Everyday Breaking News

Ames, Ia. — Style points don’t count for much when you’re facing the toughest college football schedule in the nation, so take Iowa State’s 27-10 win against Northern Illinois Thursday for what it’s worth.

It’s one-sixth of the way to bowl eligibility. That’s the important thing when remaining opponents include four teams among the Associated Press’ top 10, starting with No. 9 Iowa on Sept. 11 in Iowa City.

A Jack Trice Stadium crowd of 43,116 saw Iowa State quarterback Austen Arnaud and tailback Alexander Robinson play well.


They saw Darius Darks catch six passes for 52 yards, and they saw linebacker Jake Knott intercept two passes while leading a solid defensive effort.

“That was an outstanding win against a very good program,” coach Paul Rhoads said. “It was huge. It gave credibility to what we’ve preached for 29 practices.”

The crowd also saw Rhoads become the first Iowa State coach since Donnie Duncan in 1979 and 1980 to win season-opening games in his first two seasons.

“We started like we prepared, and then first-game mistakes started creeping in and we had two of them,” Rhoads said. “You can’t expect to turn the ball over three times and win many football games.”

Arnaud completed 27-of-36 passes for 265 yards, but threw a pair of interceptions. Robinson’s 97 rushing yards on 19 carries included a 63-yard touchdown run. They were the primary players responsible for the Cyclones’ 403 yards.

“Austen made a number of throws,” Rhoads said. “He made some blunders, but he had some really good tosses, too.”

Iowa State led 7-0 with 2:27 left in the first quarter on a 2-yard run by Arnaud, who faked to Jeff Woody before piling into the end zone. This touchdown counted — he ran untouched 53 yards earlier into the end zone, but it was called back because the Cyclones didn’t have enough players on the line.

Both place-kickers misfired in the early going — Iowa State’s Grant Mahoney from 44 yards and Northern Illinois’ Michael Cklamovski from 49.

Robinson made it 14-0 Iowa State on a 63-yard touchdown dash on the play after safety Zac Sandvig intercepted a pass, and the Cyclones’ lead became 17-0 on Mahoney’s 41-yard field goal.

Iowa State averted a touchdown on Northern Illinois’ first drive of the second half. The Cyclones first allowed big chunks of yards, then withstood a first-and-goal situation from the 2-yard line.

Rashawn Parker stopped Spann at scrimmage on first down, quarterback DeMarcus Grady gained nothing on second down, and then he over-threw a third-down pass.
Thus, the Huskies settled for a 19-yard field goal from Mathew Sims as Iowa State led 17-3 with 9:53 to play in the third quarter.

The Cyclones had another big defensive stand later in the quarter. Northern Illinois had the ball 20 yards from the end zone, but linebacker Jake Knott recorded Iowa State’s second interception of the game.

The Huskies continued their rally by turning an 18-yard punt by Daniel Kuehl into a 1-yard touchdown plunge by quarterback DeMarcus Grady in pulling within 17-10 with 8:51 to play.

Iowa State iced the game on Robinson’s 5-yard touchdown run with 5:05 remaining. His jaunt followed a third-down Northern Illinois roughing the passer penalty — on a play Arnaud threw incomplete into the end zone.

Mahoney’s second field goal of the game gave the Cyclones a 27-10 lead with 2:37 left.

One touchdown. One field goal.

“If you would have told me we were going to do that, I would have flat out called you a liar,” Rhoads said.