Football is a contact sport.

No one knows that better than ISU receiver Todd Blythe. And no one is better than Blythe at using contact to his advantage.

But sometimes that contact can backfire, as it did Saturday against Nebraska when a potential Cyclone touchdown was called back. Blythe was whistled for offensive pass interference on the play, taking seven points off the scoreboard for the Cyclones.

Blythe, after reviewing the play on film, still doesn’t quite know where the call came from.

“As far as I’m concerned, there was contact on both sides,” Blythe said. “No. 25 [Andre Jones, the defender on the play] came up to me on the next play and said ‘I don’t know what they called, I didn’t even feel you touching me.’

“I told him to go tell the ref that.”

Blythe’s pass interference play was one of three times the Cyclones had points taken off the board, either by themselves or the officials.

Quarterback Bret Meyer also missed Blythe in the end zone, throwing the ball just high. Receiver Austin Flynn had a touchdown taken away after officials deemed him out of bounds, even though replay appeared to show indisputable evidence of him coming down with the ball in bounds.

“We were driving the ball up and down the field and we just couldn’t put points on the board,” Blythe said. “We had our shots.

“That’s 21 points right there that as an offense we have to put up. We owe it to our defense to put those points on the board.”

Iowa State sent Blythe’s pass interference call and the Flynn touchdown to the Big 12 for further review.

On Monday, conference officials announced the calls are being upheld as they were called on the field.

No matter what the conference has to say about the calls, the facts of the season are still the same. Iowa State heads to No. 23 Oklahoma this weekend 0-3 in the conference for the fourth consecutive season.

“We don’t like this,” said coach Dan McCarney. “It’s not the plan in July or August that we’re going to dig ourselves this hole and try to fight our way out of it, but that’s where we are right now.”

Although neither side of the football has played well for any prolonged stretch this season, it’s the offense that has been the most frustrating.

The Cyclones returned 10 starters on offense from last season’s EV1.net Houston Bowl team, expecting big things from a group that had already spent so much time playing together.

But things have been rocky through six games, with the Cyclones averaging just 22 points per game. They are only averaging 103 yards rushing – even with running back Stevie Hicks healthy again – and are ninth in the Big 12 in total offense.

“I’m frustrated and I can speak for about everyone on the offense when I say I’m frustrated,” Blythe said.

“We have so many guys back that have played, everyone on this offense has been through the Big 12 a couple times. We’ve all played a lot of football and we’ve all played a lot of winning football. To come out and play like we have been, to be so inconsistent, it’s frustrating.”

Maybe the most frustrating part is finally getting caught.

So, Todd, Iowa State’s most exciting and productive receiver was asked, did you push off?

“Not more then usual,” he said with a sly grin. “You can take that how you want.”