Recap: Iowa State 34 Cincinnati 17

by Ryan Roberts

Cincinnati (5-5, 3-4 Big 12) has now dropped three consecutive games following Saturday night's 34-17 loss on the road at Iowa State (8-2, 5-2 Big 12).

(Photo: University of Cincinnati Athletics)

Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht completed 24-of-33 passes for 234 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing for 48 yards and a touchdown on seven carries. 

Becht's 15-yard touchdown run with 4:04 remaining in the game extended the ISU lead to 27-17 and capped off a 15 play, 68 yard drive, over 7:33 to end any hope of a Cincinnati comeback.

After Cincinnati went three-and-out on their next offensive possession, Becht rushed for 32 yards on a 3rd-and-6 to keep the ISU offense on the field.

(Photo: Iowa State Athletics)

Facing a 4th-and-2 from the Cincinnati 27-yard line, Abu Sama raced up the middle of the defense for a touchdown to extend the ISU lead to 34-17 with 1:09 remaining in the game.

Sama finished the game with 52 yards on 12 carries as the Cyclone offense rolled up 386 yards of total offense. 

"We did some good things tonight, but obviously we did some bad things as well," head coach Scott Satterfield said. "Ultimately, it was a great battle. I thought it was a great football game up until the last seven minutes. We need to learn how to finish, as a program. You can't play well for 54 minutes, you have to play well for 60 minutes. You can't relax or give in, you can't make mistakes in the last six minutes against good football teams because this is what will happen. That's the bottom line. They finished, we didn't."

(Photo: University of Cincinnati Athletics)

Key Takeaways:

- Brendan Sorsby finished the game with 141 yards rushing and a touchdown on 14 carries, but struggled to get anything going in the passing game. Joe Royer and Xzavier Henderson combined for just three catches as Sorsby completed 11-of-16 passing attempts for a season low 66 yards. 

Sorsby had three turnovers against West Virginia and had another one in the loss to ISU.

Looking to answer a Cyclone touchdown to start the second half, Sorsby and the UC offense moved the ball into the ISU redzone.

After picking up eight yards on a designed run, Sorsby was hit by Malik Verdon and fumbled at the ISU 13. Tyler Onyedim recovered the fumble and offensive lineman Deondre Buford was called for a personal foul at the end of the play to give the ISU offense possession at their own 28. 

Kyle Konrardy boomed a 52-yard field goal to extend the ISU lead to 20-10 to cap a nine-play, 38-yard scoring drive.

Sorsby redeemed himself with a 41-yard touchdown run on the next UC possession, but that would be the final score of the game for the Bearcats.

Sorsby's touchdown was set up by a Jiquan Sanks forced fumble that was recovered by Josh Minkins at the ISU 37.

 

 

- Mason Fletcher punted six times for an average of 37.3 yards.

Facing a 4th-and-10 from their own 20 with :59 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Fletcher had a punt travel just 18 yards to give ISU great field possession. 

The Cyclones capitalized and tied the score at 10 with a 37-yard field goal with :11 seconds remaining in the half. Cincinnati would not lead again.

 

- The Bearcats opened the game with a 10-play, 75-yard drive to score the game's first points but were outscored 24-7 in the second half and outgained 272-173 after a 10-10 halftime tie.

Defensively, Cincinnati allowed ISU to convert 6-of-10 third down opportunities after limiting the ISU offense to just 1-of-6 in the first half. Iowa State also converted all three fourth down attempts in the second half.

Halftime adjustments and execution have to be better over the final two games if the Bearcats are going to become bowl eligible. 

- UC had a season-high 13 penalties for 87 yards, which continually set the offense back and forced them into third-and-long situations or allowed the Iowa State offense to extend drives.

- Cincinnati's defense did a good job limiting the big play ability of ISU receivers Jaylin Noel (6 rec, 43 yds) and Jayden Higgins (6 rec, 69 yds), but tight end Gabe Burkle (6 rec, 73 yds) was able to find the soft spot in the middle of the UC defense to convert third-and-medium opportunities.

- Despite the second half offensive struggles, the run game was a bright spot.

Corey Kiner rushed for 120 yards on 18 carries and had seven carries for 10-plus yards.

Evan Pryor scored the first touchdown of the game on a 12-yard option from Sorsby and finished the game with 31 yards on six carries. 

The Bearcats rushed for 287 yards as a team. 

 

 

- Defensive lineman Dontay Corleone went down in the third quarter and did not return.

Following the game, Satterfield said that Corleone took a helmet to his leg that bruised up on him and he was not able finish the game. 

They'll evaluate after 24 hours and see what the swelling looks like.

Final Thoughts:

The score isn't indicative of just how close this game was and how close the Bearcats are.

There is enough talent on this team to win these games but mental mistakes and lack of execution continue to prevent this team from taking the next step of winning consistently. 

This is a league where teams exploit your mistakes and that has been the case the past three weeks as Cincinnati looks to become bowl eligible by winning one of their final two games. 

Up Next:

Saturday 11/23 at Kansas State

Postgame Videos: Satterfield, Sorsby, Gerhardt, Minkins

 

 

 

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