Joel Lanning was named Iowa State’s starting quarterback this past Monday after replacing Sam Richardson last Saturday against Baylor. The sophomore is already one win away from matching Richardson’s number of Big 12 wins.
Lanning lead the Cyclones to a 24-0 win over Texas, just the second win over the Longhorns in program history, passing 19/37 for 188 yards and a touchdown.
“It was awesome. We came out ready to go; we kept it going with our drives,” Lanning said. “There were times where I could’ve done things better, and there were some passes that slid off my back foot. We just kept the drive going, kept fighting.”
The young Ankeny quarterback showed veteran poise in the pocket, running for a first down on 3rd and long numerous times. One of those times, Lanning had to put his head down and make a hit to convert, and did so convincingly.
“Where I come from they call it Ankeny tough,” Iowa State Head Coach Paul Rhoads said.
As opposed to the narrative over the first seven games set by Sam Richardson, Iowa State spread the ball around the field, completing passes to seven different wideouts.
This opened up the field for the Iowa State rushing attack.
Iowa State freshman Mike Warren rushed for 157 yards becoming the first Iowa State back to rush for 150+ three games in a row since Ennis Haywood in 2001.
Not only was the Iowa State offense dominant, Iowa State’s defense hung up a big, fat zero on the scoreboard.
The shutout was Iowa State’s first since beating Kansas 34-0 in 2013, and Texas’ first by a ranked opponent since 1961. This comes just over a week after criticism of Iowa state’s defense reached what felt like an all time high.
“That the three four is an okay defense, that Wally is a pretty sharp coach, that the rest of the staff knows what they’re doing,” Rhoads said. And that we’ve got kids that play with an unbelievable work ethic and passion.”
“Tonight they made more plays. They tackled better, they pursued better, they put pressure on the quarterback, and they got what’s been coming to them with the shutout. They played really good football. I would argue that for the last 100 minutes they played really, really good defense.”
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