The kick was good!

Maybe that’s the best way to think about Iowa State’s return trip to the Independence Bowl: embittered yet righteous indignation about the way 2001 ended with a logic-defyingly high and long 47-yard field goal attempt that was ruled wide right. Forty-seven-yard kicks aren’t supposed to clear the entire goal post structure.

But this one did. The 300-plus people who now claim to have had “the best seat in the house” almost all say it was inside that upright. But Tony Yelk was ruled to have missed for the third time in the game and Iowa State lost 14-13 — the first of two consecutive agonizing, closer-than-close losses for the ISU football team.

Now, it’s back to Shreveport — this time against Miami of Ohio. A few indisputable facts: Playing Miami beats playing nobody. Playing in Shreveport beats playing in Boise. Iowa State has a good chance of winning and securing a 7-5 season.

So, for those reasons, go and cheer for the Cyclones.

But don’t forget the fateful field goal attempt. It was good. Cyclone fans don’t easily forget (one reason spanking UCLA in the 2000 Sweet Sixteen was so satisfying after a phantom 5-second call in the 1997 Sweet Sixteen against the Bruins), so the 2004 Indy Bowl represents a chance to make right the injustice of that loss.