ISU ALMOST Pulls The Upset Of The Program's History

Iowa State Football has turned a corner, an important milestone in the Rhoads era.  The team fears no one.  They do not quit, even being down by a quick 14 by Nebraska in the 3rd quarter.

The ISU offense dominated in the first half, recording 13 first downs and 192 yards of offense while taking a 10-7 lead at intermission. Just before half time, Grant Mahoney drilled a 57-yard field goal (wind aided), his fourth 50-yarder of his career. It was the fourth-longest field goal in ISU history.

The Cornhuskers scored 17 points to take a 24-10 lead. Nebbie took advantage of two Arnaud interceptions, one returned 29 yards for a touchdown. NU later scored from two yards out to increase the NU lead to 24-10 with 5:06 left in the third quarter.

 The Cyclones offense fired back up and mounted a drive capped off by an Arnaud 1-yard sneak to cut the lead to 24-17 with 11:29 left in the game. On the ensuing kickoff, Niles Paul fumbled the kickoff where it was recovered by a pile of ISU players at about the 12 yard line. Three plays later, Arnaud found an absolutely wide open Arob on the goal line for a 14-yard pass to tie the game at 24-24 with 10:40 left in the game.

The story of this game however is not contained above.  While impressive to lead NU in total offense yard 360-314,  or the 57 yard field goal, or even ISU scoring 14 points in basically 60 seconds at the beginning of the 4th quarter.  What everyone will be talking about is ISU Head Coach Paul Rhoads (CPR) decision to fake the extra point in overtime to win the game on the first possession.

I've heard folks on both sides of the fence.  Especially the older fans did not like the call, they wanted an extra period.  I also heard fans talking about the depth of Nebraska and how long and how many players they could play.

Personally, I love the choice to win it.  Our boys had momentum and energy, taking the whole thing to the wire.  No one expected the play, I was floored to see the place holder pick the ball up.  The ball was in the air so long, my heart started to believe that ISU pulled it off.  Then it hung there, died, and was picked off by a very startled NU linebacker.  Colin Franklin's heart fell out of his chest as the pass didn't end up in his hands.

After the game, I hope CPR told the team how proud he was, and I hope they cheered heartily.  ISU may have gotten an "L" after the game, but as fans, we saw something change.  I saw it in my own expression walking out the north gate.  I was smiling.  After losing by 1 in overtime to the #7 Huskers.  I had pep in my step.  My voice was raw from screaming at the NU offense or the officials, it did not matter that the pass was incomplete.  ISU turned a corner last saturday.  They fear no team, they can and will play with anybody. It was obvious the coaching staff has done something special here and will build a program we'll see at new and higher accomplishments.

In 10 years, when I'm telling my (unborn, not yet conceived) son about why I'm so proud to be a Cyclone, this day will get mentioned in the same breath as my time at ISU, the beating Iowa 5 straight times, my times at Veishea growing up.  It will be the story as how 3 generations of my family saw ISU come up 1 pass short of knocking off those boys from Lincoln, and not just because ISU has won their conference title the last 2 seasons.