Iowa State Football

The Iowa State Cyclones held off the No. 20 Memphis Tigers 21-20 in Saturday's Liberty Bowl at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee.

Quarterback Kyle Kempt and wide receiver Allen Lazard led the way for Iowa State. Kempt threw for 314 yards and two touchdowns, while Lazard hauled in a Liberty Bowl record-tying 10 catches for 142 yards and one touchdown.

Quarterback Riley Ferguson finished with 286 passing yards and two touchdowns for Memphis, but it fell to 10-3, failing to record the first 11-win season in program history.

The Cyclones' 8-5 record marked their best finish since a 9-3 campaign in 2000, and the bowl win was only the fourth in program history.

Iowa State led for much of what was a close game from start to finish, and the Cyclones set the tone with a touchdown less than two minutes into the contest.

Kempt found wide receiver Hakeem Butler for a 52-yard score, as seen in this video courtesy of Cyclone Football:

Kempt to Butler for a 52-yard pass to put ISU on the board! #Cyclones Watch Now: https://t.co/1trv497X9q https://t.co/wp7ZeC3M4b

— Iowa State Football (@CycloneFB) December 30, 2017

The Tigers answered later in the quarter, however, when Ferguson hit NFL draft prospect Anthony Miller for a 10-yard touchdown.

ISU took back the lead at 14-7 in the second quarter after a two-yard run by Joel Lanning, though Memphis cut the deficit to 14-10 with Riley Patterson's 34-yard field goal as the half expired.

There was far less offense than expected in the opening half, and much of that had to do with the teams' running games—or lack thereof.

In fact, it was the most futile first half in terms of rushing yards in more than two years of FBS play, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Iowa State and Memphis combined for *zero* rushing yards in the 1st half, the fewest combined rushing yards in the first half of an FBS game since 10/31/2015 (Central Michigan at Akron).

They'll look to improve on that total in the 2nd half on ABC and https://t.co/wFESL2bcwp pic.twitter.com/4T6fQfrnhk

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 30, 2017

The teams finished with a combined 80 rushing yards, as the Cyclones' David Montgomery was held to 52 yards on 24 carries and Tigers leading rusher Darrell Henderson didn't play because of an apparent right leg injury—though Patrick Taylor Jr. finished with 68 yards on 17 carries.

Despite the lack of a running game, Memphis took its first and only lead of the game less than 90 seconds into the third quarter on a 36-yard scoring strike from Ferguson to Phil Mayhue.

Iowa State went back on top with 4:28 remaining in the quarter on a tipped Kempt pass that somehow found Lazard in the back of the end zone.

Tom Fornelli of CBSSports.com colorfully described Kempt's struggles at times:

Kyle Kempt’s passes don’t look like a dying duck as much as they look like a duck that’s been dead for weeks and is swollen with maggots.

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) December 30, 2017

Though the touchdown pass was far from perfect, it helped the Cyclones take a 21-17 lead. It also represented an Iowa State record for Lazard, who notched his 10th receiving touchdown of the season, per Alex Halsted of 247Sports.

Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register heaped high praise on Lazard:

Allen Lazard=greatest wide receiver in Iowa State history.

— Tommy Birch (@TommyBirch) December 30, 2017

After the Tigers shrank their deficit to one with Patterson's 30-yard field goal late in the third quarter, the Cyclones had a chance to put the game away in the closing minutes of the fourth.

On 3rd-and-goal from the Memphis 1-yard line, however, the officials ruled Montgomery fumbled into the end zone and the Tigers recovered for a touchback.

Sports writer Jason Collette was among those who felt the zebras made a bad call:

https://twitter.com/jasoncollette/status/947205767408570370

While the play stood after review, replays appeared to show the ball broke the plane of the end zone before it slipped from Montgomery's grasp.

The fumble gave Memphis new life, but its last drive stalled at the Iowa State 40-yard line, as Ferguson threw four straight incompletions and the Tigers turned the ball over on downs.

The Cyclones performed well beyond expectations in 2017, and the bowl victory was the ideal cap to a season that also included upset wins over then-No. 3 Oklahoma and then-No. 4 TCU.

Iowa State Cyclones head coach Matt Campbell signed a six-year, $22.5 million extension with the school, Iowa State announced Monday.  

Cyclones athletic director Jamie Pollard shared the specifics of Campbell's new deal:

Excited to announce Matt Campbell has agreed to a new six-year
contract worth $22.5M. Matt's annual salary will increase
from $2.1M to $3.5M. We will also increase the football staff's annual compensation by $1M. Go Cyclones! #raisethestandard

— Jamie Pollard (@IASTATEAD) November 27, 2017

Iowa State went 7-5 during the regular season in Campbell's second year on the sideline. The team earned upset victories over the third-ranked Oklahoma Sooners and fourth-ranked TCU Horned Frogs.

Not only is Campbell's pay raise a reward for the success he has helped deliver in 2017, but it's also a deterrent for any school that's interested in hiring him.

FootballScoop's Zach Barnett reported last Saturday the Nebraska Cornhuskers had Campbell on their radar. ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach (h/t GoVols247's Brad Crawford) reported the Tennessee Volunteers would've given him stronger consideration were it not for the $9.4 million buyout in his previous contract.

Finding a good head coach in college football is difficult, so it makes sense for Iowa State to sweeten Campbell's contract. He inherited a program that won eight combined games in Paul Rhoads' final three years, and he has the Cyclones headed to a bowl game within two seasons.

In the school's press release announcing the extension, Campbell sounded like a coach who's committed to Iowa State for the long term:

"We are just getting started at Iowa State. To see our culture rapidly developing in concert with some excellent incoming recruits, we are developing a foundation for a program on the brink of success. Most importantly, I want to continue this journey and take Iowa State and its fan base to levels it has never reached. Now, it's time to hit the recruiting trail and continue to build on what has been achieved this season."

It will be interesting to see if his mindset remains the same in a few years should his reputation continue to grow at its current rate. 

Iowa State isn't exactly a dormant college football power waiting for the right coach to bring it back to prominence. The Cyclones have never won 10 games in a year, and their last nine-win season was in 2000.

Should Campbell struggle to get Iowa State to a level in which the school is consistently contending for a Big 12 title or possibly entering the College Football Playoff race, then he may relish the challenge a more historically successful program would provide.

Iowa State cornerback Brian Peavy was arrested Thursday on a criminal mischief charge. 

Per Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register, Peavy was arrested after running from the scene when police found him and another person vandalizing a bridge with spray paint. 

Peavy posted bail and was released from Story County Jail on Thursday. 

Now in his junior season, Peavy has appeared in all 11 games for Iowa State this season. He has recorded 75 total tackles, two interceptions and one forced fumble. 

The Cyclones will finish the regular season on Saturday against Kansas State at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. They have a chance to clinch a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game with a win and a TCU loss against Baylor. 

 

Hakeem Butler would've produced a noteworthy highlight if he had gone down immediately after he made a one-handed grab on a throw from Zeb Noland.

He didn't stop there, though, simultaneously evading two Baylor tacklers to slither into the end zone. Bears safety Davion Hall even made contact before the Iowa State receiver reached the red zone.

The 67-yard score and ensuing extra point gave the Cyclones a 17-10 lead over the Bears.

Matt Campbell knew it would happen. Knew Joel Lanning would set the college football world on fire this year. Knew he'd become the player everyone was talking about.     

As he stood in the bowels of the Ford Center at The Star in Dallas in July, the second-year Iowa State coach didn't hesitate for even a second as he told me what to expect. "At some point this season," he said. "Joel will be the story of college football."

And now, here we are.

This past Saturday, the college football world caught up with Campbell and saw what he knew we'd see all the way back then. In a critical game for a team and its teetering season, Lanning played—get this—middle linebacker and quarterback, and led Iowa State to the biggest upset of the season, 38-31 over third-ranked Oklahoma.

Lanning had nine carries for 35 yards and a few crucial first-down runs, completed 2 of 3 passes for 25 yards to keep the OU defense honest, and also had eight tackles and recovered a fumble. In all, he played a grand total of 78 snaps (57 on defense, 13 on offense and eight on special teams).

He captured the spotlight of the weekend, and he might be the story of the year.

But like most dream scenarios that finally come to fruition, this one began long before Saturday night, when social media mavens suddenly started a Joel-Lanning-for-Heisman campaign.

It began at the lowest point of Lanning's college career, a day after last season came to a close for the Cyclones, with Campbell doing something those in his profession rarely do: He admitted he blew it.

First, he told Lanning, then his staff, too.

"Bad coaching," Campbell recalls as his assessment of what went wrong. "We didn't play Joel Lanning enough—and that's my fault."

It was a cold December morning in Ames, Iowa, when Campbell called Lanning and apologized for not playing him at quarterback in the season-ending loss to West Virginia. The Cyclones had officially moved on from Lanning's dual-threat ability, focusing the future of the program on the strong arm of pro-style quarterback Jacob Park.

It's not that Lanning wasn't taking snaps at quarterback. It's that Lanning—the best player on the roster—wasn't even on the field.

So where do you go from there?

When he first arrived at Iowa State and saw Lanning in the spring of 2016, Campbell remembers joking with one of his assistants that Lanning "played quarterback like he's playing mike linebacker."

And then it hit him: Why not ask Lanning—the most respected player on his team and the one player everyone gravitates toward—to move to defense and play the most important position on that side of the ball?

Forget that Lanning hadn't played defense since he was in eighth grade, or that middle linebacker has a steep learning curve. This would not only get him on the field; it could change his life.

Lanning's response to the Campbell's wild plan to save his senior season? "I'll do whatever you want," he said.

But like everything else in Lanning's world, nothing happened without considerable effort. As they say in Iowa: It isn't the farm that makes the farmer, it's the hard work and character.

Making the move included daily game-tape sessions and working with coaches and teammates on the intricacies of the position. It was learning to recognize subtle tells from the offense, like the way a lineman positions his hands as a dead giveaway for pass-blocking.

It was learning terminology, understanding and setting fronts and coverages and every blitz package. Lanning was still playing quarterback—just on the other side of the ball.

Then came reality: The overload of information was manageable. The tough part was facing 300-pound linemen from every angle.

"I'm not going to lie, the best part of the transition was being the guy doing the hitting, not the guy getting hit," Lanning says. "And yet, that still was a bit of a transition. I woke up after our first full day of pads in the spring and everything on my body hurt. I hurt in places I didn't know I could."

For four years, Iowa State did everything it could in practice to protect Lanning from absorbing hits. Now, the hits were coming from everywhere on the field, from every player on offense. His feet got stepped on, and his hands were caught between pads and in facemasks.

Two pulling linemen road-graded him once, and he got crack-back blocked by a wideout. His fingers were jammed, his eyes were poked and he woke up one morning, lifting his face from a splash of cold water, and couldn't recognize the guy looking back.

"I remember looking in the mirror, thinking, how did I get that bruise there?" Lanning says. "After the first couple of weeks, I was dying. My shoulders were all banged up, and my body was just aching."

The mental transition, meanwhile, only compounded the physical problems. He tried to play the position too much like a quarterback and ended up overthinking every situation and couldn't react quickly enough to make a play.

Finally, Iowa State graduate assistant Kenny McClendon—who played four years on the defensive line at Central Michigan—gave Lanning the best advice of all: "Find the ball, tackle the ball."

"I can't even imagine doing what he's doing," says Iowa star linebacker Josey Jewell. "You can't just walk in and play this position. There are things you only learn from being out there, getting [repetitions] and doing it. There's nothing easy about doing what he's doing."

It's not like we should be surprised. Lanning was all-state in three sports in high school (football, wrestling and baseball) and also participated in a fourth (track). In this age of players zeroing in on one sport early in life, Lanning never gave any sport exclusivity—and thrived in all of them.

When football was over, he moved to wrestling. When wrestling finished, he left for track and field. When he was finished with track, he went to baseball.

Just how good an athlete is Lanning? Wrestling—the most important, all-identifying sport for boys growing up in Iowa—was really a way to stay in shape. Yet he still finished third in the state tournament as a senior in one of the toughest divisions in the sport (220 pounds).

In Iowa, kids begin wrestling as early as five years old, train their entire lives and consider it a crowning achievement to reach the state tournament. As an afterhtought, Lanning finished third.

Could Lanning have wrestled as an Olympian if he trained every day?

"I don't know, maybe," he says. "I never really put that much thought into it."

Young athletes all over the state of Iowa just shuddered.

"There are guys who put everything they have into wrestling, and he goes out there and competes just to compete," says Iowa State wideout Allen Lazard, who grew up in Urbandale, Iowa, where the local high school won its only state wrestling title in 1996—and the town nearly shut down that night. "That's the kind of athlete we're talking about. Changing positions is nothing for him. I would've been more surprised if he had told the coaches no, he didn't want to do it."

Three months ago, after watching Lanning play all 15 spring practices at middle linebacker, Campbell had seen enough to say it'd be the story of college football.

And here we are: At Iowa State's lowest point of the season, without Park (he took an absence from the team for personal reasons), with a walk-on starting at quarterback and with Lanning playing iron-man football in a huge upset of Oklahoma.

On Tuesday, when it became apparent that Park would not play against Oklahoma, Campbell called Lanning into his office again and told him to make sure he overhydrated during the week. "Why?" Lanning asked.

"Because we need you to play quarterback this week, too," Campbell said.

"Same thing, same response," Campbell says. "Whatever you want."

He paused for a moment and remembered that first day of spring practice earlier this year.

"After one practice, and at the end of it, I remember thinking, this guy is going to have an opportunity to play in the NFL at linebacker," Campbell says.

"He absolutely will," one NFL scout tells Bleacher Report. "You'll have a year of game tape, he'll have individual workouts and he'll nail the interview. Someone will take him, and he will play in this league."

"These are the type of players you want on a roster, those glue guys," another NFL scout says. "He knows what he's doing out there, and he can play [middle linebacker]. He absolutely can. But he also has that charismatic intangible of working because he wants to work and be better—not because he has to. With some players these days, that's about as rare as it gets."

And that might be the best thing about this story: It's only going to get better.

Matt Hayes covers college football for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @MattHayesCFB.

Iowa State plants the flag at Oklahoma. #Sooners #Cyclones pic.twitter.com/p6JJrWMXjh

— Carson Cunningham (@Carson_OKC) October 7, 2017

Iowa State shocked No. 3 Oklahoma in a 38-31 upset Saturday. After knocking off the Sooners via a second-half rally, Cyclones defensive back Evrett Edwards took a page from Baker Mayfield's celebration playbook.

The senior planted the Iowa state flag on Oklahoma's midfield logo at the Palace on the Prairie. A team staff member took away the flag, and someone yelled, "Evrett, what the hell?"

Following Oklahoma's Week 2 win at Ohio State, Mayfield placed an OU flag on the Buckeyes' midfield logo. He later apologized, per Oklahoma football's Twitter account, for getting "caught up in an emotional win."

Considering the negative reaction to Mayfield's antics, Edwards will likely be compelled to issue an apology of his own.

[Carson Cunningham]

Iowa State sophomore defensive back Mike Johnson has been suspended by the program following an arrest for domestic assault. 

Per Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register, Johnson's arrest occurred Thursday. Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell issued a statement on the situation:

We are aware of Mike Johnson’s arrest and allegations associated with his arrest. Our program has zero tolerance for domestic violence. Mike has been suspended from all team activities, including practice, under the student-athlete code of conduct policy as we gather more information. His long-term status with the team will be determined once we gain more facts.

Per Birch's report, Johnson was officially being held for domestic assault strangulation with injury. 

Johnson was part of Iowa State's 2014 recruiting class. He redshirted in 2015, his first season with the program, before playing in all 12 games for the Cyclones in 2016. He recorded 44 total tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. 

Coming into 2017, Johnson was penciled in as Iowa State's starting strong safety on defense. With his future at the program now uncertain, redshirt freshman Braxton Lewis will likely be given first crack at the starting job. 

After coming out on the losing end of a quarterback battle at the University of Georgia and subsequently leaving the school, Jacob Park "plans to sign" with Iowa State.  

According to Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports, the soon-to-be sophomore is looking for a new lease on life in the Big 12.

"I feel blessed to have another opportunity," Park said on Tuesday. "I know a lot of people don't get one shot at it. I'm getting two. I'm going to make the best of it."

Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register believes landing Park could turn out to be a major coup for the Cyclones:

Can confirm reports that Iowa State has picked up a commitment from quarterback Jacob Park. Big addition right before Signing Day. #Cyclones

— Tommy Birch (@TommyBirch) February 2, 2016

After current Georgia starting signal-caller Greyson Lambert transferred from Virginia to Georgia last summer, Park decided to leave Athens, per Chip Towers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“I just want to say thank (you) dawg nation and everyone else who made my stay in Athens special," Park said on social media. "Never will forget the people and friends. Time to move on and turn the page to the next chapter. Go Dawgs."

According to Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald, Park attended Trident Technical College this past season rather than playing football at a junior college.

The former South Carolina Mr. Football honoree was a redshirt freshman in 2014 during his only season with the Bulldogs.

Per Wiltfong, Park was rated as the No. 5 pro-style quarterback in the Class of 2014, and he is excited about the opportunity to play for the Cyclones:

Coach (Matt) Campbell, he's the most down to earth coach I've ever met. Coach (Alex) Golesh is like talking to my big brother. (Passing game coordinator) Coach (Jim) Hofher is like the best teacher. I spent 45 minutes in the room for him for two days and learned more in those 45-minute sessions than I did in my whole time at Georgia.

When I showed up on campus they treated me like family and I felt like I was at home. They have a good situation to me at quarterback walking in the door, all signs are pointing that this is has to be the right decision.

With Sam B. Richardson no longer in the picture and Joel Lanning failing to establish himself as the definitive starter as a sophomore, Park has a golden opportunity to step in and start right away for Iowa State.

Park has his work cut out for him since the Cyclones haven't won more than three games since 2012 and haven't had a winning record since 2009, but he should receive the playing time he covets.

It clearly wasn't going to happen for him at Georgia, but Park now has a chance to show the Bulldogs why he deserved a longer look under center.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.

On Monday, the Iowa State Cyclones football team received a commitment from Deshaunte Jones, a 3-star athlete from Colerain High School in Cincinnati, per Bobby La Gesse of the Ames Tribune.

Jones made his announcement official on Twitter:

Proud to announce that I will further my Academics and football Career at Iowa State University! pic.twitter.com/asRLUjnd93

— Deshaunte Jones (@DJoness3_) February 2, 2016

The 5'10" athlete is the 25th-best prospect in Ohio, per 247Sports, and the 45th-ranked athlete in the nation. Jones played quarterback for Colerain and was the Southwest District Division I Offensive Player of the Year last season, per Mike Dyer of WCPO.com in Cincinnati. 

Jones is known for using his legs as a signal-caller rather than his arm. He ran for 1,860 yards and 29 touchdowns in his senior year, per Dyer, while leading Colerain to its first appearance in the state semifinals since 2006.

This is a great pickup for Iowa State, which could use some playmakers out of the backfield and in the passing game. The Cyclones' best offensive player in 2015 was freshman running back Mike Warren, who ran for 1,339 yards and five touchdowns for the 3-9 Cyclones.

Iowa State can use Jones either as a read-option quarterback to create a tantalizing duo with Warren or as a speed back. New head coach Matt Campbell has a couple of unique options when it comes to utilizing the speedster from Ohio.

Iowa State officially named Matt Campbell as its head football coach Sunday, according to a program release. Per CoachingSearch.com, Campbell signed a six-year deal and will make $2 million during his first season.

He will be introduced at Iowa State on Monday, according to Cyclone Fanatic's Chris Williams. 

The Cyclones have found their new coach a week after firing former coach Paul Rhoads, who posted six losing seasons in seven years with the team. Iowa State is coming off of a 3-9 season and has not played in a bowl game since 2012. 

Campbell, who is 36 years old, spent the last four seasons as the head coach of Toledo, posting a 35-15 career record. In 2015, he led the Rockets to a national ranking during parts of the regular season on his way to a 9-2 mark. 

The Associated Press (via ESPN.com) reported on Saturday that Toledo offered Campbell a deal that would have made him the highest-paid coach in the Mid-American Conference before he accepted the position at Iowa State. 

For a team that has not been relevant often in the Big 12, Iowa State needed a change in direction after seven mediocre years with Rhoads at the helm. Bringing in a fresh, young coach like Campbell could revitalize the program moving forward. 

Stats courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com.