LAWRENCE, Kan. — On a cold and gloomy day in Kansas, the offense finally came around for Iowa State.

In their 41–36 loss to Kansas (5–0, 1–0 Big 12), Iowa State (3–3, 0–2) put up 512 yards of total offense, including 293 yards through the air from junior quarterback Austen Arnaud.

“Overall, I think we did pretty good,” junior receiver Jake Williams said after the game. “We made strides, definitely, as an offense.”

Those strides were evident in both the play of the offense as a whole, as well as the players in it.

Two weeks ago, the Cyclones had just 371 yards in their 24–23 loss to Kansas State.

“The offense has maybe been behind in some things in its growth,” coach Paul Rhoads said. “That’s because of expectations put on what the offense is and the numbers that the offense coached by Tom [Herman, ISU offensive coordinator] put up a year ago.”

While at Rice, Herman’s offense averaged 457 yards per game, leading many to wonder why Iowa State’s offense had only averaged 379 yards through the team’s first five games this year.

However, in Herman’s first year at Rice, the Owls averaged just 404 yards per game.“Everyone expects that just to be automatic,” Rhoads said. “Well, we’re learning it; we’re getting it, and today we executed it pretty well.”

Saturday, the offense saw season-high totals in total plays (84), total yards (512) and points (34). Doing so against the Jayhawks was no easy task. Coming into the game, Kansas was only allowing 310 yards per game, including just 59 yards per game on the ground.

“That was a really good defense and I’m proud of the way our offense played,” senior receiver Marquis Hamilton said. “I feel like we took some gigantic steps as an offense toward where we want to be.”

Kansas had not allowed any of its opponents in 2009 to get to 30 points, and had only allowed 13.5 points per game until Saturday.

“On the defensive side of the ball, it was not a pretty picture,” Kansas coach Mark Mangino said. “We did not play well on defense, and we have to get better, but I don’t think we are as bad on defense as we played today.”

The Cyclone offense played its best game of 2009, and Arnaud also set many of his season highs in the loss to the Jayhawks.

The three-year starter completed 25 of his 40 attempts, both season highs, for 293 yards, also a season high.

Arnaud’s 60.9 completion percentage against the Jayhawks was much closer to what Rhoads and the coaches expect from him this season.

“[Arnaud] was stellar,” Rhoads said. “Sooner or later, when you keep practicing as well as he has, it shows up on game day, but you’ve got to do it on game day, and he certainly did today.”

Arnaud was especially effective in the second half. The quarterback struggled to six-of-13 passing in the first half, but was 19-of-27 in the second half, adding two touchdowns through the air and one on the ground.

“That’s the best game I’ve played in a while,” Arnaud said.

The quarterback wasn’t the only one to play well in the near upset on the chilly Saturday afternoon.

Junior running back Alexander Robinson had a career-high 152 yards, as well as getting two touchdowns and two catches for 52 yards. Williams also had a career high by grabbing five passes, going for 51 yards.

Robinson’s game was his fourth 100-yard effort this season and the seventh of his career, bringing his season total to 671 yards. He sat out much of last week’s loss to Kansas State with a lingering groin injury, but still managed to break runs of 21, 22, 19, and 17 yards, as well as putting in a 54-yard catch and run in the first quarter, showing a burst very familiar to the Cyclone faithful.

“A-Rob is a phenomenal back,” senior receiver Marquis Hamilton said. “I wish he was healthy, I wish he was 100 percent … I want to see his potential.”

The team, as a whole, also played a much cleaner game than they had in the past few weeks, committing just one penalty for six yards after averaging 6.5 penalties for 68.75 yards in the past four games. Meanwhile, for the first time in 2009 the Cyclones didn’t commit a turnover.

“We had a good week of preparation. We knew we were one of the worst teams in the country taking care of the football. We really focused on that,” Arnaud said. “We played really sound.”