IOWA CITY — There is no relation between ISU running back Alexander Robinson and the Hawkeyes’ Adam Robinson.

Their last names were the only things they had in common in the Cyclones’ 35-7 loss to Iowa on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

Adam Robinson ran the ball 14 times for 158 yards and a touchdown, while Alexander Robinson was held to just 49 yards on 11 carries and 59 receiving yards on six receptions.

The Hawkeyes’ Jewel Hampton contributed another 20 carries for 87 yards, along with one touchdown, to the team’s offensive drives.

“The O-line did a great job, and Jewel came off the bench and provided a spark for us and made great reads,” Adam Robinson said. “I think the whole team really just played as one.”

Cyclone linebacker A.J. Klein said the Hawkeyes’ depth at running back made it even harder on Iowa State’s defense.

“Both of them are great runners, and it kept them fresh,” Klein said. “It made it tough for us to get a foot hold. They had long drives, and we knew we had to stop it, and we didn’t.”

Despite the loss, The Cyclones did manage to score their first touchdown against the Hawkeyes since the 2006 matchup in Iowa City, in which the Cyclones lost 21-17.

The touchdown Saturday came on a short pass from quarterback Austen Arnaud to wide receiver Darius Darks in the waning minutes to spoil the Iowa shutout.

Rhoads described himself as being a “glass half-full type of guy,” and looked for the positives to take away from Saturday’s game.

“We scored a touchdown in this game,” Rhoads said.

Iowa took control of the game right from the start, dominating the time of possession in the first quarter. The team only allowed Iowa State to have the ball for 86 seconds in the quarter.

Coming into the game, Adam Robinson wanted to send a message that the Hawkeyes can be a national contender this season.

“We wanted to make a statement, as a team, that we’re for real and that we can compete with anybody,” Robinson said. “I think we did a good job today.”

Robinson recorded the longest run of his career in the second quarter, when he burst up the middle and broke three tackles for a 75-yard run that brought him down at the 1-yard line, allowing Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi to sneak it in.

Adam Robinson thought he had made it in the end zone on the run, but the play was reviewed and the call stood.

“[Junior wide receiver Marvin McNutt] was one of the reasons I made it that far,” Adam Robinson said. “I just kept seeing him out of the corner of my eye, like a black-and-yellow jersey going down the field, blocking somebody. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would have made it that far on that play.”

Tackling was a problem for the Cyclones, and the theme, defensively, was the unit’s mentality, and not necessarily being prepared for what they were facing.

That lack of toughness led to big gains for Iowa.

“We just got pounded off the line, and we weren’t expecting it,” Klein said. “It was hard to recover from it, but we came out in the second half and played harder, but it was too late.”

Arnaud had his own troubles, throwing three interceptions, two inside the red zone. He finished the game with 197 yards passing and one touchdown.

He completed 20 of his 44 passes.

Even with Arnaud struggling, Rhoads stuck with his senior quarterback.

“It means everything,” Arnaud said. “I know he has confidence in me, and I know this team has confidence in me. There was a lot of things that went wrong today, not just my plays. We, collectively, didn’t play well, and we played a very good team.”

Although his team struggled in the game, the coach brought up a more positives after the loss, aside from just the touchdown.

“I thought Shontrelle Johnson showed up as a true freshman and played well,” Rhoads said. “I thought Kirby Van Der Kamp came out in a tough environment as a freshman and punted the ball well.”

Johnson, a hyped recruit from DeLand, Fla., returned two kickoffs for 99 yards, the second of which was a 62-yard return that set the Cyclones up with an opportunity to put the ball in the end zone.

Van Der Kamp had seven punts and averaged 40.4 yards per kick.

After amassing only 85 yards in the first half, Iowa State put together 190 yards in the second half.

Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi finished the game with 204 yards on 11-of-18 passing and didn’t throw an interception.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said he wasn’t expecting this type of result.

“I didn’t see it coming,” Ferentz said. “I thought it was going to be an even game, I really did. I felt that way going to bed last night and waking up this morning. It just seemed to be one of those games where we really had it clicking. I think Iowa State is going to go on and have a good year. [There’s] no doubt about that in my mind.”