IOWA CITY, Iowa – Matt Campbell was seething with anger.

The Iowa State coach was pacing the Kinnick Stadium sideline in the third quarter Saturday, angry over a special teams blunder in a game in which his team had committed many blunders. Campbell tackled an assistant, dropped his play sheet, picked it up and continued to yell.

“The attitude of our guys was probably better than that of their head coach,” Campbell later admitted.

Campbell was so excited because he felt the Cyclones were once again “on the brink” of elimination against No. 21 Iowa, a major rival and a team that had often brought out the worst in Iowa State during Campbell’s successful tenure.

But the Cyclones came back, erasing deficits of 13 and 12 points, to win 20-19 after Kyle Konrardy made a 54-yard field goal with six seconds left. The win was Iowa States’ second straight at Iowa, and under Campbell they improved their record in the Cy Hawk series to 2-6.

“The teams that excel in our sport still need mental toughness, whether it’s Georgia, Ohio State or Iowa State,” Campbell said. “That’s the best thing I’ve seen in my time here at Iowa State. The ability to react in a football game in an environment like this. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Iowa State finished the first half with 101 yards, zero third-down conversions, five penalties – most of them pre-snap – one turnover and zero points. The Cyclones started two drives inside their own 6-yard line, which prevented them from even executing their plan of attack.

Iowa, however, was unable to capitalize and had to settle for field goals inside ISU’s 6-yard line twice. When Cyclones cornerback Darien Porter intercepted a cross-field throw from Iowa’s Cade McNamara, a switch flipped.

“My freshman year, I always defended him, and he was a tough receiver to defend,” cornerback Myles Purchase said. “For him to be able to do that in his last year, his senior year, to be able to do that, is special.”

Iowa State gained 75 yards in nine plays, scoring on a 3-yard pass from Rocco Becht to Jayden Higgins against an Iowa defense that hadn’t allowed a single point in the first six quarters. After Iowa answered with a touchdown, Becht found Jaylin Noel for a 75-yard touchdown.

“We wanted to be more aggressive in the second half because we thought we pushed the ball in the first half, but we couldn’t get over those little hurdles, the pre-snap operations,” Becht said. “We couldn’t really get past the 50-yard line, so we had to pivot a little bit.”

The Cyclones remained confident on the game’s deciding possession, trailing 19-17 with no timeouts and the ball at their 22-yard line. Becht found Noel running 30 yards down the sideline, a play late in the game that ISU hadn’t practiced all week but had saved for the right moment.

Konrardy had never attempted a field goal in a game before Saturday, while he impressed teammates and coaches in practice with his leg that can score from more than 55 yards. He missed a 39-yard attempt before halftime, but Campbell wasn’t worried, grateful to be only 13 points behind and having complete confidence in Konrardy.

The redshirt freshman scored easily from 46 yards early in the fourth quarter and was called again with nine seconds left. As he walked out, Becht reminded him, “This is like practice.”

“Don’t think,” Konrardy said of his pre-kick routine. “That’s all. Just go out there, don’t think and do what you do.”

Iowa State recorded its biggest comeback since 2020, when it trailed Baylor by 14 points, and its biggest road comeback since 2017, when it rallied from a 14-point hole to surprise No. 3 Oklahoma. The comeback was also ISU’s biggest comeback against Iowa since 2002, when the Cyclones erased a 17-point deficit and beat a Hawkeye team that was 11-2 and ranked No. 8 nationally.

“We talk in our own program that it’s a law of progress, nothing ever leads directly to success,” Campbell said. “There’s going to be setbacks, there’s going to be lapses, but the great teams, man, the special ones, can turn those lows into lapses and get right back on the winning track. For our kids to be able to show that in that environment against that football team is really impressive.”

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz returned from a one-game suspension for a recruiting violation on Saturday and took the field during warmups as 50 Cent’s “Many Men” played at the stadium. Ferentz said he is sticking with McNamara, who completed just 13 of 29 passes for 99 yards and had just 19 passing yards after halftime.

“This is a big game for everyone in the state, certainly no more important than the players on both sides and the coaches,” Ferentz said. “After a loss like this, it’s tough. There’s not much you can say to cheer anyone up.”

The Cyclones have experienced plenty of negative emotions in the series under Campbell, but Saturday’s win could spur them to bigger goals.

“When we were behind in this game, we knew in our hearts we could come back,” Purchase said. “None of us let it get us down. That’s a big improvement over what we’ve had in the past.”