Hawk game, and looks to be one of the Cyclones’ most sure-handed and potent targets going into Saturday’s 11 a.m. game at Ohio and beyond.
“We put a plan together (and) got him the ball a lot (on Saturday),” said Becht, who notched career highs in passing yards (203), completions (23) and attempts (44). “I think we could have gotten him the ball more, but it’s just gonna make him better and (make) his confidence go up for these next 10 weeks. You know he’s gonna get better every week.”
The same signs of improvement need to come team-wide, of course — and especially on offense. Becht floated up a pick-six late in the first half that gave Iowa a commanding 17-0 lead. He also blamed himself for the loss, which while admirable, doesn’t tell the full story of a defeat marred by a handful of high-profile mistakes in each phase of the game for the Cyclones.
“Pick-sixes are gonna happen,” said Campbell, who saw safety Jeremiah Cooper return an interception for a touchdown the previous Saturday against the Panthers. “(Becht’s) response was to go down and get the field goal to put it back to a two-score game to start the second half. I think that was huge and I think it showed a lot about who he is and his moxie.”
Higgins demonstrated how seriously he takes his craft, as well, and at least on teammate saw his breakthrough game coming.
“It’s crazy because I was talking to him (Friday) night and I just knew,” said safety Beau Freyler, who totaled a team-high 10 tackles on Saturday and notched the Cyclones’ only sack. “I was telling him he’s gonna catch the ball, he’s gonna get his touchdown, he’s gonna make a big play, kind of talked it all into existence. I really had confidence in him the whole time, knowing he was gonna do something.”
Now Higgins yearns to do more for an offense that ranked last in the Big 12 last season and must make rapid gains if that trend’s to be reversed as ISU seeks to rebound from its first losing season since 2016.
“That’s my big thing, just make plays when they come to you,” Higgins said. “So that’s what I’m gonna continue to try to do.”
