Sixteenth-ranked Iowa State became the first top-25 team to hit 3–0 this season with a 16–13 win over rival Iowa on Saturday, and Cyclones quarterback Rocco Becht kept his record rolling.
Becht went 18-27 passing for 134 yards and a touchdown, his 21st consecutive game with a touchdown. He not only holds the ISU record, Becht also holds the longest streak in the country.
In addition, Becht won his second one-score game of the season on Saturday as he led the Cyclones on a 13-play, 55-yard drive in the fourth quarter to go ahead 16–13 on a field goal. Cyclones kicker Kyle Konrardy drilled a 54-yard field goal to break the tie, and it marked his third of the day, with the other two coming at 44 and 27 yards.
Becht and Konrardy’s scoring efforts kept the rivalry Cyhawk trophy at home as the Cyclones beat the Hawkeyes (1–1) at home in Ames for the first time since 2011. ISU won last year’s meeting in Iowa City.
“It’s huge. These are milestone moments,” Campbell said. “And our kids, this schedule, and what we’ve been up against—real toughness. And [we] talked about it all offseason, and these kids have bought into that. I’m really proud of them.”
While the series has been in favor of the Hawkeyes historically, 47–26 all-time, the Cyclones have one three of the past four matchups. In addition, the games have been decided by 10 points or fewer in each of the past eight years.
It’s also an in-state rivalry that has stood the test of time despite the schools playing in different conferences. Many other rivalries between a state’s two biggest public universities have gone dormant when one of the teams leaves a conference.
“I thought we had great resolve today,” Campbell said. “Not a lot of things went our way at times. Just [our] ability to hang in there, keep playing one play at a time, and I thought our kids did a great job of handling their emotions.”
ISU’s season started with a trip to Ireland and a hard-fought, 24–21 win against Kansas State for a neutral-site game that counted in the Big 12 standings. Becht led a 12-play drive in that one to end the game.
In three games, Becht has 461 yards passing and five touchdowns, plus no interceptions. The third-year starter has completed 61.2 percent of his passes for 7,151 yards and 53 touchdowns versus 18 interceptions thus far in his career. Cyclones offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser isn’t surprised by Becht’s solid career and strong start to 2025.
ISU will look to keep things rolling on the road against Arkansas State (1–1), a team that got thumped 56–14 by Arkansas (2–0) on Saturday. Campbell doesn’t want his team to overlook the Red Wolves after a big rivalry win over the Hawkeyes.
“I think this football team is going to have a lot of questions answered next Saturday,” Campbell said. “I mean, we’re going on the road. You’re going, obviously, last time we went on the road and played, I think in a non-Power 5 school, we got beat. There’s a lot of challenges at hand.”
Iowa, meanwhile, will look to regroup against UMass (0–2) on Sept. 13 before the start of Big Ten play.
