Iowa State survives trip to Texas, nears berth in title game

AUSTIN, Texas – Iowa State didn't fret or panic while trailing Texas for nearly an entire game Friday.

Instead, the Cyclones looked like a program with championship DNA in the fourth quarter, despite not having won a conference title in more than 100 years.

Breece Hall scored on a 3-yard run with 1 minute, 25 seconds remaining, and Iowa State held off a last-minute drive by Sam Ehlinger and Texas to stay in first place in the Big 12 with a 23-20 victory Friday.

"We don't ever flinch," Cyclones safety Greg Eisworth said. "That really is the truth."

After Iowa State, ranked 13th in this week's initial College Football Playoff poll, sacked Ehlinger on third down, No. 17 Texas' Cameron Dicker barely missed left on a 58-yard field goal as time expired.

The Cyclones (7-2, 7-1 Big 12, No. 15 in the AP poll) have almost locked up a spot in the Big 12 championship game for the first time with their second victory ever against Texas in Austin; the other came in 2010. Upstart Iowa State, under fifth-year coach Matt Campbell, has beaten the blue blood Longhorns in consecutive seasons for the first time in 18 meetings.

"We always say it's a five-star culture vs. five-star players," Hall said. "We don't always get the best players … We want to be in games like this where it comes down to physicality and hard work. So today, us and our defense, just kept playing and we came out with a great result."

"That's why I came here," Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy said. "Coach Campbell talked to me, what he envisioned this program to be, and I believed in it."

Hall gained 91 yards on 20 carries, his first game under 100 this season, but had 30 on the final 69-yard touchdown drive. Purdy connected with tight ends Charlie Kolar and Dylan Soehner for the other 39 yards.

"When we needed to make plays, and that's what really good teams do, we made them," Campbell said.

Texas (5-3, 4-3, No. 20 AP) led 20-13 after three quarters, but in the fourth quarter the Longhorns came up 3 yards short passing on a fake punt on fourth-and-8 to help Iowa State set up a field goal, then came up short again on an Ehlinger run on fourth-and-2 at the Iowa State 13 when a field goal would have made it a seven-point game again.

"The analytics said to go for it," Herman said. "If you wind up converting and score a touchdown, you go up by 11. That's two scores."