IOWA CITY — In a game of inches, the ISU football team came too close to the goal line to not score points.

Six of the Cyclones’ 12 possessions extended past Iowa’s 30-yard line in Saturday’s 17-5 loss. Three of those drives ended in missed field goals, while others ended with an interception in the end zone and a turnover on downs.

Junior wide receiver Marquis Hamilton said the game was reminiscent of last year’s 15-13 win, as the Cyclones failed to score touchdowns despite success moving the ball.

“We had every opportunity to win the game,” Hamilton said. “We just didn’t make the most of it.”

 Iowa (3-0 overall) gained just 65 yards in the second half, but broke a 3-3 tie two minutes into the fourth quarter. Hawkeye running back Shonn Greene racked up 43 yards of a 65-yard touchdown drive, including a 5-yard run for the score.

Iowa senior receiver Andy Brodell all but sealed the Hawkeye victory with an 81-yard punt return for a touchdown midway through the final quarter, running through several ISU tacklers on his way to the end zone.

Iowa State’s true freshman kicker, Grant Mahoney, missed field goals of 46, 38 and 21 yards, but coach Gene Chizik said the team couldn’t pin the loss on the leg of his young kicker.

“I think we had about a complete fourth-quarter meltdown and we didn’t play well, as a whole football team,” Chizik said. “So that was just part of the reason.”

In the second half, Iowa State (2-1) failed to score on each of its three drives inside Iowa’s red zone.

Quarterback Austen Arnaud helped revive a stagnant ISU offense, which gained 216 of its 325 total yards in the final two quarters. He remained the man under center in seven of eight second-half possessions and took credit for the loss.

“Three points is inexcusable for an offense to score,” said Arnaud, an Ames native. “That should never happen when we have to score touchdowns to win the game. We have too much talent on offense, too much speed to score three points.”

Arnaud threw an interception in the end zone on the Cyclones’ opening possession in the third quarter.

After a near-touchdown by tight end Collin Franklin on the next series, quarterback Phillip Bates stepped out of bounds on one yard short of a first down at the Iowa 4-yard line.

Mahoney’s 21-yard field goal attempt then struck the post.

“I think that we really showed signs of being a very young football team today, we really did,” Chizik said. “I thought we got some young guys in positions to make plays, and we didn’t … I just don’t think that we played smart — as smart as we could of at the end of the game.”

Iowa State had scored 92 points in its first two games. Mahoney had been near-perfect, hitting five of six field goal attempts.

Hamilton said he was surprised with Mahoney’s struggles.

“He’s been pretty consistent — he played really well. I was very surprised to see him miss those kicks,” Hamilton said. “But at the same time, if the offense would have scored a touchdown instead of putting him in that position, we wouldn’t be in this predicament here.”

Arnaud completed 21-of-34 passes for 224 yards. He said the team will need to return to practice with “a new sense of self” to prepare for next Saturday’s game at UNLV, which upset No. 15 Arizona State 23-20 in overtime.

“It’s definitely going to hurt,” he said of the loss. “But like coach Chiz told us, don’t let this win beat us twice, you know. If we carry this over to UNLV, we’re definitely going to get our butts kicked.”