Aiden Flora returned a punt 79 yards for a touchdown with 6:32 left to help lead Iowa State to a 20-17 win over TCU on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Cyclones (6-4, 3-4 Big 12), while the loss virtually eliminated TCU (6-3, 3-3) from the Big 12 race.
TCU got the ball back in the final minute, but the Horned Frogs couldn’t get anything going and their two-game winning streak was snapped.
TCU trailed for much of the game before taking the lead with a long drive to start the second half.
Josh Hoover capped off the 15-play, nearly six-minute drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Dwyer to put the Horned Frogs up 10-6.
After Bud Clark’s interception – his second of the game – gave TCU the ball back, the Horned Frogs then ripped off another long drive, extending the lead to 17-6 on Trent Battle’s 2-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.
The Cyclones weren’t going away, though, as quarterback Rocco Becht and running back Carson Hansen teamed up to inject some life into an Iowa State offense that had been stagnant since an early touchdown drive.
On third-and-4 early in the drive, Becht scrambled for 25 yards to keep the drive alive, and Hansen followed with a 24-yard run on the next play.
Hansen eventually finished off the drive with a 1-yard run to pull the Cyclones within five after the two-point conversion failed.
Iowa State’s defense forced a quick three-and-out, and Flora sliced through the middle of the field for his first career punt-return touchdown.
The Horned Frogs trailed 6-3 late in the first half when Clark picked off Becht to give TCU a chance to tie the game or take the lead going into the break.
Josh Hoover hit a pair of long passes to quickly drive to the brink of the Iowa State 10, but Nate McCashland’s 25-yard field goal try was no good to keep Iowa State on top going into halftime.
Hansen ran for 108 yards on 28 carries, his third consecutive 100-yard game.
TCU outgained the Cyclones 432-272, including 319 passing yards from Hoover, who threw a touchdown and two interceptions.
Dwyer had 11 catches for 108 yards while Eric McAlister had 11 catches for 107 yards in the loss.
The loss was TCU’s first at home in over 13 months.
–Field Level Media
