Bryant Blazes to 4 Touchdowns, 177 Yards in Iowa State Victory

AMES, Iowa —  Blaise Bryant scored four touchdowns to tie a school record and rushed for 177 yards Saturday as Iowa State opened the season with a 35-6 victory over Northern Iowa.

Bryant, the nation’s top returning rusher, is from Cypress High and was a junior college All-American at Golden West College. He picked up right where he left off last season, when he ran for 1,516 yards and 19 touchdowns. He carried 36 times and scored on runs of one, two, three and 15 yards.

Iowa State led, 7-6, in the third quarter before Bryant scored three times in a span of 8:06 to break the game open. The Cyclones held Northern Iowa (1-1), a Division I-AA team, to 57 yards rushing and 204 total yards.

Bryant’s four rushing touchdowns tied an Iowa State record first set by George Amundson in 1971 and matched by Dwayne Crutchfield in 1981 and Joe Henderson in 1988.

Bryant also tied a Cyclone Stadium record with his 24 points, tying Crutchfield, Iowa’s Owen Gill (1983), Missouri’s Marlon Adler (1983) and Oklahoma State’s Barry Sanders (1988).