The Kansas Jayhawks hit the road on Saturday to take on the Iowa State Cyclones in an old-school Big 12 match up between two teams in the middle of the pack in the league. Iowa State was hosting its Senior Day in Ames, while Kansas was trying to get a win to clinch bowl eligibility. On Saturday, it was the Cyclones dominating the line of scrimmage and rolling to a 38-14 win over the Jayhawks.
The Cyclones got the party started on their opening drive, going 12 plays and 75 yards, while burning nearly seven minutes of game time and ending with a nine-yard touchdown pass from Rocco Becht to Brett Eskildsen. And after a six-play KU drive, Iowa State marched 72 yards on 10 plays for their second touchdown of the day, ending the drive on a Carsen Hansen four-yard score. A field goal before halftime gave Iowa State a dominant 17-0 lead going into the break.
KU came out the break swinging, finishing a four-play, 65-yard drive with their first points of the game on a Leshon Williams four-yard touchdown run to cut it to a 17-7 lead. However, on the next drive, Becht found Eskildsen for their second touchdown connect of the day as Iowa State led 24-7 in the third quarter. On the next drive, KU lost quarterback Jalon Daniels after a big hit, and then back up QB Cole Ballard hooked up with Boden Groen for a 21-yard score to make it a 10-point game with 7:38 to go in the third quarter.
But once again, just when KU’s offense pulled the team back into the game, the defense could not hold up its end of the bargain. Iowa State made it a 31-14 lead after Rocco Becht found tight end Benjamin Brahmer for a 12-yard score. Any chance for a Kansas comeback ended two drives later when Jalon Daniels, after returning, was picked off at the goal line by ISU’s Marcus Neal. That drive ended nine plays and 84 yards later on an Aiden Flora 38-yard touchdown run to seal the 38-14 victory for the Cyclones.
With the win, Iowa State improved to 7-4 on the season and 4-4 in Big 12 play, while Kansas fell to 5-6 overall and 3-4 in league play. Iowa State ends the 2025 regular season next week at Oklahoma State, while Kansas needs to beat Utah at home to become bowl eligible.
