PROVO, Utah – No. 8 BYU more than doubled Iowa State football’s offensive yardage and controlled the game from start to finish, but the Cyclones hung around in a 21-10 loss to the Cougars that felt more lopsided than the 11-point margin.
Iowa State fell to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in Big 12 play.
Perhaps it’s another moral victory for the Cyclones, but they’ve shown previously that they’re not too interested in those, especially when they traveled more than 1,000 miles in their first road trip outside of Iowa.
Iowa State made a couple of fourth-down stops, which helped make it a 14-3 deficit at half. Overall, the Cyclones never posed enough of a threat offensively to pull off the upset.
Here is a look at some of the likes and dislikes from the Cyclones’ Week 6 loss:
More: Three takeaways from Iowa State football’s loss at No. 8 BYU | Hines
Likes
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Cyclone defense made big fourth-down stops: Iowa State kept it closer than it could have been throughout the game. A lot of that credit goes to the Cyclone defense, which, although it gave up a handful of explosive plays, buckled down and made three fourth-down stops. Two of those came in the first half and one in the second.
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Iowa State showed fight: The Cyclones never seemed defeated. Despite the wide gap in yardage and the deficit on the scoreboard, Iowa State battled to the end in their first road game outside the state. It has demonstrated second-half mettle before, and that showed once again. Defense hung tough throughout and the Cyclones got a touchdown drive after a big special teams fumble recovery on a BYU muffed punt in the fourth quarter. Iowa State accumulated 131 of their 200 total yards in the fourth quarter alone.
Dislikes
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Offense was non-existent for most of the game: The Cougars outgained the Cyclones by a wide margin, 506-200. Iowa State only had 3.6 yards per play. The Cyclones had just 69 yards of total offense going into the fourth quarter.
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BYU contained the run game: Iowa State didn’t really get to establish the run until it was too late. Aiden Flora had 86 yards on 17 carries, 53 of which came in the fourth quarter alone. He had his longest carry of the game, a 21-yard gain in the fourth. BYU tallied seven tackles for loss.
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Cyclones’ passing game: With the run kept in check, Iowa State’s passing attack was also grounded. The Cyclones never really showed much beyond quick passes or checkdowns for a vast majority of the game, and BYU quickly swarmed to shut those plays down. Jaylen Raynor finished 16-for-29 passes for 98 yards. The Cyclones struggled to push the ball downfield or be any sort of a threat on medium-to-deep routes, until their lone touchdown drive, which went 49 yards in six plays. It wasn’t entirely Raynor’s fault, though. Some of the blame could be attributed to receivers and…
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Iowa State’s offensive line had a tough time with BYU defense: Flora was certainly a focal point for BYU’s defense and it was largely able to stop him. When it came to the passing game, Raynor didn’t have much time in the pocket because of BYU’s relentless pressure. Raynor was sacked twice, but how frequently did the BYU defense get to the backfield and hurry him up?
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Defense had some flashes, but gave up too many explosive plays: The tackling issues were not as egregious as they were against Utah and West Virginia, but BYU got many chunk plays and, at times, the defense just got beat by those Cougar playmakers. BYU averaged 8.3 yards per play and 15.0 yards per completion. Bear Bachmeier tallied 329 passing yards and two touchdowns on 22-of-30 passing. He also had 109 rushing yards and led a rushing effort for the Cougars, who were without their top two running backs.
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Injuries continued to mount up: There was a bit of a scare when Flora went down in the third quarter, but he returned to the game shortly after going down. The Cyclones weren’t as fortunate when it came to Dominic Overby. The Utah native entered Friday night with a team-high 212 yards on 10 receptions and exited the game in the first quarter with a knee injury. He did not return.
Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Likes, dislikes from Iowa State football’s Week 6 loss at BYU