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The Texas Longhorns (2-2, 1-0) head off to Ames, Iowa for a rare Thursday night contest versus the Iowa State Cyclones (1-2). Coming into last Thursday’s contest against Tulsa, the Cyclones were 0-2 with close losses to in state rivals Northern Iowa and Iowa. A key point would the be health of QB Sam Richardson and the continued development of the squads chemistry against a Golden Hurricane team which had been taken to the woodshed by Oklahoma. So how did the Cyclones perform?
Richardson went 26 of 41 for 255 yards and two touchdowns as Iowa State put on a dominant second half performance to win 38-21 on the road. RB Aaron Wimberly also rushed for 137 yards on 19 touches.
Sam Richardson completed 26 of 41 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns, and Aaron Wimberly ran for 137 yards on 19 carries to help Iowa State beat Tulsa 38-21 on Thursday night. Iowa State finished with 434 yards of offense, 179 of those coming on the ground, and defensively held Tulsa to 374 yards while forcing four turnovers. The Golden Hurricane is down this year, but for an ISU team needing a win and confidence boost it was a solid performance.
On the win, Iowa State front man Paul Rhoads stated to ESPN:Â “We’ve been working very hard and I think we’ve really improved. That’s a lot of practices and a lot of maintaining focus to do what’s right and improve and that’s exactly what they did … I thought the defense played very well. When you can hold Tulsa to 86 yards rushing that’s exceptional.”
Texas has opened as a very early nine point favorite, but this will be a very unusual situation for the Horns. Unless its Thanksgiving, Texas doesn’t play on Thursdays, and certainly wouldn’t do so on the road by choice. A normally slow starting team, the Horns will be coming off a bye in unfamiliar time and territory, with Oklahoma looming nine days later.
Iowa State’s last weekday contest was Friday, November 18, 2011. Iowa State overcame a 24-7 deficit to upset #2 Oklahoma State and its group of future NFL players 31-27 in overtime. Could be an interesting night in Ames.
