After a close loss on the road against Michigan, Arkansas State headed to Ames, Iowa to play 20th-ranked Iowa State, who comes off a bye-week. 

The final non-conference game of the season for both the Cyclones and the Red Wolves happened in front of a crowd of 55,428 in Jack Trice Stadium. 

This was head coach Butch Jones’ second time playing against Iowa State’s coach Matt Campbell. 

The first time was in 2012 when Jones coached Cincinnati and Campbell coached Toledo. The underdogs, Toledo, came away with that win. 

“I consider him a very good friend,” Jones said about Campbell. “I have a lot of respect for him, what he’s built here. I think he’s a great fit here. When you play his teams, they’re going to be well coached, they’re going to be disciplined, they’re going to give great effort, and they force you to execute.”

The first two possessions of the game were even, but after a blocked Ryan Heicher punt, things would take a turn in the Cyclone’s favor, including their first touchdown of the game. 

Even after an interception by safety Dontay Joyner, the Red Wolves weren’t able to score during their possessions. 

Quarterback Jaylen Raynor threw for two interceptions before being replaced by quarterback Timmy McClain with a minute and a half left in the first half of the game. 

By halftime, Iowa State was up 31-0, but the beating didn’t stop there. Iowa State put up two more touchdowns against Arkansas State before the Red Wolves were able to capitalize on a botched kick by Iowa State, which placed the Red Wolves on the Cyclone’s 43-yard line. 

The Red Wolves finally scored when Timmy McClain connected with wide receiver Hunter Summers for a 27-yard touchdown pass, making the score 45-7. 

Iowa State scored one more time before the end of the game, making the final score 52-7.

Jones said that, unfortunately, the Red Wolves were not able to execute in the game. 

“We had opportunities,” Jones said. “We had the ball on our side, on the plus side of the field, and we had three drives that ended in a penalty, an interception, and a bad snap. And to beat a top 25 team on the road, you can’t make those mistakes.”

Jones said that in terms of overall discipline and consistency, it’s something they’re lacking with the team. 

“We have a lot to play for, a lot to build upon. We’re 2-2 but we have to get better in a hurry,” Jones said.

Jones notes that Jaylen Raynor is a great teammate but to get him back to form, he needs to work on his consistency. 

“There’s a standard that we have in performance and we did not meet that,” Jones said.

Jones said that performance-wise, there wasn’t anything he liked about the Red Wolves’ performance against the Cyclones. He said that nothing surprised him game-wise when it comes to the Iowa State team. 

“We knew everything they were going to do. Football still comes down to one-on-one matchups,” Jones said. 

Jaylen Raynor completed five of his 16 pass attempts for 68 yards with two interceptions. Timmy McClain made contact with four of his seven passes for 50 yards, a touchdown and a fumble. Running back Devin Spencer, who, according to the game roster, wasn’t supposed to play in the Iowa State game, led the team in rushing yards for the game with nine carries equaling 52 yards. 

Wide receiver Hunter Summers led the receiving game for Arkansas State for 37 yards and the only touchdown of the game.

Defensively, safety Trevian Thomas led the team with nine tackles. Safety Dontay Joyner made an interception for 20 yards and three tackles. Safety Websley Etienne recorded an interception for 10 yards and three tackles. 

The loss brings A-State to 2-2 heading into an instrumental bye-week before taking on South Alabama for homecoming, a game that Jones said will be one of the team’s biggest challenges yet. 

“We’ll be challenged,” Jones said. “They have playmakers all around, they have a great quarterback, one of the most elite quarterbacks in our conference. They got a gresham running back and a really good receiver and they’re big up front.”

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