Oh dear, this is extremely unfortunate. With less than five minutes left in the Liberty Bowl, Iowa State running back David Montgomery looked to have scored a touchdown that would have given the Cyclones a seven-point lead over Memphis. But Montgomery fumbled the ball before the ball crossed the goal line, and Memphis recovered, which resulted in a Tigers touchback.
Iowa State waited until the final four minutes of 2017 to lose its first fumble of the entire season
They still won the bowl game!
Given the angle and the call on the field, this is an iffy call for the refs, but given the call on the field was a fumble, it’s easy to see how there may not have been clear, indisputable evidence to overturn it. The refs reviewed the play and the call stood, giving Memphis the ball back with 3:50 to go and a chance to score. Luckily, the Cyclones were able to stop the Tigers and hold onto the 21-10 victory.
The worst part about all this though was that the fumble was Iowa State’s first lost fumble of the season.
The NCAA’s official record book confirms Iowa State’s claim.
The Cyclones have been one of the surprise teams of 2017 for a lot of reasons. The simplest is that their defense is pretty good, having gone from 97th and 86th the last two years to near the top 30 in points allowed per game.
Another big thing’s been turnover margin. The Cyclones are plus-9 in that department through their first 10 games, winning six of them. 2017 will be the first season since 2010 that sees ISU finish with a positive turnover margin.
And one of the biggest reasons for that is the Cyclones’ ability to not fumble in the first place. They’ve only fumbled five times, and while teams are expected to recoup about half their fumbles, a sample size that small has given the Clones a chance to get a bit lucky.
Congrats to the Cyclones on the win, even though there were probably some nervous fans at the end there!
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