It was not pretty, but Paul Rhoads will take it.

Described as a “beautiful” win by the third-year coach, Iowa State held off Kansas 13-10 for the second straight year at home Saturday in front of a school-record fifth consecutive crowd of at least 50,000 in attendance.

“Credit to KU, they came in here and played a game we expected them to play,” Rhoads said. “We knew it was going to be that type of football game, we turned it over three times and we recovered. We played through that, we kept our focus on what it was that we had to do to win a football game and we got the job done in the end.”

The KU defense, which came into the game allowing a nation-worst 49.5 points per game, challenged Jared Barnett in his second start at quarterback, holding him to just 16-of-30 pass completions, 175 yards through the air and an interception.

“They really came out to play and they made things difficult for us,” Barnett said. “They really shut off our running backs and they were really keying on them and making me make the decisions with the ball in my hands.”

However, Barnett’s 125 rushing yards was the most by an ISU quarterback since 2004, accounting for two of the Cyclones’ seven third-down conversions as well as one of two fourth-down conversions.

“JB is quick as a whip,” said running back Jeff Woody. “When something breaks down, he can just take off and run and out-run secondary, linebackers, linemen. It makes the defense stay completely on their toes and they have to be so gap-sound that it makes it almost impossible [to stop].”

The KU defense still made James White’s day difficult on the ground, holding the starting running back to just 36 yards on 10 carries after a 100-yard performance against Texas Tech on Oct. 29.

“They were doing a good job of stuffing the run,” White said. “They had [their] safety’s help, their linebackers were also playing well. I credit Kansas, they’re a pretty good defense. I watched them on film and I knew they were going to be pretty good.”

White’s 36 rushing yards is his lowest total since becoming the starter at running back on Oct. 8 against Baylor.

The Jayhawks (2-7, 0-6) rebounded with 301 total yards after gaining a total of just 46 yards the previous week in a loss to Texas.

“It hurt, we had opportunities to win the football game, but we didn’t make it happen,” said KU coach Turner Gill. “There were some good things that did occur for our football team, but we have to keep competing.”

Leading the ISU defense in tackles was the starting linebacking trio of Jake Knott, A.J. Klein and Matt Tau’fo’ou, all of whom recorded 10, nine and eight total tackles.

“They’re a veteran group,” Rhoads said of the trio. “All of them have been coached three straight years by Wally Burnham, all of them have been playing the same defense for three straight years now. There’s a lot to be said for that.”

The Jayhawks’ loss by three points is the closest loss to a conference opponent this season, giving them a different perspective after losing by an average of 32.8 in its first five conference losses.

“Our offense just couldn’t get it done,” said KU quarterback Jordan Webb. “A loss is a loss, but when you’re that close and the game is almost in your grasp, it’s definitely different.”

The Cyclones are now 5-4 for the third year in a row — all under Rhoads — with a bowl berth that would come with a sixth win as a dangling carrot in front of their noses.

A bye week, however, will grace the Cyclones before the final three-game stretch against three of the best teams in the conference with a coveted bowl berth at stake.

“We’ve got an open date and a chance to improve our football team,” Rhoads said. “We’re going to focus on the fundamentals, we’re going to focus on every phase of getting better [and] I know I have a group of young men that will do exactly that.”