After a devastating overtime loss to Missouri on Oct. 15, the ISU football team had some serious soul-searching to do. So it did the only logical thing it could come up with – arrange a team meeting.

On the bus ride home from Columbia, word of a players-only meeting spread and once everyone unloaded, the Cyclones met in the locker room, disappointed, confused and angry with the direction of their season.

The message was clear: S.O.S. – save our season.

“Nobody was calling each other out or yelling at each other, but people were showing their emotions and how much they care about this program and what we are trying to do here,” said receiver Todd Blythe.

“It sent a message, from the No. 1 guy on the team all the way to the last guy on the travel squad.”

Seniors and captains addressed the team but it may have been one of the normally soft-spoken Cyclones that grabbed the players’ attention and started an incredible turnaround, at least through the next two games.

“I remember LaMarcus Hicks stepped up and spoke, and he’s not a guy that really gets up and talks in front of the team a lot,” Blythe said. “When he talks it’s real and it’s from the heart, so that meant a lot.”

Hicks said he usually tries to “lead by actions,” but felt compelled to address the team after the frustrating loss. His remarks, though, were not just about the three consecutive losses the Cyclones had suffered.

“I usually really don’t talk too much in front of the team, but I had something in me that night that made me want to talk to the guys about how the season was going,” he said.

“Three losses in a row made me realize that we can be better than what we were doing. We could be better than how we played those first three games when we won – they didn’t have to be close all the time.”

Since that meeting, the Cyclones have outscored their opponents 72-24, raising their overall record to 5-3, while salvaging their conference record, which now sits at 2-3. In those two games, Iowa State forced eight turnovers.

“I think that’s the thing that sparked us,” said receiver Austin Flynn. “He probably had the most inspirational speech. … Maybe that’s the reason why, but he’s the type of guy who goes out and leads by example. He goes out and makes plays for us on defense and to finally hear him really speak out, not just a little bit, but a lot, kind of humbled me and made me shut up and just listen the entire time.”

Flynn wasn’t the only one in the locker room who fell silent; Hicks said the entire locker room drew to complete silence when he spoke. He said the meeting was a necessity for the team, which was desperately trying to figure out how to get back on track.

Hicks addressed the entire team and Blythe said the discussion grew heated at times, showing just how much the Cyclones wanted to turn their season around.

Hicks said, however, he didn’t single any one player out.

“I really talked about the team as a whole, including myself. I didn’t think I was making enough plays all the time during those three losses,” he said. “I was just really thinking about the whole team stepping it up a notch and playing better than how we had been playing.”

Iowa State is still one win shy of bowl eligibility, and although it has made the most of its opportunities since the team meeting, games against Kansas State, Colorado and Kansas loom in the weeks ahead. The team meeting, which was a first during Flynn’s tenure at Iowa State, has yet to give the complete results the Cyclones are looking for.

“[The meeting’s] never happened, never happened,” Flynn said.

“I’d never done that before. Does it really mean anything? We’ll find out this week.”