It once agains feels great to declare Iowa as the Hawkeye state.

Iowa quite frankly owned this game from their first drive and never looked back. Jaziun Patterson ripped off a 59 yard run on 3rd and 1 leading to a Hawkeye field goal, which would give them the lead the rest of the game.

Patterson led the Hawkeye offense, rushing 10 times for 86 yards and a TD. Cade McNamara did his job with 123 yards through the air, while Luke Lachey led all pass-catchers with 3 catches for 58 yards.

Defensively, Iowa’s highlight of the game was a pick-six in the second quarter by Sebastian Castro, after what was quite honestly a horrible no-call the play prior.

Iowa State offensively really just never got anything going. Rocco Becht looked like a freshman QB playing Iowa for the first time. He had his moments where he looked really good, others where he made some questionable decisions. Becht didn’t get ANY help from his receivers this game. Jaylin Noel had at least 2, maybe 3 dropped passes and he wasn’t the only one. Jayden Higgins was a bright spot for the Cyclones, hauling in 8 catches for 95 yards and a really impressive TD late in the 4th quarter.

On the defensive side of the ball, Iowa State honestly looked really good. Outside of a couple big plays, Iowa’s offense was really held in check. If it wasn’t for those couple plays, this could’ve been a very different outcome. Their defense was able to force stops, force field goals and also caused a turnover with an interception off of Cade McNamara.

Overall, this game wasn’t nearly as close as the score would suggest. Iowa was dominating for a good portion of the game, but the offense just stayed stagnant in typical Iowa fashion. Cade McNamara did what he needed to, even taking some shots throughout the game to keep the Cyclone defense guessing. In the run game, outside of a few big runs, Iowa really struggled for the second straight week. The offensive line struggled to open holes for the backs, and struggled protecting McNamara at times.

McNamara did miss on a couple big throws, including one to Seth Anderson that probably would’ve been a 91 yard TD.

Obviously the Hawkeyes will be happy bringing home the CyHawk trophy, but there is a lot of improvements to be made before conference play starts in a few weeks against Penn State in the whiteout game.

Iowa State will move on to play on the road next week against the Ohio Bobcats, while Iowa hosts Western Michigan