Texas plays a crucial road game against Iowa State and must win if they want to stay alive in the Big 12 championship picture. These two teams have a short history as they have only met a total of 16 times. The Longhorns dominated the begging of the series, winning seven straight. Even after an Iowa State win in 2010, Texas continued to win, beating the Cyclones seven out of the last eight.
Here is the series record between the Longhorns and Cyclones:
All-time series record: Texas leads 14-2-0
Largest wins: Texas 56-3 in 2007, Iowa State 24-0 in 2015
Latest Texas win: Nov. 17, 2018
Last season’s matchup with Iowa State was a ranked matchup as No. 13 Texas played host to the 18th ranked Cyclones. This was a strange game for the Longhorns, as both Sam Ehlinger and Shane Buechele got snaps.
Ehlinger was only able to play in the first half as he picked up a shoulder injury. Before he was forced to leave the game, he was able to get the Longhorns off to a strong start, scoring 17 points on five drives. He went 12-15 with 137 yards and a touchdown. He was also effective on the ground, having 32 yards and a touchdown.
Without Ehlinger, the Longhorns struggled, punting on four out of their six second-half drives. The other two ended with a Daniel Young fumble and a Shane Buechele 27 yards touchdown to Lil’ Jordan Humphrey. On the other hand, the Texas defense was outstanding, stopping an Iowa State offense that was averaging 427.2 yards over their five-game winning streak, to 210 yards. David Montgomery only ran for 33 yards as the Cyclones struggled running the ball.
The 24-10 win ended up being huge for the Longhorns as it was the reason they made it into the Big 12 championship game. Had Iowa State won the game, the Cyclones’ win against Kansas State the next week would have propelled them into the title game. Instead, Texas went on to beat Kansas and played in its first Big 12 championship game since 2009.
Latest Iowa State win: Oct. 31, 2015
2015 was a miserable year for the Longhorns and the matchup against Iowa State was no different. Going into the game, the Cyclones were 2-5, on a three-game losing streak, and allowing nearly 34 points a game on that streak.
Naturally, a Texas offense being led by Tyrone Swoopes and Jerrod Heard at quarterback put up a goose egg. Swoopes and Heard threw for 85 yards on 12-22 passing. The running game was not much better, as they averaged 3.7 yards per carry. Swoopes led the team in that category, rushing for 58 yards on 10 carries.
Iowa State’s offense pounded the ball on the ground, as they had 54 rushing attempts. They got 238 yards on those 54 attempts and added on two touchdowns. Running back Mike Warren had a career-high 32 carries with 157 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Joel Lanning was a mediocre 19-37 with 188 yards and a touchdown.
After defeating the Cyclones four years in a row, Texas shut out on the road, 24-0. It was their second time being shut out in two years after going a decade without it. Texas ended the season at 5-7, the first of back to back Charlie Strong 5-7 seasons.
Texas will play Iowa State on Saturday at 2:30 PM CST on FS1.
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