HOUSTON – One by one, the ISU football team trickled out of their locker room underneath Reliant Stadium. The look on each player’s face was the same – disappointment, sadness and frustration.

The Cyclones 27-24 loss to TCU in the Houston Bowl typified their season. So close, yet the prize was just out of reach.

“You have to find some word to say,” said ISU receiver Austin Flynn. “After our fourth or fifth close loss, you still can’t find the words.

“It rips your heart out.”

Their season went up and down, then up and back down.

Three wins to start the year, highlighted by a 23-3 drubbing of then-No. 8 Iowa.

Three losses in a row, including two in overtime and one at home to Baylor.

Four consecutive wins, putting the Cyclones back in the hunt for the Big 12 North title.

Then the crushing blow, an overtime loss at Kansas to close the regular season.

Up and down, then up and back down.

“I can’t explain all the emotions running through me,” ISU safety Nik Moser said.

The game seemed to mirror the Cyclone season. TCU struck early, scoring 14 points in the game’s first nine minutes.

“You can’t spot a great team 14 points,” Flynn said. “You have to come out faster.”

The Cyclones didn’t give up. Quarterback Bret Meyer found Todd Blythe for a 48-yard touchdown and then hit Jon Davis for a six-yard strike, giving Iowa State the lead.

Sandwiched between those touchdowns was a TCU safety, scored when Horned Frog punter Brian Cortney fielded a bad snap and ran out of the end zone, giving ISU a 17-14 lead and loads of momentum.

“This team has great resolve, so that’s why I knew we had a chance to get back in this game, and they did that,” said ISU coach Dan McCarney.

TCU scored ten more points before halftime, taking a 24-17 lead into the locker room.

The second half would prove to be just as frustrating for the Cyclones. Blythe caught his second touchdown of the afternoon, a 22-yard reception that tied the game at 24.

But that’s where the ISU offense began to sputter.

Twice in the second half, Iowa State started a drive in Horned Frog territory and three other times started within 10 yards of TCU turf.

Out of those drives, only Blythe’s touchdown resulted in Cyclone points. The ISU offense also turned the ball over four times; two interceptions and a fumble by Meyer and a fumble by tight end Ben Barkema.

“It’s not like our offense to do that stuff,” Blythe said. “We knew coming in we were going to have to take care of the football and not put it in danger. Unfortunately we put the ball in danger too many times. We were so close even with those turnovers, so it tells you what our offense can do if we protect the ball.”

TCU finished off the Cyclones with a 44-yard field goal from Peter LoCoco with 5:25 to play.

That kick would prove to be the game winner. It was the third time this season the Cyclones had lost by a field goal. The five ISU losses this season were by a combined 26 points.

TCU’s win gave them 11 victories on the season and catapulted them to a final ranking of 11. It earned two wins over Big 12 teams this season, beating Oklahoma and Iowa State. Its only blemish was a 21-10 loss to SMU on Sept. 10.

“Eleven victories in one season is absolutely amazing,” McCarney said. “That’s a fabulous season.”

Iowa State finished the season with a 7-5 mark, the same record it had in 2004. It is the fifth time in the last six seasons the Cyclones have amassed at least seven victories.