Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht put it succinctly after his team’s 34-17 win over Cincinnati last week.
“Whenever the ball is in my hands,” he said, “I can make a play with it.”
Becht will try to keep making those plays on Saturday night when the 22nd-ranked Cyclones bid to keep their Big 12 Conference championship hopes alive in Salt Lake City against struggling Utah.
After losing two straight games to fall behind BYU (9-1, 6-1) and Colorado (8-2, 6-1) in the conference, Iowa State (8-2, 5-2) needed Becht to make plays to get back on track. He threw a third-quarter touchdown to put the Cyclones ahead for good at 17-10 and added a fourth-quarter scoring run after the Bearcats trimmed their deficit to three points.
Becht completed 24 of 33 passes for 234 yards while adding 48 yards on seven rushes. He comes into this week’s game with 2,628 passing yards and 17 touchdowns.
What Becht gets on Saturday night likely will be earned. The Utes (4-6, 1-6) have dropped six straight games but the defense hasn’t been responsible for much of it, save for last week’s 49-24 defeat at Colorado.
Shedeur Sanders carved Utah up for 340 passing yards and three touchdowns in its first bad game of the year defensively. The Utes gave up an average of 20.4 points over their first five losses but simply haven’t been able to score enough to help their defense.
“This is, bar none, the best defense that we’ll play,” Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said. “You look at their front seven, all fifth- and sixth-year seniors, some of the best defensive players in the country at their position.”
But Utah’s offense simply hasn’t been competent since veteran quarterback Cam Rising suffered an injury in a September win over Baylor that sidelined him for three games. Rising then was knocked out in his return game at Arizona State on Oct. 11 with what turned out to be a season-ending injury.
Freshman Isaac Wilson has showed flashes of brilliance from time to time but simply hasn’t played with the consistency needed to win at this level.
“Right now, I’m in the ‘Twilight Zone.’ It’s the most difficult year of my coaching career, hands down,” Utes coach Kyle Whittingham said. “Not even close.”
Wilson has thrown for 1,436 yards and 10 touchdowns but also has tossed 11 interceptions and completed only 54.8 percent of his attempts. Aside from running back Micah Bernard and his 880 rushing yards, the offense is starved for consistent production.
Picked to win the Big 12 in July, Utah must win this week and next week at UCF just to qualify for a bowl game.
“We’re just not potent enough on offense,” Whittingham said.
While the Utes scrape out 22.7 points and 353.8 yards per game, Iowa State is averaging 31.4 and 434.2, respectively.
The Cyclones own a 4-1 lead in the all-time series but the teams haven’t played since 2010, when Utah went to Ames and scored a 68-27 victory.
