WACO, Texas — Iowa State ended its streak of 13 straight Big 12 losses Saturday with a thrilling 26-25 win over the Baylor Bears. Stevie Hicks scored the first touchdown of his college career to give the Cyclones the lead with just 41 seconds left in the game.

Hicks’ touchdown capped an 80-yard drive in which freshman quarterback Bret Meyer led the Cyclones down the field by completing five passes for 72 yards, including a 46-yard completion to Todd Blythe.

“Bret just put it out there, and I was able to run under it. It was just a big play, and we were able to keep the drive alive,” Blythe said.

ISU head coach Dan McCarney said he felt the drive was part of a gutsy performance by the freshman quarterback.

“He’s grasping more and more and more of what’s happening out there in the big picture, and he’ll get nothing but better,” McCarney said. “And that 80-yard drive was real special.”

Blythe’s 22-yard touchdown reception to open the third quarter gave the Cyclones a 14-7 lead. The catch also placed Blythe in a three-way tie for the ISU record for touchdown catches in a season with eight.

“I don’t care about that,” Blythe said.

“We won the game today, that’s all I’m worried about. We got a Big 12 road victory, so that’s big time.”

The Cyclones entered the game with the fourth-best defense in the Big 12, but gave up a season-high 450 yards to the Bears. Despite the unusually high numbers, the defense came up with the big plays when they were needed most.

Baylor led Iowa State in total yards, time of possession and third-down conversions, but a 4-0 turnover ratio turned out to be the most important statistic.

“No question, the biggest difference was the turnovers we got. It wasn’t our best defensive game, but we did enough to win,” McCarney said. “That was the difference today — we made many big plays.”

After a sluggish first half, the defense was able to give the offense some much-needed momentum.

“We felt like the game was on the line,” ISU defensive tackle Brent Curvey said.

“We had to step up and make a lot of big plays for us to stay in the game.”

No play was bigger than Curvey’s 65-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Tyson Smith’s blind-side hit on quarterback Shawn Bell forced the ball loose near midfield, setting up Iowa State’s first fumble recovery touchdown since 1996.

“It just happened to pop right up in my hands, right in stride, so I picked it up and ran with it,” Curvey said.

“‘I can’t get caught’ is all I was thinking in my head, ‘I can’t get caught.'”

Curvey’s touchdown put the Cyclones up by four points, but Iowa State led by 20-18 after Baylor cornerback Braelon Davis intercepted Austin Flynn’s pass on the two-point-conversion attempt and returned it 100 yards for two Baylor points.

With 8:26 on the clock, Baylor attacked the ISU run defense, getting 40 yards and a touchdown on seven carries.

The 25-20 Baylor lead set up the Cyclone’s winning drive with just under five minutes left in the game.

Despite being out-gained by nearly 200 yards, the Cyclone offense was able to put up 20 points in the win. Much of the offensive success was attributed to the play of Meyer, but also to the two ISU tailbacks, Hicks and freshman Jason Scales, who each averaged 4.5 yards per carry.

“Those guys really played great,” McCarney said. “I was really impressed and proud of them.”

Baylor now takes over the longest conference losing streak, having dropped its 11th straight game.

McCarney said he sees the win as a step in the right direction toward establishing credibility in the program.

The Cyclones now return home for three of their final four games, starting with Kansas on Saturday.

Meyer said he hopes that the team can build from the victory.

“This is definitely going to catapult us,” he said. “Anytime you get a win on the road in conference, it feels good. We’re going to enjoy it for a day and then get back to work.”