Editor’s note: Iowa State ended a 15-game losing streak against Iowa with a 27-9 victory in 1998. The Cyclones were 29-point underdogs in the game. Iowa State had most of its memorable football moments in history after this game, and without it, Dan McCarney might have been fired at the conclusion of the season. Instead, Iowa State went on to play in bowl games under McCarney until he resigned in 2006.

Few programs were worse than Iowa State going into the 1998 season.

Dan McCarney inherited a program that had never won a bowl game — and had played in only four of them — when he arrived in 1995. McCarney entered the season with a 6-26 overall record, having won just one game the year before. The program wasn’t showing many signs of improvement under him.

Simply put, Auburn wasn’t offering him a job.

Sure, McCarney coached a great player in Troy Davis, which had given Iowa State something to be excited about. But wins were scarce.

Add on a 15-game losing streak to in-state rival Iowa, and the Cyclones were a laughingstock in their own state.

It came as no surprise that day that the Cyclones were heavy underdogs heading into Kinnick Stadium. But from the outset, it was clear this was a different kind of game than recent Cy-Hawk series match ups.

Darren Davis punched the Hawkeyes in the mouth with 244 rushing yards and a touchdown. Senior quarterback Todd Bandhauer, who had put up with a lot of losing in his time, was 11-for-16 for 125 yards and, most importantly, no interceptions.

And at the end of this one, it was the ISU players carrying the Cy-Hawk trophy off the field while the Cyclone fans in the stands sang the Iowa State fight song.

“I know [the rivalry] is so important to the people in the state of Iowa,” McCarney said years later. “It’s healthy. It’s classy. It’s respectful and I’ll always be proud we turned this into a rivalry again.”

That they did. More importantly, later that season McCarney was offered a contract extension — with an 8-32 record as head coach.

Two years later, the Cyclones won their first ever bowl game in the Insight.com Bowl against Pittsburgh, the first in a span of five bowl games in six years.

The 1998 win also started a five-game winning streak for Iowa State over Iowa, a welcome reversal in the series so long dominated by the Hawkeyes.

ISU football hit unprecedented success during that span. But it all started with one game.

“Nobody laughs at Iowa State anymore when we line up and play against Iowa,” McCarney said after his resignation in 2006.