Iowa State football suffers second straight loss, 45-36 to Kansas

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Iowa State wide receiver Jaylin Noel expected it would be “surreal” to play Kansas on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Kansas City native was right — but not in a good way for the No. 17 Cyclones.

Noel totaled 167 receiving yards and caught two touchdown passes from quarterback Rocco Becht, but long-struggling Kansas reached the end zone on four consecutive possessions Saturday and eventually cemented a 45-36 triumph that all but nixed ISU’s hopes of playing for a Big 12 title.

“I feel like we beat ourselves all the time in this (recent) stretch of games,” said Noel, who led the Cyclones with eight catches. “Even going back to UCF, when we won the game, we haven’t played how we wanted to. Small details are hurting ourselves and putting (us) in positions we shouldn’t be in.”

ISU (7-2, 4-2) put itself in a great position early, stitching together a seven-play, 99-yard drive capped by Noel’s 27-yard touchdown catch from Becht to go ahead, 7-0. But the Jayhawks (3-6, 2-4) responded by scoring points on six straight possessions to take a commanding 38-13 lead with 6:27 left in the third quarter.

Becht — who threw three touchdown passes and one interception returned for a score — tried to rally the Cyclones late. Tailback Carson Hansen reached the end zone from 11 yards out and Becht connected with running back Jaylon Jackson for a 27-yard touchdown to trim Kansas’ lead to 38-28 with 11:03 remaining.

So faint hopes remained — until ISU’s ensuing offensive possession. The defense forced the Jalon Daniels-led Jayhawks to punt for just the second time with 6:46 left, but an errant throw by Becht fell into the arms of Kansas cornerback Mello Dotson, who returned it for a 25-yard touchdown to make the score 45-28. Becht tacked on his second touchdown pass to Noel and hit receiver Jayden Higgins for the 2-point conversion, but an onside kick attempt failed and the Jayhawks ran out the clock to secure their third straight win in the series.

“I can’t keep turning the ball over and giving them free points,” said Becht, who completed 24 of 37 passes for a season-high 383 yards. “Because that hurts our defense.”

And the Cyclones’ defensive unit is banged up at each level, which helps explain why they surrendered a season-high 45 points. Starting safety Malik Verdon played early, but a lingering upper-body injury sent him to the sidelines. Four of ISU’s top linebackers have either been out the entire season, or missing in recent weeks, and nose guard Domonique Orange didn’t travel because of injury, head coach Matt Campbell said.

“It’s been a grind all year,” said Campbell, whose team suffered its second consecutive loss to fall out of a tie for second place in the conference standings. “We’ve kind of been in this (situation) for the majority of the season, and (we) played a team that’s got great offensive talent. You know they’re gonna make you pay. That’s where playing great team football has gotta come into play. We got an early lead and we just weren’t able to sustain it against this offense.”

Daniels threw two touchdown passes and rushed for one more. Jayhawks tailback Devin Neal rushed for 116 yards and two scores. Kansas converted on seven of its 13 third-down situations and the Cyclones’ depleted defensive front failed to record a sack.

“Personally, I didn’t play well enough tonight for us to win,” said senior captain and defensive tackle J.R. Singleton, who notched one of just two quarterback hurries. “I’ve just got to be better. All the leaders on defense, we’ve just got to be better.”

As for the offense? It certainly left points on the field — and most notably, when Becht failed to connect with a wide-open Stevo Klotz from 4 yards out midway through the second quarter.

“(I’ve) got to make the play in the red zone,” Becht said. “We haven’t been doing it in the red zone the last two weeks. I can’t miss throws like that, wide-open, so I’ve got to be better.”

So “the grind,” as Campbell noted, continues. ISU’s not talking about winning a championship anymore, even though it’s still mathematically possible. The Cyclones are laser focused on next week’s foe at home, Cincinnati. It’s that tunnel-vision type of approach that led to a 7-0 start, and it’s what could get ISU back on track as the regular season nears its end.

“We’ve just got to come in tomorrow, no complaining,” Noel said. “Guys ready to go. Attack the weight room. Attack the film room. Just gotta be better at preparing throughout the week.”

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