No. 16 Iowa State falls short in Big 12 title game again, this time with CFP at stake

ARLINGTON, Texas – The stakes were higher for Iowa State, and the outcome was the same as the first for the Cyclones in their second trip to the Big 12 championship game.

And the 112-year wait for a conference title will go on.

No. 16 Iowa State was playing for a spot in the College Football Playoff in a 45-19 loss to 12th-ranked Arizona State on Saturday, unlike four years ago when the Cyclones fell to Oklahoma.

The Sun Devils (No. 15 CFP) are in the expanded 12-team format, possibly as the 12th seed with their conference’s automatic bid.

In the COVID-19-altered 2020 season, neither Iowa State nor the Sooners had a realistic path into the four-team tournament before Oklahoma’s 27-21 victory.

“I think those things sting for sure,” Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said. “You remember the losses way more than you remember the wins, and especially when you don’t play to what you’re capable of playing. Those things will haunt you and the reality is it’s still what drives you, what wakes you up every day to come in and be your absolute best.”

Brock Purdy threw three interceptions in Iowa State’s 2020 loss, when he was still a year away from being Mr. Irrelevant as the last pick in the NFL draft and eventually helping San Francisco reach a Super Bowl.

This time, any hope of a rally from a two-touchdown deficit at halftime ended with Abu Sama III’s lost fumble five plays into the third quarter and Rocco Becht’s interception not too long after that.

Those turnovers resulted in touchdown catches for Xavier Guillory, putting the Sun Devils up 38-10 with 6 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter.

Another Abu fumble on the next possession just made it worse, with Cam Skattebo taking a short pass 33 yards for a touchdown to go with his 170 yards and two TDs rushing.

What would have been a fourth consecutive giveaway was overturned when a hit by Shamari Simmons forced a fumble from Becht but was overturned on review. Simmons was called for targeting instead as Becht stayed down and exited the game. He returned on Iowa State’s next possession.

“We’re a second-half team, and today it just wasn’t clicking on all cylinders for us,” said Becht, who was 21 of 35 for 214 yards with two touchdowns and the pick. “We had everything in our hands and we just needed to execute. At the end of the day, we just didn’t.”

Iowa State (No. 16 CFP), which is 10-3 in the first 10-win season in the program’s 133-year history, actually led 7-3 when Becht extended his streak of consecutive games with a touchdown pass to 17 with a 3-yarder to Carson Hansen.

But the only quarterback in the nation with a pair of 1,000-yard receivers couldn’t get much production out of either before the outcome was settled.

When Arizona State extended its lead to 45-10 in the third quarter, Jayden Higgins had four catches for 58 yards and Jaylin Noel just two for 25. Higgins finished with 115 yards, while Noel scored a touchdown and had 64 yards.

The Cyclones are still trying to win their first conference title since 1912, when they went 2-0 in the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association as part of a 6-2 season. That was a year after a 2-0-1 record won the Missouri Valley title in a 6-1-1 season.

“The reality from our end is we had some opportunities late in the season to put ourselves probably in the best situation,” Campbell said. “Those are great lessons learned, and we’ll grow with it. Young football team that’s got the ability to grow forward for sure.”

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