Game Balls
James Sims carried the ball 21 times for 114 yards. He had 15 carries and 96 yards in the first half, often turning no hole into a few yards by carrying a pile on his back. He also caught three passes for 17 yards.
Dexter McDonald leaned back and reached for the sky to make a terrific pick in the second quarter.
Gassers
Josh Ford missed the block that could have freed Christian Matthews for a first down on a fourth-and-four play run out of an empty backfield. Iowa State took over on downs and quickly broke scoreless tie with 58-yard touchdown pass midway through the first quarter.
Montell Cozart for stepping out of bounds one yard short of first-down marker instead of one yard past it, setting up fourth-and-1 that led to turn over on downs in second quarter. Cozart compoleted just 4 of 12 passes for 20 yards and an interception. On the rare occasions KU receivers sprung open, Cozart tended to overthrow them.
• Bradley McDougald stood up ballcarriers, forced a fumble and returned an interception 29 yards during one of the better games of his career, one in which 10 of his 11 tackles were solos. He’s emerging and could make a huge leap as a senior. Two of the tackles were for a loss.
• D.J. Beshears had double-digit gains in four different ways: running and receiving, returning a kick and a punt. He ran into the end zone from 22 yards out on a reverse play and had a 20-yard gain among his five receptions.
True freshman kicker Alex Mueller misfired on field-goal attempts of 49 — why let him attempt that — and 36 yards and for the season has made just three of his field goal attempts. His three field goals have been from distances of 27, 28 and 36 yards. Was replaced in the second half by Ron Doherty.
James Sims ran and blocked hard, as always, but had a rare fumble.