Big second half spurs Cyclones to victory over Toledo

AMES — Just throw it. 

That’s exactly what Iowa State (2-4, 0-3) did against Toledo’s 118th ranked pass defense on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Jack Trice Stadium in route to a 37-30 homecoming victory over the Rockets. 

In doing so, junior quarterback Sam Richardson set an Iowa State record with 37 completions. Richardson, who attempted 53 passes, threw for a career-high 351 yards with three touchdowns in the win. 

Iowa State scored four touchdowns in the second half after trailing Toledo 13-9 at halftime. 

The Cyclone offense was forced to do this without senior starters Jarvis West and Aaron Wimberly (among the others). Both surprisingly missed the game due to injuries.

In his postgame press conference, head coach Paul Rhoads said that Wimberly sprained an ankle in practice this week. Both players, including linebacker Drake Ferch, are expected to play next week at Texas. 

But other Cyclones stepped up, specifically wide receivers Allen Lazard and D’Vario Montgomery. The rookie out of Urbandale led the Cyclones in receiving yards with 96 on eight receptions with a touchdown. Montgomery, who hadn’t been used much at all before Saturday, caught a team-high nine catches for 90 yards. 

Tight end E.J. Bibbs caught five passes for 33 yards and a touchdown. 

Iowa State kicker Cole Netten notably went 3-for-3, connecting from 32, 36 and 38 yards. 

The stat of the game might be third-down conversions. Toledo connected on seven of their first nine of them. The Rockets, who ran for 236 yards on the Cyclones, ended the game 8-for-16 on third downs. Iowa State’s defense didn’t play its best game of the season, but Wally Burnham’s crew clamped down when it needed to. 

Redshirt freshman free safety Kamari Cotton-Moya and Ferch’s replacement, senior Jared Brackens each had 12 tackles to lead the Cyclones defensively. Cotton-Moya had two pass breakups as well. Luke Knott had nine tackles with 2.5 of them being for a loss. 

Iowa State improved to 2-4 on the season and will travel to Austin to take on Texas next Saturday evening. Texas dropped to 2-4 on the season in its 31-26 loss to Oklahoma on Saturda. 

Check out CycloneFanatic.com later tonight for more coverage of Iowa State’s victory over Toledo.