Cyclone Comeback Falls Short, 34-31, in OT

LAS VEGAS, Nev. ? Coming back from a 21-point halftime deficit, the Iowa State football team tied the game at 28-28 and forced overtime against UNLV before falling to the Rebels, 34-31 Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium. Playing offense first in the extra period, the Cyclones were stalled and settled for a Grant Mahoney field goal, making the score 31-28. The Rebels went to the endzone on their first play on offense, scoring on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Omar Clayton to Phillip Payne for the win, 34-31.

After ISU scored two touchdowns in the third quarter to pull within 21-14, UNLV responded with a TD with eight seconds left in the third quarter to go up 28-14. The Cyclone offense responded by driving 80 yards over seven and a half minutes to close the score to 28-21, with 7:44 left in the game.

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ISU's quarterback tandem of Austen Arnaud and Phillip Bates took turns directing the offense in the 80-yard scoring drive. J.J. Bass rushed for 17 yards and Bates followed with an 8-yard run to put the Cyclones at the UNLV 15-yard line. Five plays later, Arnaud completed a 4-yard pass to Derrick Catlett at the UNLV 1-yard line. On the next play and the fourth down, Arnaud ran the ball on a bootleg for the Cyclone TD.

The two teams traded 3-and-outs, before UNLV's Frank Summers ran the ball 29 yards on two carries. The ISU defense stiffened again, however, forcing the Rebels to punt the ball. UNLV's Dack Ishii punted the ball to ISU's 2-yard line before it bounced out of bounds with 1:34 on the clock.

Arnaud propelled the Cyclones down the field, completing five passes and rushing for 25 yards in the 92-yard drive. Arnaud completed a 28-yard pass to R.J. Sumrall who grabbed the ball among a host of defenders and dove into the endzone for the score and the tie with three seconds left.

“I was really proud of our offense,” ISU head coach Gene Chizik said. “I was proud that they were able to take the ball down the field like they did with under two minutes and they were able to take it in and score. They made a fabulous play down there. That kind of play was a roll of the dice and Austen made a great play.”

Iowa State finished with 306 total yards, while allowing the Rebels to amass 454 offensive yards. Arnaud completed 13-of-23 passes for 155 yards and rushed for a career-high 51 yards. The sophomore passed for a pair of touchdowns and rushed for two more. UNLV's Clayton hit on 15-of-21 passes for 235 yards and three touchdowns. UNLV is now 3-1. Iowa State is 2-2.

It did not start well for the Cyclones. UNLV marched 95 yards in 10 plays, aided by Iowa State penalties to take a 7-0 advantage with 4:41 left in the first quarter. The Rebels then took only four plays to score again with the big play a 48-yard scoring pass from Clayton to Summers to give the Rebels 14-0 lead with 1:26 left in the first quarter.

The Rebels drove 69 yards in six plays just before the end of the first half and a 3-yard TD pass from Clayton to Casey Flair in the back of the endzone gave the Rebels a 21-0 lead. UNLV outgained Iowa State 288-38 in the first half.

Iowa State struck first in the second half. Arnaud hit R.J. Sumrall with a 28-yard TD pass as ISU drew within 21-7 after a nine-play, 94-yard drive that took 4:59.

Jesse Smith picked up Ryan Wolf's fumble and returned it 41 yards to the Rebel 10-yard line. It was UNLV's first turnover of the season. One-play later, Arnaud broke a host of tackles and drove across the goal line to make it 21-14 with 5:41 left in the third quarter.

A crowd of 10,000 Iowa State fans were in attendance rooting for their team.

Iowa State will take a week off before opening Big 12 Conference play against the Kansas Jayhawks on Oct. 4 in Ames. Game time has not yet been announced.

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Players Mentioned

Austen Arnaud

Austen Arnaud

Phillip Bates

Derrick Catlett

Derrick Catlett

Grant Mahoney

Jesse Smith

Jesse Smith

R.J. Sumrall

R.J. Sumrall

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