LINCOLN, Neb. – The best defense is a good offense.

The ISU football team ran a school-record 102 plays on offense, holding the ball for 39:12 of Saturday’s 60-minute game against No. 25 Nebraska.

The final score – 35-17, Nebraska – seemed backwards.

“It was weird,” said Cornhusker senior quarterback Sam Keller. “It was the longest I’ve spent on the sideline in any game I’ve ever been in.”

The Cyclones moved the ball up and down the field throughout the game.

Iowa State (1-4, 0-1 Big 12) led in total yardage, 415-369, and had 11 more first downs (28) than the Cornhuskers (4-1, 1-0), but committed four turnovers, spoiling their chance to beat Nebraska in Memorial Stadium for the first time since 1977.

Redshirt junior Jason Scales ran for 115 yards on 31 carries in his first action of the season, and the ISU offense drove into Nebraska territory eight times.

The Cyclones, who rank 105th in scoring offense averaging, at 18.8 points per game, couldn’t convert deep drives into points. Coach Gene Chizik emphasized small improvements through the first four games, but showed his displeasure in the offense’s production.

“I’m not into moral victories, I mean, time of possession and total yards. I’m into points,” Chizik said. “And we didn’t get ’em.”

Coming into the game, the ISU defense had forced four turnovers in the first four games of the season, but the Cyclones had an interception and two fumble recoveries on the Cornhuskers’ first three possessions.

Iowa State was able to get out to a 10-0 lead, but reached Nebraska territory in five of their first six possessions.

Nebraska scored twice in the final eight minutes of the first half to take a 14-10 halftime lead and then scored four plays into the second half to go up by 21.

Late in the third quarter, quarterback Bret Meyer led the Cyclones down to the NU 12.

Meyer’s pass on a quick slant to Todd Blythe was deflected by NU cornerback Cortney Grixby into the hands of linebacker Bo Ruud, who returned it 92 yards for a touchdown.

Grixby picked off two Meyer passes, the second of which set up the Huskers at the ISU 3-yard line.

“We just got to convert,” said Meyer, who finished 26-of-51 for 281 yards. “We can’t turn the ball over four times. That’s going to kill any offense . really, we just keep killing ourselves on drives.”

Iowa State is now 17-83-2 all-time against Nebraska.

The 415 total yards were the second-most the Cyclones had gained in a game at Memorial Stadium, but it was no consolation in defeat.

“You can sit there and look at the time of possession, you can look at the total yards, you can look at all of those things and make yourself feel good,” Chizik said. “But at the end of the day right now we got beat, we got beat good. So all that stuff doesn’t matter to me.”