Darien Porter stands for a photo during Iowa State Football media day at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024. © Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK
IOWA CITY — Iowa State has three permanent captains this football season: Safety Beau Freyler, wide receiver Jaylin Noel, and nose guard J.R. Singleton.
They rotate in one other captain each game — and this week’s selection, cornerback Darien Porter, charted the route to Saturday’s stirring 20-19 comeback win at No. 21 Iowa with two game-changing interceptions.
“The ultimate team player here for the last six years is the guy that makes the play that swings the tide,” said Cyclone head coach Matt Campbell, whose team beat the Hawkeyes at Kinnick Stadium for the second straight time. “The most selfless, most incredible human on our football team, and that guy makes the play that swings the tide.”
Actually, Porter made two such plays. One — his first interception — set up the offense’s first touchdown drive of the game in the third quarter. The second sealed the triumph as Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara tried and failed to complete a Hail Mary pass as time expired. ISU walk-on kicker had just drilled a 54-yard field goal moments earlier — helping to punctuate a second-half surge that should send the Cyclones into their first bye week of the season with bolstered confidence and even higher expectations.
“Nothing ever goes straight to success,” said Campbell, whose team overcame an array of ill-timed penalties and quarterback Rocco Becht’s red-zone interception while falling behind 13-0 at halftime. “You’re gonna have failures. You’re gonna have blips. But the great teams, man, the special ones, they can have those down moments and get right back on the road to success. For our kids to be able to show that in this environment against this football team, it’s really impressive this early in the season.”
So what’s next? Again, a bye week. But in two weeks the Cyclones will wrap up their nonconference slate with a home date with Arkansas State, then begin the nine-game gauntlet of Big 12 play.
ISU is 2-0 for just the third time in the Campbell era — and beat Iowa for just the second time in his ninth season leading the program.
“It just puts into perspective what type of team we have,” said Noel, who caught a 75-yard touchdown pass from Becht and totaled a game-high 133 receiving yards. “The heart we have to go and come back against a team like that — they’re a good team. We always respect those guys and for us to be able to come in here into a beehive, as I’ve said before, and win a game like that, it gives us the momentum to keep growing, stay curious, learn what we can get better at and go attack our next opponent.”
Becht’s first touchdown pass, a three-yard connection with receiver Jayden Higgins, came on the heels of Porter’s first pick. But Becht’s most impressive throws came under extreme pressure on a final scoring drive that spanned a mere 28 seconds. He’s now thrown 14 touchdown passes and just two interceptions in his last six games — a trend that must continue if the Cyclones hope to contend for a Big 12 title.
“I just kept my poise throughout the game and trusted my teammates and trusted my coaches to put me in the best situations possible,” Becht said.
Porter stood tall as one of those teammates — and if he continues to be a skilled playmaker on the back end, ISU’s likelihood of playing meaningful games in November will spike significantly.
“Our mindset is just to keep playing, regardless of where they are on the field, how long the drive is, just keep playing,” said Porter, who also broke up an Iowa two-point conversion attempt late in the third quarter to further help secure the victory. “Being able to hold them to field goals (in the first half) was obviously really big for our team today.”
NOTES
Safety Malik Verdon compiled a career-high 13 tackles, including nine solo stops. … Campbell notched his 55th win at ISU — and is one win shy of tying Dan McCarney for the most in program history. … Noel is the first Cyclone receiver to open the season with consecutive 100-yard receiving games since Allen Lazard accomplished the feat in 2016.
