Members of the Iowa State football team celebrate after beating West Virginia 42-6 on Dec. 5. With this win, Iowa State won its first regular season conference title since 1908 and earned a spot in the Big 12 Championship on Dec. 19.
Photo Courtesy of Iowa State Athletics
The tenth-ranked Iowa State Cyclones made history on Saturday.
By beating the 25th ranked Oregon Ducks 34-17 in the 2021 Playstation Fiesta Bowl, Iowa State won its biggest bowl game ever.
Iowa State won its first ever New Year’s Six bowl game, in its first appearance in program history.
With a rushing attack led by sophomore running back Breece Hall, Iowa State scored 34 points and never trailed.
Iowa State established the run against Oregon, rushing for 228 yards and two touchdowns on 56 attempts.
Hall led all rushers with 136 yards and two touchdowns on 34 attempts.
Iowa State junior quarterback Brock Purdy also rushed for 39 yards on nine attempts.
Through the air, Purdy completed 20 out of his 29 passes for 156 yards and a touchdown.
Iowa State redshirt junior tight end Charlie Kolar led all receivers with five receptions for 53 yards and a touchdown.
Oregon managed to score two touchdowns on the ground by senior quarterback Anthony Brown, but nothing else.
The Ducks lost to the Cyclones in part due to turnovers.
The Cyclones forced two fumbles, recovered two muffed kicks and picked off one pass in their win on Saturday.
The Ducks offense struggled on third down for the entire game, going zero for six.
Meanwhile, the Cyclones converted 11 out its 19 third-down attempts.
Iowa State jumped out to a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter off a one yard rushing touchdown by Hall.
Oregon responded with a rushing touchdown by Brown.
Purdy gave the Cyclones the lead once again with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Kolar with 10:58 left in the second quarter.
After an Oregon fumble, Iowa State had another touchdown opportunity but came up short on fourth and goal from at the Oregon one yard line.
Oregon tied it at 14 with 3:17 left in the second quarter, thanks to a 16-yard touchdown run by Brown.
Purdy then ran for a one-yard touchdown with 1:44 left in the first half, to give Iowa State a 21-14 lead.
On the ensuing kickoff, Oregon couldn’t gain control of the ball and Iowa State redshirt junior Rory Walling recovered the ball.
Two plays later, Hall ran it in from one yard out to make Iowa State’s lead 28-14.
Henry Katleman made a 47-yard field goal to cut Oregon’s lead to 11 at halftime.
Oregon’s offense got nothing going in the second half and had zero points in the half.
Iowa State added six points to it’s score off of two field goals by redshirt senior kicker Connor Assalley to help Iowa State win it 34-17.
Iowa State finishes the 2020 season with a 9-3 record, which is tied for the single best record in a season in program history (2000).
