Cyclones let one slip away against Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — Standing on the Iowa State sidelineswith less than half a minute left in a tied game, Coach Paul Rhoads liked his team's odds to reach overtime.

ISU sent its defense back onto the field after knotting up the score 45-45 with Texas, needing one more stop to force extra football. Longhorn quarterback Tyrone Swoopes had other ideas, completing consecutive passes of 39 yards to Jaxon Shipley and 29 yards to John Harris to set up a game-winning field goal.

'They made great plays, didn't they?' Rhoads said. '(The) quarterback threw great balls and two great receivers made great plays.'

Those two key completions set up a 21-yard field goal attempt for Nick Rose, who knocked it through, giving Texas a 48-45 win against Iowa State on Saturday at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. The loss dropped the Cyclones to 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the Big 12 with the Longhorns rising to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the league.

Iowa State fell behind 14-0 early, but responded with 21 unanswered points and held a lead with less than seven minutes remaining in the first half. During that span, the Cyclones forced two turnovers — including a 51-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown by linebacker Jevohn Miller.

ISU safety T.J. Mutcherson forced a fumble by Texas receiver John Harris, which Miller scooped up and carried to the end zone to tie the game at 14-14.

'I was playing off one of my blocks trying to get outside because they did that jet sweep there,' Miller said. 'I was just swarming to the ball trying to help our guys make the tackle and I when I was getting ready to get on the pile everyone on the team said it looked like I was looking at it forever. I was looking at the pile and all of a sudden I saw the ball.'

"You don't get turnovers by doing turnover circuits in practices, you get turnovers by guys being where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be there and arriving physically and violently and fast and that's what we did,' Rhoads said. 'Jevohn got a scoop and showed his Brooklyn, Iowa, athleticism and speed and ended up in the end zone and we continued to execute from there.'

Swoopes followed up his performance last week against Oklahoma with another productive outing for Texas. He finished 24-for-36 passing with 321 yards and a touchdown, also rushing for 95 yards and a touchdown.

Rhoads said his defense was able to get Swoopes out of rhythm at times — which could force him to make quick decisions — but saw him deliver balls on time throughout the game.

'He came out smoking,' Rhoads said. 'Really came out throwing the ball well and throwing it on time and executing tremendously well.'

Iowa State wasn't as consistent as it needed to be on either side of the ball.

'We're disappointed,' said cornerback Nigel Tribune. 'We had the game won.'