Five turnovers. Seven points. One victory.

Not a bad day for a defense that wasn’t expected to handle the offensive attack of the eighth-ranked team in the country.

“That was a lot of guys playing their hearts out,” said ISU coach Dan McCarney. “Just total team defense.”

The Cyclones (2-0) came into the game with some big question marks on defense after a subpar showing a week ago against Illinois State, especially in the secondary. After holding Iowa (1-1) to just 174 yards passing, those question marks may have been erased.

“Those guys are a great bunch back there,” McCarney said. “Great team defense, just a tremendous job by John [Skladany] and his staff and the defensive players.”

DeAndre Jackson took a lot of heat after being at the center of two blown coverages a week ago, but never had the opportunity to make up for it against the Hawkeyes. Fellow cornerback LaMarcus Hicks answered the bell by returning an interception 28 yards for a touchdown in the first half.

“We had to be the most improved team to win this game,” Hicks said. “It’s great, first of all, to score on defense in a game, but in an atmosphere like this and a rivalry game, it makes it that much better.”

Iowa quarterback Drew Tate left the game in the second quarter with a concussion after attempting to tackle Steve Paris, who had just picked off a pass.

The blow knocked Tate out of the game, leaving the balance of the contest to backup Jason Manson. Manson’s scrambling ability added extra pressure to the Cyclone defense, but the players were able to adapt and keep the Hawkeyes out of the end zone.

“[Manson’s] so elusive; you’ve got to be smart,” McCarney said. “We did see a lot of tape on him; he played more last week than Drew [Tate] did.”

McCarney said the Cyclones had to keep the pressure on Manson, but ultimately it was up to the defense to make plays.

“You can’t blitz all day,” he said. “We keep asking our guys to give us more.

“Overall I thought we did a good job of getting pressure on [the Iowa quarterbacks].”

Safety Nik Moser said even though Manson provided a different look than Tate, the Cyclones never wavered.

“We still brought pressure,” he said. “We still sat in zone. We kept our same game plan.”

The defensive line was not to be outdone, forcing multiple hurries and contributing three sacks on the day. Iowa squeezed in a few big runs and rushed for 173 yards, but could never get a consistent rhythm developed in their rushing attack – or offense as a whole.

“I don’t know that [the line] dominated,” McCarney said. “Iowa still moved the ball. They still rushed the ball, they still did some things but the bottom line in defense is points. When you only put three up, that’s just fantastic defense.”

In the fourth quarter, the Hawkeye offense seemed to get on track behind Manson, and had driven deep into Iowa State territory before the Cyclones stepped up one more time. Manson dropped back to pass and was pressured before he stepped up, completing a pass to Scott Chandler near the first-down marker. Moser reached in and stripped the ball away and Hicks recovered for Iowa State. That play appeared to be the final nail in the Hawkeye coffin.

“It was a big play for us,” Moser said. “We bent a few times but we never broke. Our defense played great all day. We wanted to prove a point and I think we did. It was probably one of the better games we’ve played.”

Hicks said this game will be the Cyclones’ notice to America that Iowa State will be a force to be reckoned with in the Big 12.

“We really want to show them we can play football here in Ames,” he said.