AMES – Iowa State played Arizona Saturday evening in a White Out Night game at MidAmerican Energy Field at Jack Trice Stadium in front of 61,500 fans and came away with a huge victory.
Rocco Becht scored three times on 1-yard runs, Carson Hansen added two more short plunges for touchdowns and the 14th-ranked Cyclones returned to Big 12 play with a 39-14 victory over Arizona on a pleasant Saturday evening at MidAmerican Energy Field at Jack Trice Stadium.
Becht’s consecutive games streak of throwing a TD pass ended at 22, but he hit Chase Sowell four times for big gains and finished 14-of-20 for 243 yards against a team that came in leading the nation in pass efficiency defense.
The Cyclones (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) also showed a couple of new wrinkles with tight ends Gabe Burkle and Ben Brahmer. Burkle took a direct snap for a 2-point conversion after ISU’s first touchdown and Brahmer lofted a 45-yard pass to Brett Eskildsen after a pitchout from Becht, setting up the Cyclones’ final touchdown.
The defense came up with interceptions from Jontez Williams and Jamison Patton, Williams returning his pick 42 yards to set up a first-half TD. Punter Tyler Perkins helped by pinning Arizona (3-1, 0-1 Big 12) at the 7, 14 and 5 with his first three kicks.
Saturday’s game was the first meeting between the two schools since 1968. Arizona leads the all-time series 4-2-1, while winning the only other game in Ames, which was played in 1968.
Matt Campbell is now 69-51 at Iowa State and 104-66 overall as a head coach. Campbell earned his 47th Big 12 victory, tying Mike Leach (Texas Tech) and Gary Pinkel (Mizzou) for fifth in Big 12 history.
ISU is 2-0 in Big 12 play for the third time under Campbell. It is just the fourth time in the league’s
30 seasons ISU has hit the mark.
This was the 21st sellout of 61,500 in the current configuration, with 19 of them coming under
Campbell. ISU has had at least 50,000 fans for 88-straight games at Jack Trice Stadium going
back to 2011.
Iowa State is 25-8 in its last 33 Big 12 games at Jack Trice Stadium. ISU is 21-6 in its last 27
games overall.
The Cyclones are 16-3 since the start of last season. The .842 winning percentage ranks sixth
in the country.
Iowa State is 5-0 for the second-straight season, the first time doing so in program history. It is the
ninth 4-0 start to a season in program history. ISU has won 10-straight games under the lights,
including a 4-0 record at home last year. The Cyclones are now 6-0 in their first regular
season meeting against Big 12 newcomers that joined the league in 2023 and 2024. ISU has wins
over Arizona, BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, UCF and Utah.
Iowa State has won 16 of the last 17 games they have held an advantage in time of possession.
The Cyclones are 29-15 under Campbell when having an offensive play of 50 or more yards.
Iowa State has won 18 of its last 19 games when scoring 30 or more points.
Iowa State has allowed just 484 points in the second half since the start of the 2021 season (57 games). That’s just 8.5 per game. Since 2023, Iowa State is 23-4 when forcing a turnover and 16-1 when forcing multiple turnovers. ISU is 41-9 under Campbell when winning the turnover battle.
The Cyclones are 44-19 when scoring first under Campbell.
The Cyclones are 29-2 when leading by sevenplus points after the first quarter since 2017.
Iowa State has won 12-straight games, going
back to 2023, when leading after the first quarter.
Iowa State is 56-9 under Campbell when leading
after three quarters, including 17-straight
victories.
The Cyclones are 20-for-26 in the red zone this
season, with 16 of the scores being touchdowns.
Four of Iowa State’s red zone “misses” were kneel
downs to end the game.
The ISU defense has not allowed a quarterback to throw for over 300 yards in 19-straight games.
ISU has converted 25 of its last 30 fourth down tries going back to last season, including a perfect 5-for-5 this year.
Iowa State’s 37 interceptions since 2023 are the sixth-most in FBS.
ISU has won 45 Big 12 games since 2017, the most in the league in that stretch.
ROCCO BECHT
Rushed for a career-high three touchdowns. It was his second career game with multiple rushing touchdowns.
Completed 70 percent of his passes, his ninth career game doing so. His school record streak of 22 touchdown passes, the longest active streak in college football, came to a close.
Iowa State is 12-1, including 10-straight wins, when Becht runs for a touchdown. He has a rushing touchdown in seven of his last 10 games.
Becht was 2-of-4 for 41 yards in the fourth quarter. He is now 18-for-27 for 243 yards passing
in the fourth quarter this season.
Became the fourth player in school history to surpass 8,000 yards of total offense in his career. Also passed Austen Arnaud for third on the list with 8,214.