ORLANDO — Heading into Saturday night’s game, Wesley Chapel, Florida, native Rocco Becht was looking forward to coming back to the state he grew up in and potentially finishing off Iowa State’s historic season on the right note in the Pop-Tarts Bowl against No. 13 Miami (FL).

Despite a battle that lasted until the very end, the redshirt sophomore quarterback put No. 18 Iowa State on his back, as his one-yard score on a fourth-and-one sealed the sweet 42-41 win for the Cyclones over the Hurricanes Saturday night.

But for Becht, being from Florida meant just a little bit more to secure this big win to end off his second full season as a starter, as he played the hero role in front of his friends and family.

“This was my first game back in Florida, at the collegiate level,” Becht said. “I had a bunch of my friends here tonight for the first time to see me play, so it was really special for me to get this win.”

Becht’s final stat line of the game had him throwing for 270 yards on a 61% completion rating with three touchdown passes, along with 23 rushing yards on eight carries with the game-winning touchdown he scored with 56 seconds left in the game.

But out of all the drives in the game, what played the most integral part in Saturday night’s high-scoring affair was the last drive that Becht and the Cyclones’ offense had to endure.

Prior to this drive, the Pop-Tarts Bowl had gotten off to a hot start with a fumble on the very first play of scrimmage from the Miami offense that led to Iowa State taking an early 7-0 lead.

The touchdown that got the Cyclones the early lead came from a nine-yard pass from Becht to redshirt sophomore tight end Gabe Burkle, who caught his first career touchdown on that pass.

However, this early score only fueled what was a total of eight consecutive drives with a touchdown from both Iowa State and Miami.

Each side traded blows that kept the game competitive and entertaining, with Becht leading the Cyclones, and Heisman finalist quarterback Cam Ward leading the way for the Hurricanes.

At the half, Miami held its only lead of the half after a 30-yard field goal made the score 31-28.

During the late second quarter and early parts of the third quarter, the Iowa State offense struggled to find ways to keep up with the Hurricanes or even take back the lead, as punts and a turnover on downs highlighted the Cyclones’ struggles.

But, after a 10-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in a four-yard touchdown from wide receiver Jaylin Noel, it looked like Iowa State had broken out of its previous struggles.

While the touchdown only brought the game back within three points, as Miami would have its biggest lead of 10 before this score, it still brought a spark back to the offense that had rode a first half full of excitement.

A quick three-and-out would follow for the Cyclones on the following drive, but then it came down to the final drive for this Iowa State offense, which started after the Cyclones defense forced the one and only Hurricanes punt late in the fourth quarter.

The drive started on the Iowa State 16-yard line, with 6:31 left on the game clock.

Slowly but surely, Becht and the Cyclones offense found themselves crossing into Miami’s side of the field and with an opportunity to take back the lead for the final time in the game that would give them an eventual win.

Whether it came from Becht’s ability to use his legs or his arm to find Noel, he found ways to make plays happen that eventually set up Iowa State in the game-winning position.

But just like earlier in the game, the Cyclone offense stalled, but this time in a crucial spot.

Iowa State had found its way inside the Hurricanes five-yard line after a 13-yard connection from Becht to Noel that left 1:56 on the clock.

Following the two-minute timeout, it was first-and-goal from the Miami four-yard line with multiple opportunities to score the game-tying touchdown.

Two incompletions would force the Cyclones into a third-and-goal, but after a defensive holding call on the Hurricanes, it gave Iowa State a new set of downs while being two yards away from glory.

But just like before, the Cyclones struggled to find a way to punch it in after multiple attempts from sophomore running back Carson Hansen and an incompletion from Becht.

Then it came down to one final play, fourth-and-one from the Miami one-yard line with 56 seconds left in the game.

As the anticipation grew from the sidelines and the crowd, it was left to one man to bring Iowa State its first 11-win season in program history, and that was Becht.

His one-yard score went on to tie the game up at 41, and after a successful extra point from redshirt freshman kicker Kyle Konrardy, it gave the Cyclones the one-point advantage and the most points scored in a bowl game by any Iowa State team in program history.

Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell has given Becht props all season long for becoming a leader and having the clutch ability to pull out wins in key situations, as he did the same thing Saturday night.

“There’s been good days and tough days,” Campbell said. “But his ability and his character to have great selflessness; he’s the guy that’s going to give everybody else the credit when it goes really good, and he’s the first guy to stand up and take the blame when it goes bad. To me, that’s real leadership. Hard to find it today. But man, I’d go to war with this guy any day because of what he’s about and what he stands for.”

Becht had not flinched in those types of situations, as he’d been used to dealing with close and stressful situations like these before.

“We’ve been in those situations before and practice them all the time,” Becht said. “Our team has the poise and confidence to go execute in the biggest moments and we did that.”

With an eventual stop by the Iowa State defense, the Cyclones went on to win the Pop-Tarts Bowl by a singular point.

The win in particular would mean a lot to Noel, as he would be playing in his final game with Iowa State after spending all four of his seasons with the Cyclones.

“It’s meant the world to me,” Noel said. “For me to be able to be a leader on this team and God’s trust in me, I had to play for them. Those guys come in every day and look up to me, and if I wasn’t going to play, then that’s just not what leaders do. So to be able to play in this game and be able to go out there one last time with this team means everything to me.”

Along with Noel, who had dealt with a lot of adversity during his time, would be Campbell, who had just led a program to its first 11-win season ever while becoming the winningest head coach in program history earlier in the season.

He accredited the big win to the team who had gone through so much together, that only made it right to finish off their historic season with a sweet win like they did on Saturday night.

“This team has faced a lot of adversity,” Campbell said. “With some really tough injuries that we’ve had to deal with all season, they’ve never flinched. We’ve been in some tough situations and our ability to just keep playing only comes from the locker room demanding it.”

With the personal satisfaction of finishing out a 14-game schedule came from taking part in eating the edible mascot, which was chosen by the winning team’s MVP.

That MVP was awarded to Becht, who chose to make the cinnamon roll mascot edible for him and his whole team to enjoy after a hard-fought win.

“I really like cinnamon rolls, so when I heard about the choices that’s the one I was going to go to,” Becht said.