Dec 7, 2024; Arlington, TX, USA; Iowa State Cyclones wide receiver Jaylin Noel (13) catches a pass for a touchdown in front of Arizona State Sun Devils defensive back Kyan McDonald (38) during the second half at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
ARLINGTON, Texas — Iowa State’s players somberly shuffled through the tunnel to the locker room.
Toward the end of the silent procession, Cyclones head coach Matt Campbell walked alongside senior safety Beau Freyler, his arm draped around the captain’s waist.
The jarring pain of defeat was real. The gratitude gradually became even more real. And in the wake of No. 16 ISU’s mistake-strewn 45-19 loss to 15th-ranked Arizona State in Saturday’s Big 12 title game, a blend of sorrow, simmering rage, and deep disappointment accompanied the team as it drifted into the bowels of AT&T Stadium.
“These moments when you don’t have the success that you want, obviously, there’s temporary pain,” said Campbell, whose team coughed up three turnovers that all turned into touchdowns on successive possessions to start the second half. “The great thing is, we get another football game and the great thing is that what this group has already done is historic here at Iowa State. Nobody can take it away from them.”
Hapless. Self-destructive. Adrift in the margins.
Take your pick of any dispiriting description to describe ISU’s performance in their second Big 12 championship appearance in five years.
They’re all apt and they all paint an unpleasant picture for a Cyclone team (10-3) that has, as Campbell noted, made history in a positive way by recording the program’s first 10-win season.
But the wheels came off completely in “Jerry World” against a crisply-executing Sun Devils (11-2) team that forced those three consecutive turnovers — two fumbles by tailback Abu Sama, and one interception by quarterback Rocco Becht — to quickly quash any hope the Cyclones could mount a second-half rally like they did in the 2020 title game before falling, 27-21, to Oklahoma.
“We’re a second-half team and today it just wasn’t clicking on all cylinders for us,” said Becht, who completed 21 of 35 passes for 214 yards and a pair of touchdown passes to Carson Hansen and Jaylin Noel. “We had everything in our hands still. We just needed to execute.”
The Dallas Cowboys’ stadium is also nicknamed “the Death Star,” and that seemed a more fitting term to describe how miserable Saturday turned out to be for ISU, which allowed Arizona State to score 42 of the next 45 points after taking a 7-3 lead on Hansen’s three-yard touchdown catch with 6:30 left in the first quarter.
“We’re always confident,” said Noel, a senior captain that finished with five catches for 64 yards and a 25-yard touchdown. “We were moving the ball how we wanted to (early) but it came down to the small details, and the small details weren’t there when we needed them.”
Becht left the game early in the fourth quarter after being hit by Arizona State safety Shamari Simmons, who was called for targeting on the play and ejected. After being examined by ISU’s medical staff, Becht was cleared to return, but the game’s outcome had long been cemented.
“Rocco is a tough customer,” said Campbell, whose Cyclones suffered their third-most lopsided loss since 2016. “We quadruple-checked to make sure to make sure if we were gonna put him back in the game, but if you know Rocco, he was demanding to get himself back in there when he got cleared. Proud of him and I think Rocco will be just fine moving forward.”
A win would have propelled ISU into a first-ever College Football Playoff berth, but now the Cyclones must await news of their bowl destination. And if Noel and fellow seniors such as defensive tackle J.R. Singleton are any indication, expect there to be few opt-outs from that celebrated group.
“Going out there and getting a win against whoever we play, wherever we play, it means the world,” said Singleton, who is also a captain. “We’re still on pace to make history, right? (The program’s) never won 11 games and that’s still within grasp for us. So we’re gonna give it our all, we’re gonna go back to the drawing board, and win that game.”
Arizona State’s star back Cam Skattebo racked up 219 all-purpose yards and scored three touchdowns (two rushing, one receiving). Sun Devils quarterback Sam Leavitt did damage with both his arm and his legs, converting on third and fourth-down plays with runs, and beating the Cyclones’ secondary with 12 completions for 219 yards and three touchdowns.
“It was on us to get a stop and we didn’t,” Singleton said. “There’s no fingers to point. It’s a team effort. Team is what got us here and we lost as a team.”
So the season’s not over the Cyclones, but one potential historic feat — reaching the playoffs — has been thwarted. All that’s left, as Singleton said, is to go win one last game.
“It’s an honor that we get some more time with these guys,” Campbell said. “And we’re gonna do everything within our power to send these guys out the right way.”
