Cyclones Win Big 12 Shootout

Saturday, October 3

Ames, Iowa

12:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

Iowa State

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

October 03, 2026 04:17 PM | Football

Game Book Game Quotes Postgame Notes Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

By: John Antonik

Neither team could stop the other, but Iowa State's defense managed to come up a critical late turnover to turn away West Virginia 45-42 in a back-and-forth, Saturday afternoon Big 12 affair at sunny Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.

In a game that saw more than 1,000 total yards of offense by both teams, the 518 yards generated by West Virginia were somewhat expected.

The 577 yards Iowa State got were not, based on the Cyclones averaging just 345.2 yards per game coming in.

But they had no trouble securing large chunks of real estate against a West Virginia defense with the worst pass defense in the conference that gave up 609 total yards in last Saturday's loss to Oklahoma State.

The Cyclones (3-2 and 1-1 in the Big 12) got 312 through the air today, including 48 yards and two touchdowns from running back Aidan Flora, who also contributed 212 yards and three scores on 22 rushing attempts.

His two passing touchdowns and his three rushing touchdowns were the first time that's happened against a Mountaineer defense during the post-World War II period of college football. The last time it occurred was during the single-wing era when Detroit's Lloyd Brazil scored twice on the ground and threw two touchdown passes in a 36-0 Titans win on Nov. 9, 1929.

Today, Jaylen Raynor completed 19 of his 27 aerials for 264 yards and a touchdown with one interception, with Cody Jackson was the recipient of six of those for 160 yards and a 46-yard score.

"We were too undisciplined and not coached well enough to give us a chance," West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said afterward. "Penalties were atrocious - and some of them were warranted and some of them were kind of close, but pass interference penalities on long-yardage situations ... we had a couple of illegal procedures, and you've got to be better than that."

Today's loss spoiled quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr.'s 376 all-purpose-yard effort – 227 coming through the air and a team-best 149 on the ground.

Running back Cam Cook added 142 yards on 20 carries, the fourth time in five games both players have eclipsed the century mark in rushing. All 40 rushing attempts today came from those two.

DJ Epps was WVU's top receiver with four catches for 114 yards and a touchdown.

In the first half, West Virginia (3-2, 0-2) was its own worst enemy as the Mountaineers committed eight of their 10 penalties for 86 yards and were victimized twice on trick plays for touchdowns.

Two 15-yard penalties called on the defense were the catalysts for two of Iowa State's three first-half scores, and both passes tried by Flora ended up to teammates in the end zone.

The first happened with 11:04 left in the second quarter when he took a short swing pass from Raynor behind the line of scrimmage and then fired a pass down the field to a wide-open Jackson, who hauled it in down the far sideline and jogged into the end zone for a 46-yard score.

Then, with five seconds left in the half and the Cyclones possessing one timeout, Flora took a handoff from Raynor and flipped a 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Vince Benetti to unknot a 14-all tie.

"You've got to be kidding me," a disappointed Rodriguez remarked. "The one was zone coverage where you just lost (him). Then the other one, it was a guy who just lost his man. It's stuff I haven't seen in years."

Flora's second touchdown pass was set up by a third-down pass interference penalty called on Nick Taylor in the back of the end zone that would have forced Iowa State to try a field goal.

Iowa State's first touchdown also came via the pass when a blown coverage allowed Raynor to complete a 20-yard scoring strike to Omar Haynes.

After stopping Iowa State on the game's opening possession, West Virginia got on the scoreboard first when Hawkins pushed a pass downfield to Parkersburg's Cyrus Traugh for a 33-yard touchdown.

Hawkins added an 8-yard touchdown run with 6:12 left in the second quarter to tie the game at 14-all.

West Virginia regained possession of the football with 3:58 left in the first half but was unable to move the sticks before punting it back to Iowa State.

Another empty possession that took just 40 seconds off the clock to begin the third quarter required another West Virginia punt, and the Cyclones immediately went to work from their own 26.

Flora ran for 20 yards, Raynor passed for 24 yards to Jackson and two plays later, Flora broke free for a 24-yard touchdown. Kyle Konrady's conversion kick doubled up the score to 28-14 in favor of the Cyclones.

After the two teams traded turnovers, the second one an Isaiah Patterson interception of Raynor's pass over the middle at West Virginia's 33, the Mountaineers got a critical fourth-down conversion on their side of the 50 to stay in the game.

Facing a fourth and 1 at its own 42, Rodriguez called Cook's number, and he broke free at the line of scrimmage and ran to the Iowa State 21. Two plays later, Hawkins squirted free from the 7 to get into the end zone for the second time today and the 11^th time this season.

Jack Cassidy's conversion kick reduced Iowa State's lead to 28-21.

It took just four minutes for the Mountaineers to tie the game at 28. Iowa State was forced to punt from midfield, Ethan Gurney's boot sailing into the end zone to give WVU possession at its 20. A Hawkins second-down scramble for 32 yards put West Virginia in plus territory at the ISU 48. His next play was a pretty 39-yard pass to Epps down the seam to the 9, setting up Cook's fourth rushing touchdown of the season.

Iowa State answered with a field goal on its next possession, a Konrady 35-yarder, which was set up by Raynor's third-down pass down the near sideline to a wide-open Jackson for 43 yards to the WVU 17.

The WVU defense recovered to force the field goal try from the 16-yard line.

But the trading of scores continued.

A third-down Hawkins 50-50 pass to Jaden Bray down the far sideline with West Virginia's offensive line frozen in place gave WVU a 34-yard gainer to the Cyclone 34. A pass interference penalty on Iowa State's Seth Johnson added 15 more yards to the 15, and three plays later, Cook broke a tackle at the 5 and got into the end zone for his second rushing touchdown of the afternoon. Cook's run capped a 75-yard drive in seven plays, which ended up being four plays more than it took Iowa State to answer.

The big volley was Flora's 63-yard burst untouched down the far sideline into the end zone to put Iowa State ahead 38-35.

West Virginia's response happened a minute later when Epps was left uncovered at the 23 and Hawkins hit him in stride for a 47-yard touchdown.

Three minutes, six plays and 75 yards after that, Flora was back in the end zone once more from the 2. Flora got 25 of it on the drive, Raynor 40 through the air and 15 additional yards came via Geimere Latimer II's pass interference penalty in the end zone.

Two West Virginia turnovers, one overruled by replay, and the second one a clean strip of Epps on a completed pass at Iowa State's 45 gave the Cyclones possession of the football with 1:47 left.

The first one was a Hawkins deep pass down the far sideline that was originally ruled a David Coffey interception on the field but was overturned by replay.

One Iowa State regained possession, a Flora run of 11 yards for first-down yardage put the game on ice.

"All we needed was a stop," Rodriguez said. "It's just hard to watch."

West Virginia returns to Milan Puskar Stadium next Saturday at noon to face Arizona, which plays Cincinnati in a late game that doesn't kick off until 11 p.m. ET tonight.