Advantage, Iowa State.
The Cyclones beat the Kansas State Wildcats 24-21 on Saturday in the fourth Aer Lingus College Football Classic at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, which kicked off the 2025 college football season and afforded the Big 12 Conference a chance in the national (and international) spotlight.
While things were sloppy to start — in part because of rainy conditions — the action picked up in the fourth quarter.
Here are three takeaways from the matchup.
The offenses struggled until the game’s latter stages
Neither team could get much going offensively early in the matchup — the weather created sloppy conditions, and both teams were mistake-prone on that side of the ball while the defenses dominated the action.
For college football fans tuning in because they were desperate to see the season start, it was a bit anticlimactic.
Both teams lost two fumbles in the first half, including one on a muffed punt from Kansas State star running back Dylan Edwards, who was hurt on the play and didn’t return to the game.
Midway through the third quarter, Iowa State’s offense finally got rolling and scored on three straight possessions, including two touchdowns, to go ahead 24-14.
That helped build up some excitement for the first game of the season.
Then, after Kansas State trimmed the lead to three with 6:23 to play, the Cyclones finished things out with a brilliant 12-play, 60-yard drive that ended with them being able to run out the clock.
The game’s biggest play came when Iowa State chose to go for it on fourth-and-3 from the Kansas State 16 with two and a half minutes to go. The Cyclones took advantage of an overaggressive Kansas State defense, and Rocco Becht hit Carson Hansen in the flat and Hansen used his shiftiness — and a spin move — to pick up the first down and plenty more.
He dove for the end zone at the end of what ended up a 15-yard play — one that was initially ruled a touchdown — but upon review, it was marked at the 1-yard line.
That worked in Iowa State’s favor. With Kansas State out of timeouts, the Cyclones knelt down three times to run out the clock.
The fourth-quarter theatrics ended up leaving a positive impression on a game that had a slow beginning.
Rocco Becht got the best of Avery Johnson again
Saturday’s game featured two of the top returning quarterbacks in the Big 12 in Iowa State’s Becht and Kansas State’s Avery Johnson.
Like last year when the Cyclones topped the Wildcats, Becht and Co. outdueled Johnson and the Wildcats.
Becht, a three-year starter, showed the poise of a senior leader while helping the Cyclones overcome some early offensive woes.
He ended up completing 14 of 28 passes for 183 yards and two touchdowns. That included completing his final five passes of the game, as Iowa State was attempting to hold off the Wildcats.
Becht also scored on a 7-yard touchdown run to give the Cyclones the 24-14 lead with 6:38 to play, as Iowa State capitalized on Kansas State’s risk of trying to convert a fourth-and-1 at its own 30.
Johnson was stopped for no gain on the fourth-down try, and it set up Iowa State with the short field.
Johnson completed 21 of 30 passes for 273 yards and two touchdowns and adding 21 rushing yards and a score on the ground, and he kept finding ways to get the Wildcats back int he game.
But in the matchup’s most critical moments, Becht had a better overall day than Johnson.
Iowa State picks up an important win. Was it a good showcase for the Big 12?
The Cyclones are coming off a season in which they won a school-record 11 games and reached the Big 12 championship game.
Even so, with personnel losses like having star receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel head to the NFL, outside expectations for Iowa State going into this season weren’t as high as some of the other contenders in the Big 12.
With Saturday’s win over the Wildcats, who were getting more attention as a serious Big 12 contender, the Cyclones sent a message that they are likely to be a force in the league chase again — and now they have a 1-0 conference jump on the field.
With the eyes of the United States — and obviously those in Ireland — on the product the Big 12 offers, the game’s ending was far better than the opening stanza in terms of perception.
The league needs to do well in its nonconference slate to help improve its perception in comparison to its power conference peers. It’s also debatable whether Saturday’s effort helped their cause a ton, though a strong second half helped, especially for the Cyclones.
The Wildcats have some work to do. Last year, their hopes at being a Big 12 contender were spoiled by a November slide, and now they are behind in the league race one game in.