Assisted by Iowa State turnovers, penalties, and short comings in field position, the Iowa Hawkeyes took a victory from the Cyclones, 35-3 at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday. The Cy-Hawk series had seen the home team win the last five contests, but the atmosphere in Ames never reached the fever pitch necessary for Iowa State to pull the upset on the previously ranked Hawkeyes, as the Cyclones gave up 6 turnovers, leading to 28 Hawkeye points.

Each defense forced an interception on their respective opening drives, and it took until the 2:33 mark of the first quarter for the Cyclones to strike the scoreboard with a 46-yard Grant Mahoney field goal, putting ISU up 3-0.

Following a failed attempt at an onside kick by the Cyclones, the Hawkeyes took advantage of the shortened field and scored a touchdown with 47-seconds left in the first quarter, taking a lead that wouldn’t be in question for the rest of the game.

The Hawkeyes showed signs of scoring again quickly, but after Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi overthrew a few passes, Iowa State safety David Sims picked off a Stanzi pass inside the redzone to stop the bleeding momentarily. Sims collected his second and third interceptions of the season in the first half, but his field general Austen Arnaud couldn’t fare any better against the Hawkeye defense.

Iowa added another touchdown before the half from Stanzi to leading receiver Derrell Johnson-Koulianos on a short drive that started at the ISU 24-yard line after Arnaud’s second thrown pick of the half. Arnaud finished the first half 7-for-17 with 57 yards and three interceptions, with receiver Darius Reynolds following up his six catch Iowa State debut by getting four catches for negative-three yards in the first half. Iowa took their 14-3 lead into halftime, and it only got worse for the Cyclones when they came out of the tunnel for the second time.

A fumble by the normally sure-handed running back Alexander Robinson on the opening drive lead to a Hawkeye touchdown after only five minutes. Arnaud threw his fourth and final interception on the following drive, and the story repeated itself, with Iowa punching it into the endzone for a 28-3 lead.

A bright spot for the Cyclones was the play of Robinson, who aside from the fumble played as well as any Cyclone, finishing the afternoon with 100 yards on 19 carries. The cloud covering that bright spot was Iowa State’s quarterback play, as backup Jerome Tiller threw an interception after relieving Arnaud in the third quarter. Safety Tyler Sash tied a Hawkeye record with three picks in the ball game, and his safety sidekick Brett Greenwood brought in two.

In a game expected to be competitive between the in-state rivals, Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi and his true freshmen outlets provided the Hawkeyes with all the offense they would need, Stanzi finishing the game 18 for 34 with 197 yards and 4 touchdowns, and running back Brandon Wegher pounding for 101 yards on 15 carries in his first action in the black and gold.

Iowa State’s student section by the fourth quarter resembled a Friday afternoon economics lecture, as the 52,089 fans in attendance cleared the seats when the game was in hand. Now standing at 13 quarters, or just over 203 minutes without a touchdown against the Hawkeyes, Iowa State’s offensive impotence couldn’t be overcome, as the streak carries into next year with the last endzone plunge for ISU against Iowa being in 2006.