Nov 8, 2025; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Iowa State Cyclones defensive back Tre Bell (7) and defensive back Quentin Taylor (24) celebrate during the second half against the TCU Horned Frogs at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
OKOBOJI, Iowa — You chuckled when I mentioned last week that Iowa State, as poorly as things had progressed, still could win eight regular-season games. Even after a four-game losing streak, yes, there was still time to turn around this season of so much hope.
All Matt Campbell’s team needed was a spark, something especially evident throughout at least the first three quarters Saturday at TCU — and particularly when trailing by 11 midway through the fourth.
If ever this team needed a trigger, it was then. Would it be from Rocco Becht, Carson Hansen or a defensive back with a pick-six?
Iowa State’s catalyst came from 6-foot, 190-pound speedster Aiden Flora, as the Cyclones played their best offense-defense complementary football in at least a month.
The former Adel-DeSoto star, a redshirt freshman, provided the overdue game-winning spark, returning a punt 79 yards for a touchdown — the first Cyclones punt return for a touchdown since Trever Ryan’s against Kansas in 2017.
Hansen ran for the 2-point conversion, and Matt Campbell’s team suddenly was looking pretty again, leading by three with 6½ minutes left.
Iowa State’s Trey Bell forced a fumble. Drew Surges recovered, leaving the biggest takeaway from this hard-to-imagine 20-17 road victory against TCU as this:
As bad as it looked (and was) at times, never give up on the Cyclones — and this wasn’t just any ol’ slappy team Iowa State beat Saturday.
With just two Big 12 Conference losses, TCU still had an outside shot at the league’s championship game. Quarterback Josh Hoover was one of the Big 12’s best.
But as you should know by now:
The Cyclones cobble together solutions to problems. They don’t quit.
“It’s what this program stood for every step of the way,” Campbell said during his postgame press conference. “This team has gone through, and I know we went through some stuff last year, nothing like what’s going on in this locker room.
“The character, the guts, the toughness of our kids to battle — I think they’ve showed it the last four weeks, and they showed it again (Saturday).”
Campbell could have benched Becht — but he didn’t. He could have done the same to receiver Chase Sowell, who had a bad drop — but he didn’t.
Campbell stayed the course, as the coaching cliché goes.
Six wins. Finally bowl-eligible, with two games left after an upcoming off-Saturday.
Just like that, a team that was on the ropes with a four-game losing streak now has a fighting chance to win eight games — or even nine, if victorious in the bowl game.
At home against Kansas on Nov. 22. At Oklahoma State on Nov. 29.
Eight wins anyone? Nine?
Let’s not forget other stimulus-injecting late-game plays — like Becht rushing 25 yards on a third down, and Hansen following that with a 24-yard rush.
Like Rocco’s third-down 15-yard completion to Eli Green. Like Hansen’s 108 rushing yards.
And like Ben Brahmer, who lay on the Jack Trice Stadium field, motionless, just a week ago, now turning a Becht pass into a heartwarming 23-yard first-quarter touchdown.
“There’s two responses to adversity — you either quit, or you struggle through it,” Campbell said. “And it’s like we’ve said, I don’t know anybody that ever quits their way to the top, but I know a lot of great teams and players that struggle their way to the top.”
“This group is made up of the right struggle. They just keep pounding forward. So really proud of our guys.”
Could a good Iowa State be peeking again through late-season clouds?
(Columnist Randy Peterson, a past Iowa Sportswriter of the Year winner, can be reached at [email protected] or at any Okoboji-area beverage/food establishment between the hours of open and close.)
