Cyclones' Victory in Insight Bowl

Iowa State won a close fight against Gophers with a one point lead in Insight Bowl. Since 1898, it is the first Cyclone win over a Minnesota team since 1898. Such was a close fight between Cyclones and Gophers in Insight Bowl. In spite of going through four turnovers, the Cyclones persevered and made a key turnover of its own at the later part of the game in Insight Bowl. Fortunately, Cyclones stopped a Minnesota rally and became victorious in the 2009 Insight Bowl Thursday night, which was held at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz.

During the Insight Bowl game, Cyclones Alexander Robinson who made a 137 yards, making it his sixth 100-yard game of the season, helped Cyclones have the Insight Bowl game on their favor. Robinson was awarded Insight Bowl Offensive Player of the Game.

It is definitely a good news for First-year head coach Paul Rhoads who is the first Cyclone coach to have a winning cap on his first season since Veenker went 5-3 in 1931.

Here's a statement from Rhoads on Cyclones victory in Insight Bowl from www.kcrg.com.

"Our football team showed a lot of grit to overcome four turnovers to win this game," Rhoads said. "We took advantage of a couple of their turnovers and we had some great efforts from both the offense and defense tonight.
We improved and that was our No. 1 goal this year. We have improved in every aspect of our program. We have made some people happy by getting here, but by winning this game and finishing it off with a bowl trophy, we now have a program that is on its way. Our program has credibility now and I owe that to all to the kids who work so hard for this program."