Iowa State couldn’t find the endzone, but did make five out of six field goal attempts to upset favored Iowa 15-13 at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames. The winning kick came off the foot of Brett Culbertson with one second to go.
Culbertson has been under fire after missing his first three field goals this season, but said he felt confident after watching his counterpart Austin Signor hit a 41 yarder to give Iowa a 13-12 lead with 2:57 to go in the game. Culbertson says he "wanted it bad" as he had confidence in his offense to get it close and in his line that the kick would not get blocked. He says it was good – a big payoff — but he wants his fans and teammates to "remember me for who I am, not what I do on the field."
It was the first win for new Cyclone head coach Gene Chizik.Chizik says he just wants his team to be proud of what they accomplished, because he says they beat a very good football team. Chizik credited his assistant coaches with doing a great job.
Chizik says it was a great feeling, and so good to see the team smile and realize that hard work pays off. Chizik syas he has been waiting a long time to sing the school song after a win. He says it’s a feeling he can’t describe. Chizik received a game ball from the athletic director Jamie Pollard. He says he wishes he could split the ball in 110 pieces for each players as he said they did the work and "I just called time outs during the day, I didn’t do much."
Chizik had a tense moment before the victory was secure, as the Hawkeyes nearly ran the kickoff back after the winning field goal for a touchdown. Chizik said he felt surely with 11 guys out there, one would make the tackle. He also credits Brett Culbertson with stepping up.
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz complimented the Cyclones’ effort. Ferentz says I-S-U deserved to win, as they outplayed his team. He says they were lucky to only be down by 12 points at the half, but says the good news is they came back and played better in the second half. Iowa came in as a heavy favorite, but Ferentz doesn’t feel his team was overconfident. He says the Cyclones just showed more improvement from last week than his team did.
Ferentz says his team has to come back out and go to work to open the Big Ten this week. Ferentz says the loss is disappointing, but the way they handle the loss is more important than the loss itself.
Iowa falls to 2-1 and plays at Wisconsin next Saturday. Iowa State is now 1-2 and plays at Toledo Saturday.