IOWA CITY – The Cyclones were bombarded by a furious comeback for the third straight week on Saturday, but for the first time this season, they couldn’t survive it.

After silencing an electric capacity crowd of 70,585 and jumping out to an early 14-3 lead on the Iowa Hawkeyes, the ISU offense began to sputter, and things fell apart.

The game had a promising start for the Cyclones, when DeAndre Jackson returned the opening kickoff 62 yards to the Iowa 37-yard line to quiet the crowd and set up Iowa State’s first score.

The Cyclones took a 14-10 lead into halftime after a late Iowa score, but Iowa State held the statistical advantage in most categories, including a more than seven-minute advantage in time of possession.

“We started off well in the first half and then to play in the second half like we did, to not connect on throws and to not run like we had been is very frustrating,” said ISU receiver Todd Blythe.

After netting nearly 200 yards of offense in the first half, the Hawkeye defense stifled the ISU attack, holding it to just 130 yards in the second half, and only 72 yards through the air.

Even more absent during the second half was ISU quarterback Bret Meyer’s potent rushing. The Cyclone signal caller rushed 10 times for 61 yards in the first half of play, but just five times for 18 yards in the latter half.

“This was two teams going after each other, playing with a lot of emotion and energy,” ISU coach Dan McCarney said. “Iowa just made more plays than we did in the second half. I’m not trying to oversimplify it, but it was pretty obvious that’s what they did.”

The momentum really began its shift late in the second quarter when Iowa drove 80 yards in just seven plays to score a touchdown with 1:22 to play in the half, making the score 14-10 in favor of the Cyclones.

That play, said U of I quarterback Drew Tate, gave Iowa the push it needed going into the locker room.

“[The drive] was huge because we scored, obviously,” Tate said. “That was pretty much the momentum swing as far as how things went the rest of the way. Even if we would’ve just gotten a field goal, the points were huge.”

The drive was especially big because Iowa had the ball to start the third quarter.

However, Iowa State answered the bell and forced the Hawkeyes to go three-and-out. The Cyclones then drove the ball 50 yards and converted a 30-yard field goal, widening the margin to 17-10.

But Iowa State would only manage 100 yards over its final four possessions of the game, which ended in three punts and a turnover on downs.

“We have to learn to finish games,” Blythe said. “We have to come out and be ready for adjustments that people throw at us and be ready with adjustments of our own. It’s something we haven’t done yet.”

Iowa State’s last chance in the game came with just more than five-and-a-half minutes to play.

ISU outside linebacker Alvin Bowen intercepted a Tate pass at the ISU 17-yard line and returned it 22 yards to Iowa State’s 39-yard line.

But, once again, the offense struggled to move the ball. After three straight incompletions, Iowa State elected to go for it on fourth-and-10 with five minutes to play. Meyer was flushed from the pocket and gained nine yards before being angled out of bounds, missing the first down.

Iowa took over and ran the clock to less than a minute before adding a field goal to ice the game at 27-17.

Iowa took a 5-2 lead in the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series with the victory and regained possession of the Cy-Hawk Trophy.

“We don’t accept losing. We didn’t come over here to lose,” McCarney said.

“It’s a really bad feeling. We wanted to keep that trophy in Ames another year badly, and we weren’t good enough to do that.”