The Cyclones (1-2) had a chance to clinch a win at Toledo (2-0) when they got the ball on their own 26-yard line with 5:35 to play and the score tied at 20 on Saturday night. Iowa State then drove into Rockets territory before setting up a 32-yard field goal for Cole Netten.
The kick sailed wide left of the goalposts as regulation time expired.
Two overtimes later, Toledo would sack Sam Richardson on fourth and goal to seal a 30-23 win, their second consecutive over a Power Five school.
The night’s key stat: Iowa State was penalized 14 times for 113 yards during the game, which led the demise of several promising offensive possessions.
“Mistakes kept our football team from winning the game," Paul Rhoads said after the game on the Cyclone Radio Network. "An uncharacteristically high number of penalties. Some of them were obvious and some I would like to see on film. You can’t make those kinds of mistakes and the physical mistakes made in a ball game to win a football game.”
Toledo got the scoring started in the game when Jameson Vest knocked in a 30-yard field goal with 11:39 left in the first quarter. Iowa State answered back on their next drive when Netten hit his first field goal of the night to tie the score 3-3.
On the next drive, Toledo quarterback Phillip Ely connected with Alonzo Russell from three yards out to give the Rockets a 10-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Toledo extended their lead to 10 when Vest knocked in his second field goal of the day from 19 yards.
The Cyclones would answer back right away with a 59-yard touchdown pass from Richardson, who finished 25-42 for 269 yards, to D’Vario Montgomery to make the halftime score 13-10.
On Toledo’s first drive of the second half, a fumble by Toledo quarterback Phillip Ely was recovered in the end zone by Alex Zmolik to extend the Rockets’ lead to 20-10.
The two teams then traded punts before ISU running back Trever Ryen picked up his second touchdown of the season on a one yard run to make the score 20-17.
After another Toledo punt, the Cyclones drove into field goal range to set up a 47-yarder by Netten, tying the score at 20.
The two teams traded field goals during the first overtime, then the Rockets were able to score on a 10 yard run by Damion Jones-Moore during the second extra period.
The Cyclones were able to get the ball to the Rockets’ 10-yard line before their drive would falter.
One of the biggest positives on the night for the Cyclones was the emergence of the running game. The Cyclones ran for 207 yards on the night as a team, 126 of those yards coming from freshman running back Mike Warren.
Iowa State out-gained the Rockets 481-309 on the night and kept Toledo running back Kareem Hunt out of the end zone, even though he did finish with 129 yards on 24 carries.
The Cyclones will have a bye next week before the Kansas Jayhawks travel to Ames for the Big 12 opener on Oct. 3.
“Part of my message to them was that the Big 12 is next," Rhoads said. "That’s the league we are privileged to play with. We’ve got nine opportunities ahead of us.”
