Holding a team to under 250 total yards and pushing the starting quarterback to the bench usually results in a win. Iowa’s 17-5 win left the Cyclones’ entire team wondering ‘what if?’

“I felt like in the third quarter we had the game where we wanted,” said head coach Gene Chizik. “We had a complete team fourth-quarter meltdown and we didn’t play well as a whole football team.”

Even though Chizik expressed his displeasure with the whole team’s performance, there is no doubt the defense did their part in the annual rivalry game.

“We played good, we improved from last week on a lot of things,” said defensive tackle Michael Tate. “It might not be as visible to the people in the stands but we improved on a lot of our technique.”

After giving up 410 yards to Kent State last week, the defense got stingy against the Hawkeyes and allowed them just 244 yards.

“We obviously did great, we had a mistake here and there but coach said he was proud of us and we have to keep working hard and get ready for UNLV,” said linebacker Michael Bibbs.

Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi faced the Cyclones’ defense in just his second college football start. Stanzi looked impressive in his first start against Florida International, but it was his first start against a BCS opponent.

The ISU defense harassed Stanzi throughout the first three quarters. He was 5-for-14 with two interceptions and overthrew a handful of open receivers.

At the end of the third quarter, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz decided to make the switch to old starting quarterback Jake Christensen.

“Nobody is down on Rick Stanzi at all. It was a tough circumstance for him to be in today, and we appreciate that,” Ferentz said. “I think he really practiced well. I look for him to come back strong.”

The third quarter was a telling sign of how the game would end for the Cyclones. The defense held Iowa to just 20 yards in the quarter and intercepted Stanzi once.

Iowa State controlled the quarter and the offense only produced three points even though they had three scoring chances inside Iowa’s 30-yard line.

“Defense played great — especially in that first half they held them to three points, when we weren’t doing much of anything on offense,” said quarterback Austen Arnaud. “The defense really was the backbone of our team today — the offense didn’t come to play.”

The offense hasn’t come to play in the last two and a half Iowa games.

The Cyclones haven’t scored a touchdown against the Hawkeyes since late in the second quarter of the 2006 game at Kinnick Stadium, when Bret Meyer scrambled for a 9-yard touchdown.

“We aren’t sitting here and pointing fingers. This was a team loss today. We didn’t lose this as an offense or as a defense or on special teams, we lost as a team,” said defensive end Kurtis Taylor.

The offense struggled to put points on the board last season, as well, but the defense and special teams bailed them out and the Cyclones still won 15-13 in Ames.

“They got our back and we got their back, so we never gave up on them. They are going to get it right,” Tate said.