Jaylen Raynor threw for 184 yards and two touchdowns Saturday and Iowa State’s defense logged 12 tackles for loss during a season-opening 38-10 rout of Southeast Missouri State in Ames, Iowa.
Raynor, a transfer from Arkansas State, completed 8 of 16 passes and rushed for two scores in the Cyclones’ first game under new coach Jimmy Rogers. The former Washington State coach had to recruit a mostly new roster of 83 newcomers after previous coach Matt Campbell left for Penn State after last year.
Braylen Ragland hit 17 of 22 passes for 142 yards and an interception for the RedHawks (1-1), an FCS program that opened their season last week with a win at Indiana State. But Ragland absorbed six sacks for 62 yards.
SEMO managed just 209 total yards and 13 first downs, going 5-of-16 on third downs. It committed three turnovers that led to 10 points for Iowa State.
The Cyclones used a spate of short fields to build up a 28-7 halftime lead. Raynor started the scoring at the 10:08 mark of the first quarter with a 7-yard touchdown run, then made it 14-0 with 2:27 left on a 24-yard scoring strike to Vince Benetti. That came two plays after a 36-yard punt return by Aiden Flora teed up a 24-yard field.
The RedHawks’ best drive of the day resulted in their first score. Chance Wilson capped a 75-yard drive that lasted nearly seven minutes with a 7-yard scoring jaunt with 10:39 remaining in the half.
Most of the game’s remainder was Iowa State’s. Flora’s 11-yard touchdown run at the 4:54 mark of the second quarter upped the lead to 21-7, and Raynor found Easton Miller for a 10-yard strike just over two minutes later for a 21-point margin at intermission.
Kyle Konrardy made it 31-7 Cyclones with a 33-yard field goal at the 1:47 mark of the third quarter. Justin Keller kicked a 40-yard field goal for SEMO with 13:20 left in the game and Raynor polished off the scoring with a 7-yard touchdown run less than three minutes later.
