Nov 23, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Iowa State Cyclones wide receiver Jayden Higgins (9) scores a touchdown against the Utah Utes during the first quarter at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images
AMES — Jayden Higgins casts his line, gazing out at the water as his lure descends.
Then, he waits.
It’s been a while since Iowa State’s leading receiver has unpacked his rod and reel to go fishing with teammate Jaylin Noel, but that ability to bide his time until there’s a chance at a big strike shifts easily from secluded ponds to sold-out football fields.
“The secret?” Higgins said in advance of Saturday’s senior night matchup with Kansas State. “You’ve just gotta be patient.”
Higgins became the seventh Cyclone ever to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards in a season last week at Utah, and he’ll look to add to that lofty total when his No. 18 (College Football Playoff) team (9-2, 6-2 Big 12) tries to tame the 24th-ranked Wildcats (8-3, 5-3) for the fourth time in the past five meetings.
Game time: 6:30 p.m. TV: Fox. The site: Jack Trice Stadium, where temperatures will dip into the low teens as ISU seeks its first 10-win season and a likely berth in the Big 12 championship game.
“We’re gonna have to play our best to go win a football game — a rival football game,” said Cyclone head coach Matt Campbell, who led his team to its first Big 12 title game appearance in 2020. “We know that, we understand that, and if we worry about any of that other stuff we can’t control, then it’s a waste of everybody’s time.”
That time is precious for Higgins, Noel, and several other Cyclone seniors who will play their last regular-season game at Jack Trice Stadium. They’re collective emotions gleaned from four-, five- and six-year college careers range from unbridled elation to unbearable heartbreak, but now they have a chance to make history — a goal they’ve highlighted all season.
“They’ve been here for the bad, they’ve been here for the good,” said redshirt sophomore quarterback Rocco Becht, who’s led his team to three game-winning touchdowns in the fourth quarter this season. “And, honestly, they couldn’t write a better story than going out the way we can on Saturday. I’ll be playing for them. They mean a lot to this team. Our culture and leadership is at a peak right now because of them.”
But being mired in a valley two seasons ago helps explain why ISU stands on the precipice of a potential College Football playoff berth and its first double-digit win season now. The Cyclones went 4-8 in 2022 — and six of those losses came by one score.
“I don’t think (that) team had the maturity to bounce back from (bad) things,” said senior center Jarrod Hufford, who will make his 45th consecutive start on Saturday. “The people on this team are committed to playing championship-level football, and when we’re not playing to that, it hurts.”
Kansas State craves an opportunity to inflict that type of pain on the Cyclones, who spoiled the Wildcats’ senior night last season on a snow-swept Bill Snyder Family Stadium field that tailback Abu Sama tore up with a 276-yard rushing, three-touchdowns performance.
“All those emotions — this is a tricky week,” Campbell said. “You talk through it early in the week. You talk through how you’re gonna handle it. Then you get ready to play your best football, because the best tribute we can give this team, the greatest tribute we can give this senior class, is to play our best 60 minutes of football this year.”
The secret to doing that? Patience.
Noel stands just 24 yards from joining Higgins as a 1,000-yard receiver this season. And his fishing buddy knows he’ll get there.
“He’s definitely going to join me,” said Higgins, who along with Noel forms the only FBS receiving duo with at least 975 yards apiece this season.
Maybe even on senior night, when the biggest catches beckon.
“I’ve never seen two less selfish wide receivers,” Campbell said. “(During) Tuesday’s practice they’re in team tackle (drills). These are two (NFL Draft-worthy) football players, two All-American-type football players, and they’re tackling the donut out at practice. I think that just tells you, man, what those guys have stood for. They’ve never been above the team.”
