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Dateline: 1,209 Kilometers from the Gulf of Mexico
The Cincinnati Bearcats jumped out to a big lead early and downed the Iowa State Cyclones 38-30 for its second Big 12 win.
Evan Pryor rushed for 111 yards on 10 carries and Tawee Walker contributed 87 yards on 13 carries.
Brendan Sorsby threw for 214 yards and two touchdowns. Iowa State's Rocco Becht threw for 314 and Abu Sama III ran for 96 yards in a losing effort.
The Cincinnati (4-1, 2-0 Big 12) ambushed the banged up Iowa State Cyclones to post its second conference win in as many weeks. Iowa State was 5-0 with a conference win over Arizona last week. The Cyclones (5-1, 2-1 Big 12) were ranked 14th in the Associated Press Poll this week.
The Bearcats scored on its first two possessions at Nippert Stadium. Evan Pryor capped a six play 80-yard drive carrying the ball to the endzone from 30 yards out. The Bearcats were stymied by a holding penalty but Stephen Rusnak kicked a 38-yard field goal to extend the lead.
After forcing a turnover on downs at its own 30, Cincinnati scored on its third possession with Brendon Sorsby tossing 12 yards to Noah Jennings to put the home team up 17-0 against the beat up Cyclones, who have 13 players out with injury.
Rocco Becht ran 14 yards for a score early in the second quarter to put Iowa State on the scoreboard.
Logan Wilson returned the kickoff 36 yards to set up the Bearcats third touchdown, an 18-yard run by Pryor 1:06 later, capping a 65-yard drive.
Cincinnati scored again on a defense that allowed just 14.2 per game with 1:08 left in the first half. Sorsby ran for the final 20 yards giving the Bearcats a 31-7 lead at the halftime.
The Cyclones were missing its top two kickers. Walk on freshman, Chase Smith missed a 35-yard field goal.
With no time left in the half Mathew McDoom appeared to intercept a Becht pass in the end zone but McDoom was penalized for interference. Becht ran it in from the four on the final timed play of the half. The Cyclones converted on a two-point conversion on a pass to Benjamin Brahmer to set the halftime score to 31-15.
Iowa State took 14 plays and consumed 6:54 to score off the second-half kickoff. Becht found Brett Eskildsen in the corner of the endzone from 11 yards out. Smith kicked the extra-point and the Cyclones trailed by nine points.
Chance Williams returned the kick to the Iowa State 46 yard line.
The Bearcats turned the ball over running an option play at the 40 yard line. Iowa State recovered with 6:51 remaining in the third quarter. The Bearcats had the ball for three plays.
Cincinnati had three big plays called back on its best fourth quarter drive. A 19-yard run by Tawee Walker was called back by a block below the knees, a 26-yard pass to Caleb Goodie was nullified by an offensive lineman downfield as was a 52-yard pass to Noah Jennings.
Cincinnati held the Cyclones on downs at the Cincinnati 16 with a chance to run the clock out with 7:40 left in the game. On a third and 18 play, Sorsby found Goodie for an 82-yard score with 5:57 left. It was Cincinnati's longest pass play since Gunner Kiel completed an 88-yard play in 2015.
Becht completed a three-yard touchdown pass to Chase Sowell with 1:56 left in the game and converted for two points on a pass to Brahmer.
Missing kicker Kyle Konrady affected Iowa State's coach Matt Campbell's decisions. Chase Smith a walk on freshman was a huge drop off in talent.
"It affected our decisions but we prepared for it," Campbell said. "Obviously its a unique challenge but we prepared for that challenge too. Those are moments, you have to make some of those moments.You have to win some of those moments. The reality is we just didn't have the ability to make some of those moments. But obviously we're super grateful for what Chase is doing. He is giving us a chance. That's all you can ask for. We're really proud of him and like I said when a good player goes down everybody else has got to be able to step up."
The Cyclones were thin at cornerback too. Jeremiah Cooper suffered a season-ending injury four games after moving from safety to cornerback at the start of the season. They were missing Beni Ngoyi, who appeared in the first five games and Khijohnn Cummings-Coleman.
"I thought the new corners made some really good plays," Campbell said. "Quentin Taylor down in the red zone made a couple really good plays. Obviously Tre (Bell) is continuing to play good football. Give them credit there was a 50-50 ball and they were able to make a play. That's going to happen to every corner in America. David Coffey went in and at least from an early evaluation did a great job in the game and got in at corner. We're not flinching there. We feel we have some really good football players and they will only get better. They got a chance to show up today and did some really good things.
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