Iowa State football coach Gene Chizik said that Iowa State had to play mistake-free football to beat No. 4 Oklahoma.

The Cyclones (1-7, 0-4 Big 12) shutout the Sooners in the first half Saturday in front of a Homecoming crowd of 49,511 at Jack Trice Stadium, and were turnover-free for most of the game.

Their lone turnover couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Down 14-7 with just over seven minutes to play, a pass from quarterback Bret Meyer was tipped and intercepted in the OU endzone. The Sooners (7-1, 3-1) then drove down the field and kicked a field goal to put the game out of reach, surviving their trip to Ames with a 17-7 victory.

“We thought we had ’em on the ropes,” said ISU cornerback Allen Bell. “We just couldn’t get the knockout blow.”

Iowa State took a 7-0 lead into halftime on the merit of the defense.

Defensive end Rashawn Parker recovered an Allen Patrick fumble forced by Alvin Bowen at the Sooner 35-yard line on the third series of the game. Six plays later, Jason Scales scored from two yards out.

Iowa State moved the ball and never went three-and-out in the first half, but two possessions inside of the Oklahoma 20-yard line came up empty. Bret Culbertson missed a 36-yard field goal with 4:20 left in the half, but Bell set the Cyclones up at the 18-yard line with an interception and 26-yard return. Three plays later, Scales was stopped on a fourth-and-1 run at the Oklahoma 11.

The second half was a different game. Iowa State punted on its first series and Oklahoma took the ball 77 yards, rushing on its final seven plays of the drive. Chris Brown scored from eight yards to tie the game, 7-7.

Kurtis Taylor recovered a DeMarco Murray fumble late in the third quarter, but the Cyclones could not cash in and were forced to punt from the Oklahoma 38-yard line. After Mike Brandtner’s punt went into the end zone, the Sooners went 80 yards in 14 plays and Brown scored his second touchdown from the 4-yard line to make it 14-7.

“Oklahoma is a great football team. I think they throw it well, I think they run it well,” Chizik said. “You can give all kinds of reasons why at the end, right now, their runningbacks had a little bit of success and what not – you can say depth. I’d just say that it is a great football team, and if they keep pounding at ya long enough, they are going to make some plays, and that’s what they did.”

Late in the fourth, Oklahoma punter Michael Cohen shanked a punt and Iowa State got the ball at the Sooner 44. Meyer completed a 14-yard pass to Marquis Hamilton on first down to move the ball to the 30-yard line.

On third-and-15, Meyer found Todd Blythe for an 18-yard completion, and went on to make two runs – including a two-yard gain on fourth-and-2 – to set the Cyclones up on the Sooner 6-yard line before being intercepted.

Iowa State scored once in four redzone opportunities.

“OU gave us every opportunity in the world to win the game,” Hamilton said. “We just didn’t cash in. So they had some turnovers, the defense played well, put us in position to win the game. We just didnt make it happen.”

Iowa State outgained the Sooners, 137-109, and holding the ball for 18:24 to keep the defense fresh in the first half. The Sooners dominated the line of scrimmage in the second half, though, not allowing the Cyclone defense to get off the field. Oklahoma ran at least four minutes off the clock on each of its scoring drives, outgaining Iowa State, 207-132, in the final two quarters.

Scales led Iowa State in rushing with 22 carries for 53 yards, while Meyer ran eight times for 41 yards and was 19 of 31 passing for 174 yards and an interception. Hamilton had seven catches for 88 yards.

“We just came out there and played,” Hamilton said. “We didn’t worry about anything else. We had no believers; no one even thought that we could hang with the Sooners.no one gave us a chance, pretty much. And we just went out there and played, and didn’t worry about who we were playin’.”