On one side of the ball, there were six turnovers and, at times, an inability to consistently move the football. On the other side, there were missed tackles, missed assignments and 35 points allowed. Add in nine penalties for 79 yards and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

In a one-sided contest like the 35-3 loss the Cyclones endured Saturday, bright spots can be hard to find, but sometimes individual performances can be a rare silver lining.

Junior college transfer David Sims was Iowa State’s leading tackler Saturday against in-state rival Iowa, as well as intercepting two passes and being the Cyclones’ top gainer in terms of all-purpose yardage.

“You admire a guy like that,” head coach Paul Rhoads said about the impressive newcomer. “He’s committed to getting it done and being successful.”

Sims tallied 11 tackles in the game, along with the two interceptions and the subsequent 41 yards he gained on their returns. The junior also impressed with 61 yards on three kickoff returns.

However, in the third quarter, Sims decided to bring a kick out from seven yards deep in the end zone and was promptly tackled at Iowa State’s 13-yard line, a decision his coach did not like.

“David did not make a good decision bringing a kickoff out of the end zone,” Rhoads said. “He obviously had made a decision he was going to bring that thing out and try to make something happen for our football team.”

Rhoads said he addressed the decision when the defensive back came off the field, and he thought Sims handled the talk “like a champ.”

“Yeah, he got on me right as I walked out,” Sims said, “but I was just trying to make something happen. I was frustrated and just trying to make a play.”

Rhoads also said Sims made a tremendous defensive play on Iowa’s Adam Robinson on his next defensive series, showing the coach that he had taken his talk to heart and that the play was a step forward, not only for Sims, but for the program as a whole.

“That was a huge tackle for David Sims, and that was a huge step forward,” Rhoads said. “That’s kind of growth I’m talking about. That’s the kind of thing that has to happen with an individual for a team to collectively learn how to win and start winning football games.”

But Sims didn’t stop his impressive defensive play with his 11 tackles. The safety from Gainesville, Fla., remained the team leader in interceptions, adding two more to the one he had last week, including an acrobatic one-handed pick in the first quarter. He was also in the right place at the right time the second quarter, intercepting a pass at Iowa State’s 4-yard line.

Sims’ play, however, wasn’t enough to contain the Hawkeye offense that saw short fields and kept the Cyclone defense on the field for more than 33 minutes of game time.

“We were just getting worn out,” Sims said. “After they made a couple of big plays, we just hanged our heads a little bit. It is frustrating, but we know what we need to do.”