IOWA CITY, Iowa –There was only silence. The roar of 70,000 plus fans had faded away into nothing.

All that could be seen was the ball.

It kept getting bigger and bigger, closer and closer until it finally landed in DeVondrick Nealy’s outstretched arms.

The next thing he knew, he was in the end zone, and his team had just taken the lead for the first time.

“We go through it in practice all the time,” Nealy said. “When I got in the game, I just felt that [Sam Richardson] was going to throw it. I knew I just had to stay focused, run past him and then I just saw the ball floating in the air.”

Nealy’s 27-yard touchdown reception gave the Cyclones a 3-point lead and was enough to put them in a position to win the game. The reception is one of the moments that will stick out in fans’ minds from the victory. 

Things didn’t come easy for Nealy that Sept. 13, however. The redshirt junior had just six carries for 22 yards in the first half.

And, to close out the first half, Nealy lost the ball inches from the goal line and fumbled the ball in the end zone, an act that all but killed any momentum the Cyclones had.

“I remember at halftime, Coach came up to me and said, ‘We’re going to need you second half,’” Nealy said. “I knew I messed up on the goal line. I knew it could have turned into something different, but I knew I had to keep fighting.”

The Cyclones went into the locker room, down 14-3, and had very little momentum in the game. In fact, the University of Iowa had possession of the ball nearly twice as long as Iowa State did in the first half.

Yet the players still felt in control of the game.

“At halftime, down 14-3 and beating ourselves in a lot of ways, there was no hesitation,” said head coach Paul Rhoads. “There was an intent, focused group that was ready to go out and play the next 30 minutes of football. They believed that they could win the game, and they went out and physically proved that.”

The Cyclones got the ball to start the second half and started driving down the field. And then it happened again.

Nealy fumbled the ball. Iowa State ended up recovering it, but it was Nealy’s second fumble in two drives.

Most coaches would pull a player from the game after back-to-back fumbles, but Rhoads had a different mindset.

“We were knocking on the door,” Rhoads said. “But the coaches stuck with him, he stuck with himself and his teammates stuck with him too. The next thing you know he was out there scoring a touchdown for us.”

With Rhoads and the rest of the team behind him, Nealy knew that he could still get the job done.

“I knew my name was going to get called again,” Nealy said. “I knew I just had to keep fighting and make something happen when my name was called.”

Nealy finished the game with 51 total yards and scored—arguably—the game-winning touchdown.

Nealy’s performance, along with the rest of the team, gave the Cyclones their first win of the year, and may have even changed the tone of the entire season.

“Obviously, I’m an emotional guy,” Rhoads said. “Our kids play an emotional brand of football. There’s a lot of Iowa Staters out there that want us to be better than one and two, but those Iowa Staters also realize how hard those kids work and how much they’ve improved. I’m elated for our kids.”