The ISU band played Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” as the last dregs of a record-setting crowd of 56,795 left Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday.

After Saturday’s 24-13 loss to Northern Iowa, the ISU football team might need divine intervention to right a season that, through the first two games, has gone terribly wrong.

First-year coach Gene Chizik again saw a “comedy of errors” in which the Cyclones (0-2 overall) turned the ball over four times, including the third muffed punt of the season, the second snap hiked over quarterback Bret Meyer’s head and two interceptions.

Iowa State’s loss to the Panthers (2-0) is the first since 1994.

“Obviously, we did all the things again for two weeks in a row that make you lose football games,” Chizik said. “And until we get [those] straight, then we’ll continue to do that. And that’s our job as coaches, and that starts with me. So I’ve got to get that done.”

The Cyclones’ next opponent, Iowa, suffocated Syracuse in Iowa City on Saturday, holding the Orangemen to only 103 yards of total offense in a 35-0 blowout. Meanwhile, in Ames, Iowa State was outperformed by the state’s other contender in front of a packed stadium.

Northern Iowa was superior in most aspects of the game, but in many ways, the Cyclones beat themselves.

After a 14-play, 75-yard touchdown drive in the first quarter, the hold on the Cyclones’ extra point attempt was dropped by holder Josh Griebahn, keeping the score at 6-3.

On the next possession, the Cyclone defense forced a three-and-out, but freshman Zac Sandvig then muffed his third punt of the season, and the ball was recovered by Northern Iowa. Three plays later, UNI quarterback Eric Sanders threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Johnny Gray.

Down 10-6, the Cyclones’ next possession resulted in a missed field goal. Northern Iowa then went on an 18-play drive that appeared to have stalled at the ISU 5-yard line.

But on fourth-and-2 the Panthers didn’t settle for a field goal, electing to try for a touchdown. Out of a shotgun formation with four receivers, Sanders ran from pressure and threw a strike to Victor Williams to go up 17-6.

Chizik said he would choose the same defense if he had to do it over again.

“We had him covered – we didn’t have him covered long enough,” Chizik said. “[Sanders] got out of pressure. We’re having a problem right now with getting consistent pressure on the quarterback, and he scrambled out and made a great play.”

Sanders completed two 25-yard passes on the Panthers’ second possession of the second half, then faked a handoff and ran eight yards for a touchdown.

Sanders did most of his damage on short passes that sustained drives and frustrated the Cyclone defense. The senior from Oelwein finished the game 20-for-24 for 159 yards. Panther running back Corey Lewis had 19 carries for 139 yards – 84 of those coming in the second half.

The Panthers also didn’t commit a single turnover.

“They just came out there and stuck it to us . they earned it,” said safety James Smith.

Former Ames High star Austen Arnaud came in at quarterback after UNI’s final touchdown, moving down the field before an incomplete pass on fourth down stalled the drive.

Meyer came back in on the next possession and led the team on an 11-play drive that reached the Panther 9-yard line, but on second-and-5 the ball was snapped over his head. Meyer tried to scoop the ball up and salvage the play, but came up empty. J.J. Bass would complete the Cyclones’ next drive with a one-yard touchdown plunge, but a failed fourth down attempt and an interception ended hopes for a comeback.

Meyer ran eight times for 47 yards in the first half, but as a whole, Iowa State was forced to abandon the running game after falling behind.

Meyer had 30 passing attempts in the second half, finishing the game 27-for-43 with 255 yards and two interceptions.

Iowa State rallied from a 21-7 halftime deficit to beat Northern Iowa last year, overcoming a muffed punt late in the game, a fumble at the goal line, and an interception that was returned for a touchdown. On Saturday, the Cyclones killed any momentum they could build.

“We’re going to have to go back and look over all the reasons we are [turning the ball over],” Chizik said. “It’s the same things. We snap a ball over the QB’s head, we got to look at what we’re doing at center and why that’s happening two weeks in a row. The interceptions right now, obviously, are, I mean, it’s – we got to look at that real close.”

Fans left the stadium in droves in the third and fourth quarter. After the game, the team was also searching for answers on what needs to be done turn around their season.

“What is our identity right now? I’m not sure what our identity is right now,” Chizik said. “I think that we’ve done some really good things that we can build on, but as soon as we play good defense, we turn around and turn the ball over. Or as soon as we have a long drive right now, something happens to stall the drive. It’s a comedy of errors right now.”

One of the only positives in the game, Chizik said, was that the players competed to the end. Smith said the team can’t let the way the season has started bring them down.

“We got to keep our head up, you know what I’m saying,” Smith said. “We got 10 more games. So we got games to look forward to.”