The Jayhawks picked up a big win on the road when they knocked off Iowa State 28-21 in Ames. Jason Bean passed for 287 yards and a touchdown in the win while not throwing an interception.
1st quarter
Kansas caught an early break as Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht appeared to pick up the first down on the opening series. After a review, it was determined that he was short, forcing a Cyclone punt.
The Jayhawk offense came to play on their first drive. Bean had two long completions on the drive, one to Quentin Skinner for 31 yards, then a throw across his body on fourth down to Lawrence Arnold to move the chains. Eventually, Devin Neal ran it from six yards out from the wildcat formation to make it 7-0.
Iowa State only picked up one first down the next time they got the ball, punting to Luke Grimm who did well to get 13 yards on the return.
The Jayhawks had a good drive going into field goal range, but it stalled just outside of the red zone. With fourth and short looming, they sent out Seth Keller to try his hand from 41 yards out, but he was unsuccessful.
2nd Quarter
Both teams ran three plays to start the second quarter, and both teams punted after their three plays. Iowa State took over from their own 40 yard line. That's when Mello Dotson made another big time play when he intercepted Becht's pass and took it 50 yards to the end zone. The score made it 14-0 and was the fourth defensive touchdown of the year for Kansas, tying them up at the top of the FBS with Notre Dame and Michigan.
The problem with the play for the Jayhawks was that Dotson took off his helmet in celebration of the play, costing the Jayhawks 15 yards on the kickoff. The Cyclones returned it down to the Kansas 30.
The Kansas defense stepped up in a big way when Rich Miller and Austin Booker came through for a sack that put the Cyclones out of field goal range, keeping them scoreless.
The Jayhawks went down the field and got in range to bring on Owen Piepergerdes for a 50-yard field goal attempt that he missed wide left.
The Cyclones took the opportunity and got into field goal range to end the half, getting on the board from 35 yards out to make it 14-3.
3rd Quarter
The Jayhawks could not have had a better start to the second half as they scored in 11 plays and 5:36 to go up 21-3. They established the run after struggling to get it going in the first half as Devin Neal had some nice carries and polished it off with a one yard run into the end zone. Hishaw also had a big carry that was given an added 15 yards because Iowa State brought him down out of bounds.
The Cyclones responded to the adversity well as they went 75 yards to answer the Kansas touchdown. The Kansas defense allowed two conversions on third down of 14 or more yards, and picked up a roughing the passer penalty. After they scored, Iowa State went for two and got it to make the score 21-11 with 3:26 to go in the third quarter.
4th Quarter
Iowa State had another long touchdown drive to start the fourth quarter. It was headlined by a trick play in which Jaylin Noel caught a backwards pass from Becht and then threw a deep ball to Jayden Higgins for 42 yards. The Cyclones punched it in a few plays later to make it 21-18. The Cyclones had all of the momentum as they had scored the last 15 points after the drive and with 8:09 to go.
The Jayhawks were hoping they could put together a long drive to run some clock, but they were likely content with a 12 second drive that consisted of a Lawrence Arnold 80 yard touchdown reception to make it 28-18. The play quieted a crowd at Jack Trice Stadium that was very high energy after the Cyclones had generated a lot of energy.
Down by 10, Iowa State needed a touchdown and a field goal to tie the game. They got the field goal portion of the equation knocked out with a 29 yard field goal to make it 28-21. They got down the field quickly, but Caleb Taylor came away with a sack on third down to force the field goal.
With 4:53 to go, Kansas took over from their own 25 yard line and Iowa State having just two out of three second half timeouts remaining. After a false start made a third and three third and eight, Jason Bean dropped back and found Luke Grimm for a first down. The Jayhawks still needed one more first to put the game on ice, and when faced with a third down and three, Jason Bean found Jared Casey over the middle after a fake handoff to seal the deal.
The 28-21 win improves Kansas to 7-2 and 4-2 in Big 12 play.
