That giant whoosh you hear is the collective exhale from ISU football fans.

The Cyclones started the season off with a 27-10 win against Northern Illinois, but they took the scenic route to get there.

It looked early on like the team would run away with the game. They shut the Huskies out in the first half, which was the first time they’d done so since the game against Colorado on Nov. 8, 2008.

Quarterback Austen Arnaud looked sharp despite an interception late in the first half. He looked like he was backing up his talk in the pre-season that he’d improved his accuracy.

“He made some blunders that looked like really bad tosses,” coach Paul Rhoads said. “But he made some throws he didn’t make last year.”

Alexander Robinson looked much better than Chad Spann, with a 63-yard touchdown run, and the receivers looked good as well, especially Darius Darks and Collin Franklin.

However, when Iowa State came out of the locker room for the third quarter, it looked like they were a completely different offense.

They looked sluggish, uninterested and downright sloppy. Penalties and another interception from Arnaud kept Northern Illinois in the game throughout the third quarter.

The offense rebounded in the fourth quarter, with Robinson getting another touchdown, effectively sealing the game.

If it wasn’t for a defense that played well against a high-caliber running back in Spann, we might be talking about an entirely different outcome.

The defense looked good pretty much the entire game, holding NIU on several third downs. Jake Knott also looked impressive, generating turnovers and making plays.

“He plays the game all out and gives you everything he has,” Rhoads said.

Not to discount its play, but it’s not like the defense was playing against a great offense. Yes, Spann is talented, but NIU quarterback DeMarcus Grady missed on a few opportunities that could also have completely changed the landscape of the game.

Oklahoma’s Landry Jones isn’t going to miss wide open receivers. And if the defense misses as many tackles as they did against the Huskies, it’ll be tough to win in the Big 12.

But the bigger issue, at least in my mind, is the inconsistency of the offense.

We knew coming into the season that the team’s fate was set with the success of the offense.

They simply cannot rest. Not even a minute. If they let off the throttle in the spread offense, the Big 12 defenses — not to mention Iowa — will pounce.

“We were resting towards the end of the first half,” Arnaud said. “The defense kept us alive, and we’re fortunate to be where we’re at.”

Very fortunate.

If the offense plays like it did in the first half in the coming weeks, Iowa State will win a lot of games. But if they come out against Iowa or even Kansas State a few weeks from now, they definitely won’t.

Arnaud has to keep the mistakes at a minimum the rest of the way, no question. He showed tonight he has the ability to play at a very high level, and if he can do so, he can carry the Cyclones a long way.

“You can’t turn the ball over three times and expect to win the majority of your football games,” Rhoads said.

And make no mistake, Arnaud knows that.

Now we just have to wait and see if he can do his part to correct it and take this team as far as they have the ability to go.