AMES, Iowa (AP) — Jeff Woody doesn’t care how it looks. He and his Iowa State teammates won another football game, and for Woody, that’s all that matters.
Favored by double digits against woeful Kansas, Iowa State needed Zach Guyer’s field goal with 4:30 left to beat the Jayhawks 13-10 and keep them winless in the Big 12.
“A win is a win, by one or 100,” said Woody, whose hard-nosed running helped Iowa State run out the clock at the end. “When we played as poorly as we did offensively in the first half and you manage to pull out a win ... the defense played well all day. They gave up a few drives but managed to stop the points.”
Iowa State looked nothing like the team that rolled over Texas Tech 41-7 a week before and struggled to finish drives against the Big 12’s worst defense.
But freshman quarterback Jared Barnett finally got the Cyclones (5-4, 2-4 Big 12) close enough for Guyer to kick his game-winner, leading a march from his own 13 to the Kansas 24. With the wind at his back, Guyer put his kick squarely through the uprights, his second field goal of the day.
“It was rough,” Barnett said. “Kansas really came out to play. We had to execute and at some points in the game we didn’t, but we came out with a victory and that’s what counts.”
Kansas (2-7, 0-6) showed some spark after managing only 46 yards in a 43-0 loss to Texas, but missed two field goals and lost a fumble deep in Iowa State territory in suffering its seventh straight loss. The Jayhawks haven’t won a conference game since beating Colorado, which no longer is in the Big 12, on Nov. 6, 2010.
“Our defense definitely gave us a good chance to win,” Kansas quarterback Jordan Webb said, “but when it came down to it, we, our offense, just couldn’t get it done. A loss is a loss, but when you’re that close and the game is almost in your grasp, it’s definitely different.”
Barnett, now 2-0 as a starter, ran for 125 yards on 22 carries and threw for another 175 yards, completing 16 of 30 passes with one interception.
He started the winning drive with a 17-yard completion to Aaron Horne, then sprinted 11 yards for another first down. Barnett later hit Albert Gary for gains of 11 and 6 yards before the drive stalled and coach Paul Rhoads called on Guyer, whose 32-yarder had given Iowa State an early 3-0 lead.
“J.B. is quick as a whip,” Woody said. “Whenever a play breaks down, he can just take off and outrun the secondary, linebackers and linemen. It makes the defense stay on their toes and makes it almost impossible to contain him. When J.B. has his legs going like today, it’s a good thing for us.”
Iowa State’s Stephen Ruempolhamer sacked Webb three plays after Guyer’s field goal to force a punt, and the Cyclones, taking over with 2:37 left, kept the ball the rest of the way as Woody ripped off runs of 6, 8, 6 and 25 yards.
The Cyclones finished with 426 yards of total offense against a team that had been allowing an average of 559 a game in league play. Iowa State now is within one win of bowl eligibility, but the Cyclones have a tough road the rest of the way, finishing against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Kansas State.
“The players know where we’re at,” Rhoads said. “I don’t have any doubts that we’re going to stay focused for the rest of the games we have this season.”
Both teams wasted good scoring opportunities, and that was especially costly for Kansas.
After taking a 7-3 lead when D.J. Beshears scored on a 22-yard reverse late in the first quarter, Kansas drove to the Iowa State 32, 19, 23 and 2 on consecutive possessions and came away with only three points.
Alex Mueller had a 49-yard field goal attempt blocked by A.J. Klein, then was wide right on a 36-yard attempt, and James Sims lost a fumble before Ron Doherty kicked a 19-yard field goal to tie the score at 10 in the third quarter. The Cyclones stiffened on that drive after Kansas had first-and-goal at the 4.
“We were just so close,” Sims said. “But I really felt like we got better today.”
Iowa State had taken a 10-7 lead on wide receiver Aaron Horne’s 18-yard touchdown run on a reverse. Horne came around from the right side, turned the corner, squirted through a group of tacklers at the 10 and raced to the end zone to finish an 11-play, 80-yard drive.
The Cyclones seemed on the verge of taking a 17-10 lead early in the fourth quarter when Barnett and Woody missed a connection on a handoff on second-and-1 at the KU 9. The ball came loose, and Patrick Dorsey recovered for the Jayhawks. Punter Kirby Van Der Kamp had kept that drive going with a 17-yard run on a fake.
After the fumble, Iowa State forced the Jayhawks to go three-and-out on their next two possessions — the first time that had happened all day — and Barnett directed the drive to Guyer’s go-ahead field goal.
Kansas showed an effective running game after being held to minus-2 yards on the ground by Texas. The Jayhawks rushed for 174 yards, but had only 4 yards on the ground and 15 total yards in the fourth quarter.
Webb finished 13 for 21 for 127 yards and no interceptions.
IOWA ST. 13, KANSAS 10
Kansas 7 0 3 0 — 10
Iowa St. 3 7 0 3 — 13
First Quarter
ISU — FG Guyer 32, 5:23.
Kan — Beshears 22 run (Mueller kick), 2:02.
Second Quarter
ISU — Horne 18 run (Guyer kick), 4:45.
Third Quarter
Kan — FG Doherty 19, 5:49.
Fourth Quarter
ISU — FG Guyer 42, 4:30.
A — 51,575.
TEAM STATISTICS
Kan ISU
First downs 17 25
Rushes-yards 39-174 49-251
Passing 127 175
Comp-Att-Int 13-22-0 16-30-1
Return Yards 41 0
Punts-Avg. 4-40.5 2-44.5
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 4-2
Penalties-Yards 4-30 3-35
Time of Possession 29:17 30:43
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Kansas, Miller 17-70, Sims 11-50, Beshears 3-28, Bourbon 2-25, Webb 6-1. Iowa St., Barnett 22-125, Woody 9-61, White 10-36, Horne 1-18, Van Der Kamp 1-17, Hollis 4-(minus 1), Team 2-(minus 5).
PASSING — Kansas, Webb 13-21-0-127, Matthews 0-1-0-0. Iowa St., Barnett 16-30-1-175.
RECEIVING — Kansas, Beshears 5-45, Pick 3-35, Matthews 3-25, Jackson 1-21, Miller 1-1. Iowa St., Gary 5-57, West 3-35, Horne 2-31, C.Young 2-19, Hammerschmidt 2-1, Darks 1-22, White 1-10.
