The ISU football team has built its reputation on being a physical rushing team — that style has helped coach Dan McCarney pile on win after win.

With McCarney tied for the most wins in school history, it took a passing attack to put him on top of the chart.

McCarney passed Clay Stapleton with his 43rd win, thanks in large part to the arm of freshman quarterback Bret Meyer.

Meyer threw for 345 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Cyclones to a 34-27 win over Nebraska. His 345 yards is the ninth best single-game total in Cyclone history and a career high for Meyer. With the win, Iowa State pulled itself into a tie with Nebraska for the Big 12 North lead. The Cyclones and Huskers are one game in front of Missouri, Colorado and Kansas State.

Meyer had gotten up in front of the entire team before the game, letting everyone know how much he respected the senior members of the team.

“He sounded like a fourth- or fifth-year senior instead of a redshirt freshman,” McCarney said. “He went out and backed it up today.”

Todd Blythe was on the receiving end of eight of those passes, ending the game with 188 yards and a score.

Blythe’s touchdown with five seconds to go in the first half was his ninth of the year, setting a single-season Cyclone record.

Iowa State jumped out to a fast start and took a 24-7 lead into the break. Meyer hit Ben Barkema for the first Cyclone score of the game, and Stevie Hicks ran in from 12 yards out for his second touchdown of the season.

“I’m very disappointed in the outcome of this game,” Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said. “We came here to play. We dug a hole and couldn’t get out.”

Blythe’s score pushed the lead to 17 points, though Iowa State would have problems holding it.

With the Cyclones leading by 20 entering the fourth quarter, Nebraska scored twice to cut Iowa State’s lead to only a touchdown.

After forcing Iowa State to punt, Nebraska found itself driving again, looking to even the score.

Junior linebacker Tim Dobbins intercepted a Joe Dailey pass, cementing the Cyclone win.

“I guessed wrong on the last throw,” Dailey said. “I should have gotten the ball higher. He made a good play to sneak in and pick it off.”

The interception was the second of the season for Dobbins, a junior college transfer who is leaving his mark.

“He just gets better and better each week,” McCarney said. “He made some mistakes in the beginning of the game, but he was in the right place at the right time.”

After spending the first part of the year searching for an answer to their kicking problems, the Cyclones have solved that riddle as freshman Bret Culbertson made both his field goal attempts and his four extra points.

Nebraska, on the other hand, had problems in its kicking game.

The Cornhuskers missed a field goal and also had both a field goal and extra point blocked.

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