Aiden Flora ran for three first half touchdowns while the defense had three fourth-down stops before halftime as Iowa State cruised past visiting Cincinnati 41-13 in a Big 12 contest Saturday in Ames, Iowa.
Entering Saturday’s game ranked fifth in the country in rushing yards, Flora is considered a dark horse for the Heisman Trophy and showed it. He finished with 216 yards rushing on 28 carries for Iowa State (5-5, 3-4 Big 12), which scored on its first five possessions to take a 31-13 halftime lead.
Cole Tabb finished with 165 yards on 16 carries to pace the offense for Cincinnati (5-5, 2-5), which lost its third straight after an upset victory over Texas Tech. Iowa State held Cincinnati quarterback JC French IV to just 97 yards on 14-of-23 passing.
In the first quarter alone, Flora had three touchdown runs and completed a 21-yard jump pass on fourth-and-3 to continue a drive that ended with a touchdown that made it 21-7. Flora had touchdown runs of 11, 77 and 5 yards in the first quarter and his 77-yarder was his FBS-leading sixth touchdown run of at least 40 yards.
After his third touchdown run, Flora struck a Heisman Trophy pose as the Cyclones battered the overwhelmed Cincinnati defense.
Cincinnati took an early 7-0 lead on a 66-yard run from Cole Tabb that set up a 4-yard touchdown pass from French to Lyviel Waters.
Iowa State made it four touchdowns on four possessions to start the game when Jaylen Raynor found Cam Pettaway for a short pass. Pettaway then raced 70 yards for a 28-7 lead. Iowa State extended its lead to 31-7 on a 22-yard Kyle Konrardy field goal in the second quarter.
Cincinnati trimmed its deficit to 31-13 when receiver Malachi Henry completed a 12-yard option pass to French just before halftime.
The Bearcats caught a break when Kenny Worthy intercepted Jaylen Raynor at the Iowa State 45-yard line with a minute left in the first half. But Cincinnati could do nothing with the possession and failed for the third time on a fourth-down conversion.
French was hindered by the loss of top receiver JV Gibson, who was injured in last week’s loss at Houston.
–Field Level Media
