NIU-ISU End of 1st quarter

Iowa State 7, Northern Illinois 0, end of first quarter

Iowa State took the lead on quarterback Austen Arnaud's two-yard touchdown run with 2:27 left in the quarter to cap a 68-yard scoring drive. It would have been Arnaud's second touchdown run of the night but a 53-yard touchdown run less than two minutes into the game was called back on an illegal procedure penalty.

The Northern Illinois defense has played well, for the most part, on first and second down but have given up three third-down conversions and one fourth-down conversion.

DeMarcus Grady was 6-of-7 passing on his first drive, but the coaches seem to be sticking to short routes to build up Grady's confidence, as the six completions went for 26 yards.

Jerry Kill showed some confidence in kicker Michael Cklamovski when he allowed the Illinois transfer to try a 49-yard field goal attempt. It had the distance but went wide right. We'll see if Kill continues to show that type of confidence in his kicking game later on.