It also played peak KSU and even though they hung tough, that was one of the last two years of Nebraska actually being legit.
I don't remember what happened in the ATM game but they seemed to always have good talent and may have just been too much.
Rank Iowa State's top 5 QB’s from 2000-2024
- Thread starter loyalsons4evertrue
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It also played peak KSU and even though they hung tough, that was one of the last two years of Nebraska actually being legit.
I don't remember what happened in the ATM game but they seemed to always have good talent and may have just been too much.
Drive chart:
Q1 - punt (blocked), punt, punt
Q2 - punt, punt, punt, punt
Q3 - punt, INT, punt
Q4 - downs, punt, INT, TD
Thanks for sharing!
Linked below is my favorite. Impossible for me not to tear up when hearing Pete's voice...
If you want to talk about best games by a player Seneca's game against Baylor his junior year has to be in the conversation. Seneca ran all over UNI but only completed 45% of his passes and then barely completed 50% of his passes against Ohio so Baylor pegged him as just a running QB. Seneca responded by passing for 4 TDs and almost 300 yards while setting a Big 12 record for consecutive completions. He was 22 of 24 on the day. His passer rating was an unheard of 251.3. He still ran 7 times at 8.3 yards per carry just to keep them honest.
I remember listening to that game on the radio, not sure if it was on TV in Iowa but I had just moved to Chicago and couldn't get it on TV.
My jaw just dropped that we had a QB who seemed to be next level accurate. And it wasn't like Sage wasn't a good QB. It just seemed like total next level QB play we had never seen before and it was that specific game.
Nebraska and KSU were really good teams that year. But after that A&M was solid, and ISU hung in that game. I seem to remember ISU needing a late 4th down stop to have a chance and A&M was able to get it then run out the clock.
Ohio was OK, above average MAC team
UNLV was pretty solid that year
Iowa was terrible
The five Big 12 wins were all against trash teams, combined 15-40 overall.
Pitt was a decent team - tied for 3rd in the Big East. But they were kind of like ISU. Miami and VT were a class above the rest of their league.
You can only play who is on your schedule, and that team took care of business against bad and mediocre teams. But no other ISU team in recent years has been able to have such a soft schedule. The combination of Iowa being down, the North being down, and missing OU and UT was fortunate. Hell, the other team that they missed was Texas Tech, who was a 7 win team while having to face OU, UT, Nebraska, KSU and Texas A&M.
The Big 12 was weird that year. Other than ISU, there were 6 bowl teams. ISU lost to three of them and did not play the other three. The other five teams only won 2-4 games overall, so they were pretty bad. It seemed like there were three tiers. OU, Nebraska, KSU and UT were a pretty clear top tier. ISU, TTU and A&M were a solid middle tier, and the rest sucked ass.
Sages dive for the pylon against Iowa made ESPN highlights. He was the first Iowa State quarterback I ever saw who had the speed and guts to make that play.
Cris Love
I had also forgotten that Seneca really only played 3 quarters of that game because ISU was destroying Baylor so badly.
The 2000 game was 30-0 in the 4th quarter. ISU punted 10 times and turned it over twice.
You're probably thinking of 2001, which was a 3-point loss in College Station -- including 0-for-4 on field goals (2 blocked). ISU got it to 24-21 with just under a minute and a half left, but the onside kick went OB and A&M ran out the clock.
Seneca Wallace was fantastic but there's absolutely no argument anyone could make for him over Purdy. Purdy is the best and most impactful player in the history of our program.
We have had some flashes of brilliance from otherwise unremarkable QBs in the past 15 years:
- Jerome Tiller - beat Nebraska in Lincoln in 2009 in his very first start
- Steele Jantz - first 3 games in 2011. That Iowa game is an all timer
- Jared Barnett - he beat #2 OSU and will live on in infamy as part of that story forever
- Grant Rohach - Crushed Kansas in the 2013 Ice Bowl and turned around the next week to beat WVU in a multi OT game
- Joel Lanning - buried Texas Tech in the 66-10 2016 game. Did you know he wrestled with Nerlens Noel?
- Jacob Park - multiple 300 yard games, but couldn’t get it together between the ears
- Kyle Kempt - OU 2017 all the way through the Liberty Bowl. Love that guy.
- Hunter Dekkers - for his flaws, that 2022 season has some painful losses. X catches that deep ball or refs call that targeting, and he probably beats Texas in Austin. That team should’ve been bowl bound
- Jerome Tiller - beat Nebraska in Lincoln in 2009 in his very first start
- Steele Jantz - first 3 games in 2011. That Iowa game is an all timer
- Jared Barnett - he beat #2 OSU and will live on in infamy as part of that story forever
- Grant Rohach - Crushed Kansas in the 2013 Ice Bowl and turned around the next week to beat WVU in a multi OT game
- Joel Lanning - buried Texas Tech in the 66-10 2016 game. Did you know he wrestled with Nerlens Noel?
- Jacob Park - multiple 300 yard games, but couldn’t get it together between the ears
- Kyle Kempt - OU 2017 all the way through the Liberty Bowl. Love that guy.
- Hunter Dekkers - for his flaws, that 2022 season has some painful losses. X catches that deep ball or refs call that targeting, and he probably beats Texas in Austin. That team should’ve been bowl bound
Jerome Tiller didn't beat Nebraska. Nebraska beat Nebraska. They turned it over 8 times. A couple of those were unforced errors, such as Niles Paul running wide open for a touchdown and then accidentally drops the ball for no reason. Tiller was 9-19 for 102 yards.
To the victor go the spoils. He was under center and we won, so he beat them in my book. His career was not spectacular but he was a good Cyclone and his name is on the stat sheet for our first win again them in 32 years.
Purdy is probably the best from achievements, stats, etc. Hard to compare across eras of course with how much more offense oriented the game has become. Additionally, the talent around Purdy for his whole career was leagues above almost every other QB in school history at basically every position.
