Coming off a 48-10 loss against Oklahoma, ISU head coach Paul Rhoads was chipper in his weekly Monday news conference, saying his team had gained confidence from the game.

How does a team gain confidence after surrendering 45 unanswered points in a blowout loss?

The six quarters before the second half of the game on Saturday.

“I really want to emphasize the last six quarters before, in the TCU game and the first two at Oklahoma where we were playing really good team defense,” Rhoads said. “Everybody being where they’re supposed to be sure gives you a good chance at playing good football.”

In the loss against TCU on Nov. 9, Iowa State allowed only 21 points, which was nearly half of the usual 39 points per game it allows on average.

Then in the first half of the game against Oklahoma, aside from a 91-yard punt return for a touchdown, the Cyclones defense only gave up three points and allowed just 110 total yards of offense with 66 on the ground and 44 through the air.

“When you look at that game, especially in the first half it’s like we’re playing Oklahoma, the prestigious Oklahoma, and we’re just little Iowa State,” said ISU linebacker Jeremiah George. “But we were competing at a high level, matching with them athletically in every category, we were doing a lot of good thing. Then the turn went for the worst and we kind of got exposed in a couple areas but in the first half we looked great so if we can just take that and do it for four quarters, we’ll be fine.”

But it was only two plays into the second half before Iowa State had the air sucked out of its defense when, on the second play, Damien Williams scampered up the middle for a 69-yard touchdown, giving Oklahoma its first lead of the game and the Sooners never looked back.

In the second half, the ISU defense gave up 38 points and two more scores on plays of 50+ yards within five minutes of each other. The OU offense gained 413 total yards in the second half, nearly quadrupling the first half total.

“I think they did [recover] and then that second run from scrimmage took their legs out from underneath them,” Rhoads said. “And that’s the challenge of a team that has some things stacked against them, to not allow that run to happen, to be able to fight through the first piece of adversity you saw.”

Now Rhoads faces the challenge of motivating his team for a week of practice before senior night on Saturday at 7 p.m. against Kansas, who just won its first Big 12 game in 28 tries, dating back to 2010.

“That’s why I stand in front of you feeling good today because I think we got confidence coming out of the Oklahoma game, even in a loss I think we got confidence coming out of the Oklahoma game,” Rhoads said. “Not enough to match Kansas’ and what it will be with the elation that went along with that victory, but hopefully enough to propel us into a good week of practice and taking the field with the mindset to overcome whatever adversity comes our way; because it’s going to, it’s a football game.”