Cyclones pound UNLV

Game 3 wrap ISU 48 UNLV 3 By Michael O’Deay (@MODeay70) 9/22/2021

Iowa State entered Saturday’s game with a sense of purpose. After the offense struggled to get going vs UNI and Iowa, the Cyclones lit up UNLV in The City that Never Sleeps 48-3. 

Offensive Stars of the Game: Brock Purdy 21-24 for 288 yards and 3 TDs Breece Hall 100 yards and 2 TDs (should’ve been 3) Xavier Hutchinson 10 Receptions 133 Yards and 2 TDs

Defensive Stars of the Game: Gerry Vaughn 7 Tackles 1 Sack 2.5 Tackles for Loss Mike Rose 7 Tackles 1 Sack 2 Tackles for Loss Jake Hummel 7 Tackles Eyioma Uwazurike 4 Tackles 1 Sack Isheem Young 1 interception The whole defense dominated. UNLV was held to 1.2 yards per rush

The Game: The Iowa State Cyclones dominated. This game was everything that was needed. As it was called, “A get right game”. Iowa State outgained UNLV 493 to 130, accumulated 27 first downs compared to UNLV’s 7. The Cyclone Defense held UNLV to 2-13 or 15% on third downs. 

Brock Purdy had a tune-up to Brocktober. He had a fantastic pass to a wide open Charlie Kolar for a 33 yard TD in the third. One of his TD passes to Xavier Hutchinson was a perfectly thrown rocket to the side line of end zone where Hutch made a spectacular catch. Breece Hall averaged 4.8 yards per carry. He opened the scoring with a 1 yard TD run with 8:04 to play in the first. He tacked on his second score To open the second quarter making it 14-0. At that point there was little doubt the Cyclones would win big. Andrew Mevis hit a 54 yard FG. I can’t remember the last time ISU made a 50 yarder.

The only knock on the game was the fumble. That was a good hit on Purdy’s arm and the ball that caused the fumble. It was a great defensive play by UNLV. 

I thought the way UNLV handled the QB situation was a bit awkward. They were without starter Doug Brumfield. Cameron Friel played a majority of the reps completing 8-13 passes for 67 yards. He threw one interception to Isheem Young. The Rebels threw in former Buckeye, Hurricane, and QB1: Beyond the Lights Star Tate Martell who was 2-6 for 27 yards. He also had 4 rushes for 2 yards. He did have a nice 9 yard run.

In the end the Cyclones defense had UNLV bottled up the whole game as UNLV averaged only 2.4 yards per play. The Cyclone offense played to near perfection. ISU won all 3 phases of the game.

Random Notes: Had any bowl representatives watched this game, they would have thought the game was in Ames. I bring that up because ISU traveled very well.  Former Cyclone QB Re-al Mitchell was also on QB1: Beyond the Lights My 45-3 prediction, (blown by a 54 yard FG that I’m perfectly fine with) will probably be the closest I get all year. I will take the moral victory.

Up next: ISU opens up Big 12 play with a trip to Waco to play the Baylor Bears. ISU was timely in their tent application. In an addendum, they issued Baylor a Cyclone Warning for Saturday starting at 2:30.

Go Cyclones!