Three Players Who Stood Out Offensively for Iowa State Cyclones in Week 6 Loss

Here are three players who stood out offensively for the Iowa State Cyclones in Week 6

Iowa State Cyclones quarterback Rocco Becht (3) reacts with Iowa State Cyclones wide receiver Brett Eskildsen (9) after scoring a touchdown in the first quarter of the NCAA football game between the Cincinnati Bearcats and Iowa State Cyclones at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati on Oct. 4, 2025. | Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Iowa State Cyclones lost their first game of the season in Week 6 to the Cincinnati Bearcats in what ended up being a shootout. As indicated with a 38-30 final score, there wasn’t much defense being played on Saturday afternoon. 

Coming into the game, the Cyclones’ defense was banged up in the secondary with two key players being out for the year. The pass defense did alright trying to limit the talented Brendan Sorsby and the Bearcats’ offense, but it was the rushing defense that really let them down. 

While the defense really let them down in this game, the offense was excellent on the road. This is a unit that is seemingly clicking, but unfortunately just didn’t get help from the other side of the ball. With it being their second straight great game offensively, here are three players who stood out for the Cyclones. 

Abu Sama III 

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Establishing the running game has been something that Iowa State has been trying to do this season with the results being mixed. So far this year, it has been Carson Hansen leading the way for most of the campaign. However, with him getting banged up before halftime, the Cyclones utilized Abu Sama III a lot more in this game than they have previously. 

In the loss, Sama totaled 96 rushing yards on 18 carries for arguably his best performance of the season. With Hansen being a bit banged up, it will be interesting to see what the carries splits could potentially be with both players performing well and healthy after the impressive game for Sama. 

Brett Eskildsen

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The wide receiver corps has been a balanced unit for the most part this campaign with seemingly a new player having a breakout game every week. However, the lead receiver for this team appears to be Brett Eskildsen after another strong game in Week 6. 

The talented sophomore totaled eight receptions, 105 receiving yards, and one receiving touchdown. After the excellent performance, he is now leading the team in receiving yards by quite a large margin over Chase Sowell.  

Rocco Becht

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Coming into the matchup against Cincinnati, all eyes were on the two talented quarterbacks. Both delivered strong games, but it was Becht who arguably had the better performance in the loss. The passing offense has shown some signs of improvement over the last two weeks, and the junior put together another strong performance. 

In Week 6, he totaled 314 passing yards and two passing touchdowns. As a good dual-threat player, he also helped extend some plays with his legs. It was one of his best games of the year so far on Saturday, but even that wasn’t enough to help the team get the victory.