Iowa State Football: 3 takeaways from road win over Texas Tech

Iowa State football had its way with Texas Tech in Lubbock on Saturday afternoon. What’d we learn from the Cyclones’ big road win?

Texas Tech had been playing some good football behind the arm and legs of Jett Duffey who had breathed some life into the team, but Iowa State came to Lubbock on Saturday and smacked the Red Raiders around and headed back home with a 34-24 win.

The Cyclones look like one of the top contenders in the Big 12 through four conference games and what looked to be a disaster season through the first few weeks has turned into something special. Can we trust this Iowa State team moving forward?

If Brock Purdy has anything to say about it, the answer is a resounding “yes”.

What’d we learn from the Cyclones’ big road win?

3. Special teams was a disaster

It was not a good day for Iowa State’s special teams as the Cyclones left plenty of points on the field. While the lead was comfortable for most of the afternoon, Iowa State should have been up by even more, but the kicking unit and even return team had forgettable days.

The kick return team’s only recorded non-touchback was a -14 yard return and the punt return team had one for six yards. But that wasn’t the ugliest part of the afternoon.

The kicking game was center stage as it left seven points on the board with two missed field goals and a failed extra point.

Luckily the punt team picked up for the rest of the special teams units even though it was only needed three times. Sometimes special teams can be the difference between winning and losing and Iowa State has to feel lucky that wasn’t the case on Saturday in Lubbock.